Great
Lakes
National
Program
On the Web at:
www.epa.gov/greatlakes
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO)
Significant Activities Report
May 2005
IN THIS ISSUE:
Toxics Reduction
• 2004 Toxics Reduction Report Online
• Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy
Stakeholder Forum - May 17-18, 2005
• Voluntary Mercury Stewardship Pro-
gram by U.S. Chlor-alkali Factories
Outreach
• GLNPO Scientists Speak at Scientific
Meetings
• U.S. and Canada Release Plain Lan-
guage Version of Great Lakes Report
• Educators' Workshop Aboard R/V
Lake Guardian
Legacy Act/Areas of Concern
• St. Louis River AOC Legacy Act Pro-
ject Planning Meeting
• R/V Mudpuppy Sampling on the Ot-
tawa River, Ohio
• Press Event on the Ottawa River, Ohio
• Presque Isle Bay Delisting Target
Workshop
Monitoring
• International Field Years on Lake Erie
Project Begins
• Lake Ontario Air Deposition Study
(LOADS) Data Workshop
Toxics Reduction
2004 Toxics Reduction Report Online
The 2004 Annual Report of the Canada-U.S.
Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy
(GLBTS), "A beyond compliance Strategy to
virtually eliminate persistent toxic substances
from the Great Lakes", is now available on
the web at www.epa.gov/greatlakes/bns/index.
html.
THE GREAT LAKES
BINATIONAL TOXICS
STRATEGY
Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy logo
2004 saw continuing reductions in the
twelve Level 1 priority pollutants (including
mercury, PCBs, dioxins/furans, hexachloro-
benzene, Benzo(a)Pyrene, octachlorostyrene,
alkyl lead and cancelled pesticides) on both
sides of the border. Of seventeen reduction
goals set forth in the Strategy, ten have been
met, three will be met by 2006, and the rest
are well advanced toward their respective tar-
gets.
The 2004 report presents the latest pollution
prevention and toxics reduction activities tak-
ing place under the GLBTS across the basin.
Some examples include:
• The work of the American Dental Asso-
ciation, in partnership with the Naval In-
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CD on best management practices for dental mercury
amalgam being distributed to dentists by the Ameri-
can Dental Association under a GLNPO grant
stitute for Dental and Biomedical Re-
search, to develop and disseminate best
management practices for dental mercury
amalgam to dentists across the Great
Lakes Basin;
• Ford Motor Company achieving a 79%
phase-out of their PCB transformers
globally in 2004, and committing to 95%
phase-out by the end of 2006; and
• Activities of the Scrap Tire Pile Mitiga-
tion Support Project, led by USEPA,
which has developed a scrap tire pile in-
ventory, along with GIS mapping, and a
training and outreach program to mitigate
tire piles across the basin.
(Contact: Ted Smith, 312-353-6571, smith.
edwin@epa.gov)
Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy
Stakeholder Forum - May 17-18, 2005
A Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy
(GLBTS) Forum and Substance Workgroup
Meetings were held May 17th in Toronto, On-
tario, Canada. The keynote speaker was Jim
Abraham, Acting Regional Director General
for the Ontario Region of Environment Can-
ada (EC), who presented "A Competitiveness
and Environmental Sustainability Frame-
work - Transforming the Way We do Busi-
ness" about the reorganization currently un-
derway at EC. Substance Workgroups pre-
sented outcomes of the draft Level 1 Reas-
sessment Reports, with the following draft
recommendations to management:
Mercury:
• Continue Level 1 Status
• Continue Information Sharing
• Influence International Activities
PCBs:
• Continue Level 1 Status
• Continue Existing Programs
• Seek additional information on Sources
and Pathways
Dioxins/Furans:
• Continue Level 1 Status
• Consider Qualitative Challenge Goals
and Changes to Workgroup Membership
HCB/B(a)P:
• Continue Level 1 Status
• Combine B(a)P with other PAHs
• Focus on Sector Subgroups
• Improve Release Inventories
A GLBTS Integration Workgroup Meeting
was held the next day. Agenda items in-
cluded updates from the Substance Work-
groups, a panel discussion on U.S. and Cana-
dian emissions inventories, and a panel dis-
cussion on pollution prevention in two Cana-
dian municipalities (Thunder Bay, Ontario
and Severen Sound, Ontario).
