Workshop #6: Development and Validation of an In Vitro Protocol for Dermal Bioavailability Measurements of Compounds in Soils

Workshop #7: State of the Science in Assessing MTBE Degradation

Workshop #8: Use of VPH/EPH/APH Data to Characterize Risks to Human Health and the Environment from Petroleum Exposures

Workshop #9: Pay for Performance Workshop

The goal of this workshop is to convene experts to identify criteria important to the development and validation of in vitro methods that could be widely applied to estimate dermal bioavailability from contaminants in soil for use in site-specific risk assessments. This effort will focus on in vitro and/or surrogate methods such as extraction techniques. Workshop participants will discuss methods for assessing the bioavailability of chemicals that come into contact with skin via soil contact.

The workshop will identify the level of effort and nature of work needed to develop and validate in vitro methods for use in regulatory decisions. The panel will review the efficacy of existing methods, and method strengths and limitations with regard to wide applicability to soils. Participants will review available protocols and determine whether in vitro methods exist that could be validated against in vivo studies. The expert panel will also be asked for recommendations on a validation protocol. The panels will include government, industry and academic representatives.

The fate of MTBE in groundwater is a hotly debated subject. Data is limited and not definitive, the appropriate tools are still under development, and the experts are still divided. Much work has been done over past three-five years to begin to define possible chemical and biological pathways of degradation. This workshop will help define what we know and don’t-especially as it relates to new research into anaerobic pathways of degradation.

This workshop will include EPA, industry and technical community perspectives in the assessment of MTBE degradation. The workshop will focus on several degradation pathways, and data analysis that identify those pathways at your site. New work completed by USEPA/NRMRL, API and Microseeps on MTBE plumes will serve as the basis for discussion of problems and opportunities in demonstrating degradation potential. Analytical, monitoring, and transport issues will be discussed.

EPA and API studies have determined that several impediments exist to properly assessing the potential for degradation including:

• Inability to measure tertiary-butyl alcohol, a primary breakdown product,
• Inability to accurately measure the redox zones in a plume, lack of a single analyte to identify degradation potential
• And other crucial fate and transport issues

Participants will be invited to present data from MTBE plumes prior to the workshop and experts will apply recent findings to the sites in an interactive format. The workshop will include presentations, discussion and feedback sessions.

This workshop will build on MADEP guidance and the use of VPH/EPH/APH analytical data for soil, groundwater and air, to provide attendees with a practical approach to evaluating the potentials risks to human health, public welfare, and the environment from exposures to petroleum releases. Topics to be covered include: chemistry of petroleum fractions and target VOCs and PAHs; toxicology, fate and transport considerations; VPH/EPH/APH analytical methods; field sampling strategies; data validation; development of exposure point concentrations, including use of vapor and dissolved-phase transport models; background screening for PAHs; use of general screening (MCP Method 1) and site-specific screening (MCP Method 2) risk characterizations to evaluate risk of harm to human health, public welfare, and the environment; and cumulative receptor risk analysis for human health and screening against applicable standards and/or criteria for the environment and public health (MCP Method 3). The workshop will use case studies to demonstrate the application of the risk characterization methods and how the approaches can be applied to develop risk-based solutions for the cleanup of petroleum releases in the environment.

Participants will be invited to present data from MTBE plumes prior to the workshop and experts will apply recent findings to the sites in an interactive format. The workshop will include presentations, discussion and feedback sessions.

Pay for performance (PFP) is an innovative approach to contracting remediation that is rapidly gaining acceptance, particularly among State UST funds. Under a PFP contract, an environmental consultant agrees to clean up a site for a fixed price within a set time frame. Interim and final cleanup goals are agreed upon in advance, and payments are made in increments as each goal is achieved. By reducing uncertainties associated with cleanup costs and time frames, PFP-based remediation offers significant benefits to all parties involved in the remediation process. PFP contracting is not suitable for all remediation projects, however, and does present some risks, most obviously to the consultant, who faces the possibility of not getting paid in full if all cleanup milestones are not achieved.

This workshop will present PFP from both the consultant’s and State UST fund administrator’s perspectives, including case studies from sites at which PFP has been implemented. The workshop will present an overview of the process, describe the regulatory considerations and approaches of UST fund administrators in Vermont, New Hampshire, and other states and will provide practical guidance to regulators, consultants and responsible parties for implementing successful PFP programs.