Happy New Year! We hope everyone has a safe and prosperous
2006.
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The purpose of TechDirect is to identify new technical, policy and
guidance resources related to the assessment and remediation of
contaminated soil, sediments and ground water.
Mention of non-EPA documents or presentations does not
constitute a U.S. EPA endorsement of their contents, only an
acknowledgment that they exist and may be relevant to the
TechDirect audience.
Open Solicitation
EPA National Student Design Competition for Sustainability.
The US Environmental Protection Agency's 2006 P3 (People,
Prosperity and the Planet) competition opened December 12, 2005.
This grant program advances a sustainable future by fostering the
next generation of scientists, engineers, and technology workers.
For the 2006 competition, up to 50 teams will receive initial grants
of up to $10,000 to develop their designs. The program awards
grants to teams of undergraduate and graduate students, along with
their faculty advisors, to design and develop innovative
technologies and other sustainability projects, and in the process
integrate sustainability issues into higher education curricula. Each
May, teams present their projects on the National Mall in
Washington, DC for a chance to win additional funding to move
their ideas from the design phase to the marketplace. The awards
competition is judged by a panel of experts convened by the
National Academies, advisors to the nation on science,
engineering, and medicine. The deadline for submission is
February 20, 2006. For more information, see http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/
.
Internet Seminars
ITRC What's New with In Situ Chemical Oxidation? - January
10. This seminar presents updated guidance and technology
advancement information for In Situ Chemical Oxidation. Topics
include a regulatory discussion related to ISCO implementation;
details on the chemistry behind ISCO technology; considerations
for system design and application, including health and safety; and
performance evaluation information. The course is based on the
ITRC's In Situ Chemical Oxidation of Contaminated Soil and
Groundwater, Second Edition (ISCO-2, 2005), with sections on
technology overview and applicability, remedial investigations,
safety concerns, regulatory concerns, injection design, monitoring,
stakeholder concerns, and case studies. For more information and
to register, see http://www.itrcweb.org or http://clu-in.org/studio .
ITRC What is Remediation Process Optimization And How
Can It Help Me Identify Opportunities for Enhanced and
More Efficient Site Remediation? - January 12. This training
discusses the value of optimization in efficiently and objectively
setting and attaining remediation goals. Key elements of RPO that
will be discussed in the training include: Appropriate use of
up-to-date conceptual site models (CSM); Flexible Remedial
Action (RA) operations considering technology limitations and risk
assessments; use of treatment trains for each target zone, and
developing performance objectives for each element; development
of an exit strategy for each remedy component considering
life-cycle factors; and life-cycle cost analysis as a decision-making
tool with the requirement that protectiveness must be maintained or
improved. For more information and to register, see
http://www.itrcweb.org or http://clu-in.org/studio .
ITRC Permeable Reactive Barriers: Lessons Learned and New
Directions - January 24. This training presents updated
information regarding new developments, innovative approaches,
and lessons learned in the application of PRBs to treat a variety of
groundwater contaminants. The information will be presented by
reviewing the approaches and results at several sites where PRBs
have been deployed. The training is based on the ITRC guidance
document titled Permeable Reactive Barriers: Lessons Learned /
New Directions (PRB-4, 2005). For more information and to
register, see http://www.itrcweb.org or http://clu-in.org/studio.
Revegetation and Restoration of an Oil Contaminated Wetland
in Northern New Jersey - January 19. This presentation will
attempt to show that a carefully supervised cleanup followed by a
scientifically driven monitoring program can be effective in
removing oil from a sensitive wetland habitat using the Green
Pond Oil Spill Removal project as the prime example. A
monitoring program for determining the success of the
revegetation/restoration effort was conducted. Species
composition and productivity measurements were an integral part
of the parameters to measure the progress of the effort to determine
comparability between the remediated site and undisturbed
wetlands. The presentation will incorporate all that has been
learned from the removal activity in terms of How Clean is Clean
as applied to an oil contaminated fresh water wetland. This
information should be useful for decision makers, responders, and
consultants alike when faced with remediating disturbed or
contaminated habitats. For more information and to register, see
http://clu-in.org/studio .
NIEHS DNAPLs - Biological Remediation Processes - January
25. This seminar is the fourth in a series sponsored by the NIEHS
Superfund Basic Research Program to present current research on
DNAPLs contaminated sites. The seminar will summarize a
comprehensive literature review on the microbial degradation of
chlorinated solvents. Chlorinated solvents such as chlorinated
ethenes, ethanes and methanes are important priority pollutants of
groundwater. Diverse strategies are utilized by microorganisms in
the degradation of organochlorine compounds ranging from
reductive dehalogenation, hydrolytic to oxygenolytic release of
chloride. To understand how microorganisms gain energy and
benefit from biodegradation of chlorinated solvents, one must
consider biodegradation as a redox reaction in which an electron
donor becomes oxidized at the expense of an electron acceptor. In
addition to the discussion of bioremediation processes, the session
will also discuss advances in phytoremediation techniques for
important toxicants at hazardous waste sites. For more information
and to register, see http://clu-in.org/studio .
ITRC Environmental Management Planning on Active Small
Arms Firing Ranges - January 26. The training uses a logic
diagram to describe the appropriate steps an environmental
professional or range manager should use to establish an
operational understanding of a range and the impact it can have on
the environment if left unattended. It assists the user to define the
environmental characteristics at a range that could potentially
impact the environment and lists the appropriate questions that
range operators should ask when evaluating the potential for
environmental impact. The training briefly describes a variety of
new and conventional technologies and techniques (i.e., best
management practices) available to prevent environmental impact
on the range. For more information and to register, see
http://www.itrcweb.org or http://clu-in.org/studio .
New Documents and Web Resources
U.S. EPA Nanotechnology White Paper - December 2005
External Review Draft . This DRAFT document was produced
by the EPA Science Policy Council. It describes t
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