Forum presentations, Substance Workgroup
presentations, and Integration Workgroup
presentations are posted on the GLBTS web-
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site at http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/p2.html.
Minutes will be posted shortly.
(Contact: Ted Smith, 312-353-6571, smith.
edwin@epa.gov)
Voluntary Mercury Stewardship Program
by U.S. Chlor-alkali Factories
On May 13th, the Chlorine Institue released
its 8th progress report on reducing mercury
emissions and consumptive use at factories in
the United States that employ mercury during
production of chlorine and sodium hydroxide
or potassium hydroxide. (Chlorine Institute
reports are available at: http://www.epa.gov/
Region5/air/mercury/reducing.html).
When this program started in 1996, it in-
cluded 14 factories; with subsequent closure
of five, nine factories continue to participate.
The latest report indicates consumptive use
has declined over a nine-year period by 92
percent. (The cumulative reduction at nine
participating factories is 88 percent.) Con-
sumption during 2003 was 38 tons, sharply
reduced during 2004 to 14 tons. (For histori-
cal perspective, during 1990-1995, 14 facto-
ries averaged 160 tons per year in mercury
consumption.)
Advancements include: enlarging the size of
"decomposers" so as to reduce the frequency
of need to open these components; installing
better electrical current distribution equip-
ment; improving the reliability and design of
equipments. The Chlorine Institute report
mentions technology enhancements under-
way at six factories.
In addition, one factory recently installed an
analyzer that is positioned to monitor, on a
continuous basis, potential mercury vapor
emissions arising from production equip-
ment. A second factory is in the process of
installing such technology, while three more
Measuring mercury levels within a chlor-alkali facility
(Photo courtesy of Environmental Sciences Division
of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department
of Energy)
factories are in latter stages of selecting a
technology appropriate for their site specific
conditions. It is expected that at least some of
these mercury vapor monitoring systems will
become operational during 2005. (This real-
time information technology enables not only
better measurement of mercury emissions,
but also enables factory staff to promptly lo-
cate and remedy emergent emissions.)
In its 8th report, Chlorine Institute members
pledged to further reduce consumptive use of
mercury during the manufacturing process;
and develop methods at each factory to more
accurately measure mercury air emissions;
and further reduce air emissions from two
stack systems by as much as 93 percent by
fully complying with a recent USEPA air
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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regulation.
(Contacts: Frank Anscombe, 312-353-0201,
anscombe.frank@epa.gov; or Alexis Cain,
312-886-7018, cain.alexis@epa.gov)
Outreach
GLNPO Scientists Speak at Scientific
Meetings
GLNPO scientists gave two presentations re-
lated to the Great Lakes Binational Toxics
Strategy at the Annual Meeting of the Inter-
national Association for Great Lakes Re-
search (IAGLR) on May 25th, in Ann Arbor,
Michigan. Todd Nettesheim presented the
outcomes of a modeling study undertaken by
the Department of Energy Lawrence Berke-
ley National Laboratory under an interagency
agreement with GLNPO. In this modeling
study, two multimedia mass-balance models
were applied based on the Berkeley-Trent
(BETR) model framework to calculate the
efficiency of atmospheric transport and depo-
sition to the Lakes for emissions of the Level
1 substances in different regions of North
America and globally. The modeled results
allow the Level I substances to be catego-
rized as local, continental or global-scale
management problems. Where emission in-
ventories were available, the model calcula-
tions were used to estimate the contribution
of emissions in different locations to atmos-
pheric deposition fluxes to the Lakes. Using
individual PCB congeners as a case study,
they found evidence that the contribution of
global sources to the depositional flux of
PCBs to the Lakes is increasing, but that lo-
cal and continental sources still dominate to-
tal loadings to the Lakes.
