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ENGINEERING FORUM TELECONFERENCE
March 4, 2009
- Departures
- Co-Chair Call Recap
- 2009 NARPM Conference
- Participation Agreement and EF Bylaws
- Green Remediation Subcommittee Update
- Evergreen List Review
DEPARTURES
Ray Cody (Region 1) has accepted a new position in the Office of Water and will no longer be participating on the Engineering Forum (EF), although he has offered to make himself available if vapor intrusion-related issues arise. Dave Reisman (NRMRL-Cinc.) announced that he has accepted a detail and will be serving as the Associate Division Director for Land at NRMRL. Michelle Simon (Acting Director, ORD Engineering Technical Support Center (ETSC)) will be the new NRMRL/ETSC liaison to the Forum. EF members thanked Ray and Dave for their years of service and wished them success in their new positions.
CO-CHAIR CALL RECAP
Stephanie Vaughn (Region 2) reviewed the items that were discussed during the last two TSP co-chair teleconferences. The TSP co-chairs agreed that the winter 2009 meeting in San Diego was a success, but cautioned against planning future meetings in conjunction with organizations that are too closely allied to a particular forum. The EF may be responsible for planning the next TSP meeting (fall/winter 2009) since the Ground Water Forum (GWF) planned the past meeting.
The Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Materials Management and Remediation (MMR) Center, which is run by Battelle, is looking for government and industry stakeholders to provide guidance in developing procedures and protocols for verifying environmental remediation technologies. MMR has asked the TSP forums if they would be interested in participating in this process. Stephanie will distribute MMR’s presentation to EF members and this matter will be discussed during a future EF teleconference.
The Technical Support Centers (TSCs) are adequately funded for this year. Mike Gill (Region 9 Superfund Technical Liaison (STL)) noted that part of the STL’s job is to facilitate technical transfer between RPMs and the TSCs. Mike offered to help develop a presentation outlining the types of TSC assistance that are available to RPMs. Kira Lynch (Region 10) noted that she has been working with Jeff Heimerman (TIFSD) to prepare a presentation for Region 10 RPMs detailing the resources available through TIFSD and ERT. Kira will be scheduling an Internet seminar in April and will update EF members on this project during the next call.
Steve Chang (OSRTI) will forward to the TSP co-chairs a list of possible topics for future ORD Internet seminars.
2009 NARPM CONFERENCE
The 2009 NARPM conference likely will be held in Atlanta the first week of June. The EF will take the lead on developing a full-day green remediation training session with Carlos Pachon that is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 3. In addition, the EF and GWF are co-sponsoring a 2-hour information session on containment remedies being led by Eva Davis (ORD/NRMRL-Ada). The EF business sessions are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Kira suggested setting aside time during the business sessions to discuss the impact of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds on engineering issues at Superfund sites. Hilary Thornton (Region 3) suggested that Raji Josiam (Region 6) lead an hour-long meeting of the Green Remediation Subcommittee during one of the business sessions so that EF members could participate. Hilary also suggested reviewing and updating the EF strategic plan at NARPM. EF members should begin thinking about technical topics or case studies that could be presented during the business sessions. An agenda subcommittee was formed to flesh out the business session agenda; members include Donna McCartney (Region 3), Gary Miller (Region 6, lead), Mike Gill, and Don Bahnke (Region 7).
Hilary is preparing an engineering puzzle (a combination of a physical scavenger hunt and math/engineering puzzles) for NARPM. He described his vision for the puzzle and his plan to “hide” clues at the morning plenary sessions, in the EF brochure/poster, and possibly on the Internet (accessible via the Internet cafe). The puzzle could be used as a tool to recruit new members. A subcommittee was formed to help develop the puzzle; members include Hilary (lead), Julie Santiago (Region 4), Larry Kimmel (Region 8), Raji Josiam, and Nate Nemani (Region 5). Hilary will contact subcommittee members to schedule a conference call.
Hilary will send Julie Santiago (Region 4) a list of current EF members so she can update the EF brochure and poster, which is currently stored at NRMRL-Cinc. To determine if the EF poster needs updating, Michelle Simon will take a photo of the current poster and send it to the co-chairs for review.
PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT AND EF BYLAWS
Hilary Thornton and Gary Miller (Region 6) continue to work on developing EF bylaws that link to the EF strategic plan and a streamlined participation agreement and hope to have a finalized product available in time for NARPM.
GREEN REMEDIATION SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATE
Raji Josiam updated EF members on the Green Remediation Subcommittee’s recent activities. She sent Cathy Allen (Office of Program Analysis) a list of the green remediation-themed items that were discussed during the San Diego meeting. Suzanne Wells (CIOB) will brief the EF on the draft Superfund green remediation strategy during the April EF teleconference.
EVERGREEN LIST REVIEW
Don Bahnke reviewed the status of items on the evergreen list. Among the updates:
- Don will move Ray Cody’s (Region 1) Indoor Air Vapor Intrusion Mitigation Approaches paper to the “recently published” list.
- Michelle Simon will get an update from Dave Reisman on the status of the Technology Alternatives for the Remediation of Soil and Sediment Contaminated with PCBs issue paper.
- Don will call Terry Burton (Region 6 STL) to get an update on the status of the ISCOlessons-learned paper.
- Eva Davis’s containment failure project is moving forward. The first fact sheet is currently being drafted. There will be a session on this project at NARPM.
- The Green Remediation Subcommittee plans to offer additional Internet seminars based on the upcoming NARPM training sessions after the meeting in June. The logistics and schedule will be discussed during the EF business sessions at NARPM. Raji and Mike Gill are working on organizing the green remediation training session for NARPM.
PARTICIPANTS
Jim Brown, Region 1
Stephanie Vaughn, Region 2
Fred MacMillan, Region 3
Donna McCartney, Region 3
Hilary Thornton, Region 3
Julie Santiago, Region 4
Nate Nemani, Region 5
Bernie Schorle, Region 5
Raji Josiam, Region 6
Don Bahnke, Region 7
Larry Kimmel, Region 8
Mike Gill, Region 9 STL
Kira Lynch, Region 10
Dave Reisman, NRMRL-Cinc.
Michelle Simon, NRMRL-Cinc.
Susanne Davis, CA DTSC
John Muegge, CA DTSC
Keith Arnold, EMS, Inc.
In an effort to foster scientific and technical advances in characterization, monitoring and remediation of contaminated sites, the EPA Technical Support Project encourages full and frank discussion of all technical matters and related issues that come before it.Information presented in these minutes represents the views of the participants and has not received formal EPA peer review. Therefore, this information does not necessarily reflect the views of EPA or other participating organizations, and no official endorsement should be inferred. The information is not intended, nor can it be relied upon, to create any rights enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States or any other party. Use or mention of trade names does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation for use. Errors and omissions in the information will be corrected as they are found and time permits.