(Contact: Todd Nettesheim, 312-353-9153,
nettesheim.todd@epa.gov)
Ted Smith presented an overview of the draft
mercury and PCB Great Lakes Binational
Sample output from model showing relative contribu-
tions to deposition of a Level 1 substance on the
Great Lakes from near and distant sources
Toxics Strategy reassessment reports (see
earlier article in this issue), focusing on the
environmental analysis, including sources,
risk-based criteria, concentrations of the
chemicals in Great Lakes biota and media,
and overall trends. Both mercury and PCBs
are widely measured and tracked in the Great
Lakes. Conclusions for mercury include the
following:
• There are exceedences for mercury in
Great Lakes fish, open water, sediments,
and blood levels in women.
• Levels of mercury in the environment
have declined over the past 30 years in
fish, gull eggs, and sediment cores.
• Most of the decline occurred early on,
shorter term trends (i.e., 1990's to pre-
sent) are less clear.
• While U.S. Inventories indicate 40% de-
cline between 1990 and 2000, data show
no decrease in deposition between 1995
and 2003 - possible offsets by global
emissions.
Conclusions for PCBs include the following:
• There are exceedences for PCBs in fish,
sediments and water.
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• PCBs in fish tissue, herring gull eggs,
and bivalves have generally been de-
creasing, although some changes are
lake-specific or species/community-
specific.
• Water and sediment monitoring programs
support a general trend of decreasing
PCBs over time.
• PCBs in the air collected from rural areas
near each of the Great Lakes have gener-
ally declined, but some localized hotspots
(e.g., the Chicago plume) and unex-
plained increases have also been ob-
served.
(Contact: Ted Smith, 312-353-6571, smith.
edwin@epa.gov)
On May 13th, Marc Tuchman made a presen-
tation on the Great Lakes Legacy Act to the
Midwest Chapter of the Society of Toxicol-
ogy. The presentation was part of a special
session on Great Lakes Issues of Concern.
(Contact: Marc Tuchman, 312-353-1369,
tuchman.marc@epa.gov)
U.S. and Canada Release Plain Language
Version of Great Lakes Report
USEPA and Environment Canada released
Our Great Lakes, a 25-page booklet that ad-
dresses the state of the Great Lakes, what is
being done to restore and protect them and
practical ways in which everyone can help
keep the lakes cleaner and healthier. It is a
simplified version of the scientific 2003 State
of the Great Lakes report that summarized
information presented at the 2002 State of
the Lakes Ecosystem conference. Our Great
Lakes debuted on May 26th at the Interna-
tional Association of Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence Mayors' Conference in Quebec
City, Canada.
Cover of Our Great Lakes a plain-language report
on the condition of the Great Lakes
Our Great Lakes focuses on six key ques-
tions:
1. Can we drink the water?
2. Can we swim at the beach?
3. Can we eat the fish?
4. How are the fish doing?
5. How is the wildlife doing?
6. How are non-native species affecting the
Great Lakes?
The report is available online at www.
binational.net or a print version can be or-
dered by contacting Lawrence Brail at (312)
353-8547 or brail.lawrence@epa.gov.
(Contact: Tony Kizlauskas, 312-353-8773,
kizlauskas.anthony@epa.gov)
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Educators' Workshop Aboard R/VLake
Guardian
An educators' workshop was held in Lake
Michigan offshore of Chicago, Illinois on-
board GLNPO's 180-foot research ship R/V
Lake Guardian on May 6th. Staff from
GLNPO, partnered with the Illinois EPA and
the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
ENTICE (Environment and Nature Training
Institute for Conservation Education) pro-
gram to conduct the workshop. During the
workshop, twenty educators of grades 4 to 6
learned about the ecology of Lake Michigan.
The instructors conducted hands-on water
and sediment sampling activities, demon-
strated invasive species laboratory and class-
room activities, and gave presentations. Par-
ticipants received supplemental educational
materials including the Great Lakes Envi-
ronmental Atlas and Resource Book and
Great Minds, Great Lakes.
(Contacts: Glenn Warren, 312-886-2405,
warren.glenn@epa.gov; and Randy Wise-
man , 217-785-1256, rwiseman@dnrmail.
state.il.us)
Legacy Act/Areas of Concern
St. Louis River AOC Legacy Act Project
Planning Meeting
On May 25th and 26th, GLNPO's Scott
Cieniawski traveled to Duluth, Minnesota to
meet with representatives from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, the Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
(MDNR) to coordinate efforts on sediment
remediation in the St. Louis River Area of
Concern (AOC). The agencies are attempting
to leverage remedial work being performed
at the St. Louis River Interlake/Dultuh Tar
Superfund site to complete other sediment
remediation and sediment assessment pro-
jects within the AOC. The projects identified
included: sediment remediation of Minnesota
Grassy Point wetland on the St. Louis River, Mn
(Photo courtesy of P. Collins)
Slip; sediment assessment and remedial plan-
ning at Slip C, 21st Avenue West Channel,
Dakota Pier, and Riverside Marina. MPCA
also agreed to talk with the Wisconsin De-
partment of Natural Resources to determine
if there are additional sites in Wisconsin re-
quiring assessment and remediation support.
Finally, the agencies made progress regard-
ing the potential use of the Erie Pier confined
disposal facility for receipt of dredged sedi-
ments from Minnesota Slip.
(Contact: Scott Cieniawski, 312-353-9184,
cieniawski.scott@epa.gov)
R/VMudpuppy Sampling on the Ottawa
River, Ohio
From May 2nd to 17th, GLNPO's dedicated
sediment sampling boat, the R/VMudpuppy
was in Toledo, Ohio to collect sediment core
samples on the Ottawa River in the Maumee
River Area of Concern. The Mudpuppy crew
collected 136 sediment cores in the
"Lagrange Reach" (between Stickney and
Lagrange Avenues) of the Ottawa River. The
cores were transferred to shore for processing
by Ohio EPA, Tetra Tech, and Hull & Asso-
ciates representatives using the Ohio EPA
field trailer. Approximately 330 samples will
be analyzed by Severn Trent Laboratories for
PCBs, PAHs, and lead. Results of the labora-
tory analysis are expected by the end of June.
The data will be used to refine remedial
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boundaries and to generate mass and volume
of contaminated sediments for potential
remediation under the Great Lakes Legacy
Act.
(Contact: Mary Beth G. Ross, 312-886-2253,
ross.marybeth@epa.gov).
Press Event on the Ottawa River, Ohio
On May 6th, GLNPO's David Cowgill at-
tended a press event coordinated by the
Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Gov-
ernments (TMACOG) to celebrate the con-
tinuing progress being made to make the Ot-
tawa River cleaner and safer. The event was
held on the shore of the Ottawa River, at the
site of the 1997 Unnamed Tributary sediment
remediation project. Anthony Reams, TMA-
COG President, and Kenneth Fallows, TMA-
COG Chair, invited Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur and Toledo Mayor Jack Ford to speak
at the event. Representatives of Senator
Voinovich's office, the Ohio EPA, the City of
Toledo, U.S. EPA, TMACOG, Hull & Asso-
ciates, an Ohio State Representative, and a
City Councilman also attended and answered
questions. All participants voiced strong sup-
port for finding a remedial solution for the
Ottawa River and thanked USEPA for bring-
ing the R/VMudpuppy out to help.
(Contacts: David Cowgill, 312-353-3576,
cowgill.david@epa.gov; Mary Beth G. Ross,
312-886-2253, ross.marybeth@epa.gov)
Presque Isle Bay Delisting Target Work-
shop
On May 10th to 12th, Scott Ireland attended a
workshop at Gannon University in Erie,
Pennsylvania to support the establishment of
delisting targets for the Presque Isle Bay
Area of Concern (PIB AOC). Workshop at-
tendees included members of PIB AOC Sedi-
ment Sub-committee and representatives of
the national Science Advisory Group on
A November storm roils the waters of Lake Erie at
Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania
(Photo courtesy of NOAA Great Lakes Sea Grant)
Sediment Quality Assessment. The purpose
of the workshop was to assess the status and
trends of sediment quality conditions in PIB
AOC, and identify delisting targets that can
be used to determine when sediment quality
conditions have improved sufficiently to jus-
tify petitioning for delisting of PIB as a Great
Lakes AOC. The delisting targets will also
provide a basis for designing a long-term
monitoring program that will provide the
data required to assess trends in sediment
quality conditions and to support future sedi-
ment management decisions in Presque Isle
Bay.
(Contact: Scott Ireland, 312-886-8121, ire-
land.scott@epa.gov)
Monitoring
International Field Years on Lake Erie
Project Begins
Great Lakes scientists from the United States
and Canada are using 90 days of shiptime
aboard USEPA GLNPO's R/V Lake Guard-
ian for a survey of harmful algae and dis-
solved oxygen in Lake Erie as part of the In-
ternational Field Years on Lake Erie
(IFYLE) project. The first survey got under-
way on May 11th, when the Lake Guardian
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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departed from Monroe, Michigan.
A full basin survey will be undertaken dur-
ing this two-year project. The overall goals
of the IFYLE 2005 sampling program are to:
1. Examine the causes and consequences of
low-oxygen events,
2. Evaluate how lake physics and food webs
affect fish production, and
3. Examine the distribution and timing of
harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.
The ultimate application of this research is to
develop forecasts of anoxia, harmful algal
blooms and fish production that can aid deci-
sion-makers. Sampling will continue through
mid-October. The IFYLE project is led by
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration's Great Lakes Environmental
Research Laboratory (GLERL). Two major
partners in the effort are the USEPA's
GLNPO and the National Sea Grant College
Program. More than 15 universities from
seven states and Canada are involved, as well
as other Great Lakes programs and partners.
This program builds upon an intensive, inter-
national study funded by GLNPO and the
Canadian Centre for Inland Waters con-
ducted from 2002- 2004 to determine the
cause of the oxygen depletion in the central
basin of Lake Erie and the impacts of zebra
mussels on Lake Erie.
(Contacts: Glenn Warren, 312-886-2405,
warren.glenn@epa.gov; or George Ison, 312-
353-1669, ison.george@epa.gov)
Lake Ontario Air Deposition Study Data
Workshop
GLNPO staff participated in a Lake Ontario
Air Deposition Study (LOADS) data work-
shop held in Oswego, New York on May 12th
and 13th along with representatives from
USEPA Region 2, Clarkson University, State
University of New York (SUNY) Oswego,
Lake Erie on May 11, 2005 from the TERRA Satellite
(Photo courtesy of NASA)
SUNY Fredonia, SUNY Buffalo, and the
New England Interstate Water Pollution
Control Commission. The study's Principal
Investigators presented the preliminary re-
sults of field work performed in 2002
through 2004 aboard USEPA GLNPO's re-
search ship R/VLake Guardian and at land-
based monitoring stations in Sterling and
Rochester, New York. The data collected in
this study will be used to provide atmos-
pheric load estimates of mercury, PCBs, di-
oxins/furans, mirex, DDE and HCB to Lake
Ontario that will be used in the Lake Ontario
Mass Balance Model. The data will also be
used to identify suspected source regions that
may be adversely impacting Lake Ontario.
The Principal Investigators expect to deliver
the study's final report by the end of 2005.
(Contact: Todd Nettesheim, 312-353-9153,
nettesheim.todd@epa.gov)
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Upcoming Events
July
7th
2005
Great Lakes Regional Col-
laboration Summit I, Duluth,
Minnesota
September 15th Great Lakes Binational
Toxics Strategy Integration
Workgroup, Chicago, Illi-
nois
•>nd
/ith
November 2n - State of Lake Michigan
Conference, Green Bay,
Wisconsin
th
December 6 -
7th
December 12
Great Lakes Binational
Toxics Strategy Stakeholder
Forum and Integration
Workgroup, Chicago, Illi-
nois
Great Lakes Regional Col-
laboration Summit II, Chi-
cago, Illinois
We welcome your questions, comments or
suggestions about this month's Significant
Activities Report. To be added to or re-
moved from the Email distribution of the
Significant Activities Report, please contact
Tony Kizlauskas, 312-353-8773,
kizlauskas.anthony@epa.gov.
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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