NERL
Notables
NERL2002
National Exposure Research Laboratory
July 2008
Volume 5, Issue &
Personal Views — Report from Ground Zero"
Two days after the attacks on the World
Trade Center, Alan Vette and Matthew Landis
found themselves preparing to depart for
lower Manhattan with a mobile laboratory and
the toughest assignment of their careers.
It wasn't until they were in a truck driving
north to Manhattan on September 15 that they
grasped the enormity of the task that lay before
them. They had no idea what they might en-
counter but tried to mentally prepare them-
selves. When Drs. Vette and Landis, research
scientists with the EPA's National Exposure Re-
search Laboratory, reached Ground Zero, they
were not so much shocked as numbed. Vette
remembers, "I had never seen war up close and
personal, but that's got to be what it looks like."
The two spent the next 13 days in lower
Manhattan. Working without access to electrical
power, encumbered by respirators, and sur-
rounded by police officers and members of
the National Guard and Coast Guard, they set
up four air-quality monitoring stations designed
to identify pollutants and assess the long-term
health impact of the collapse of the Twin Tow-
ers. While the EPA's Region 2 office coordi-
nated the day-to-day environmental clean-up
efforts and oversaw communications with both
the public and the media, Vette and Landis fo-
cused on the longer-range consequences of the
attacks. Questions like: what kinds of chemicals
were in dust samples collected upwind and
downwind from Ground Zero; whether the
concentration of certain airborne elements
changed during heavy demolition or excavation
activities; how did the fires affect the air quality;
and how safe was the air at Fresh Kills landfill
on Staten Island where officials were sifting
through millions of tons of debris?
For Landis, the visit to Fresh Kills was the
moment when it all hit him. "We were working
alongside the folks who were sorting through
the debris, and you could see things like teddy
bears and people's shoes, their personal effects,
ID cards, briefcases, and purses — all of that
stuff belonged to somebody."
Each day, Landis and Vette ran a virtual gaunt-
let inside the Holland Tunnel in order to get to
Ground Zero. Closed to all but rescue and
other federally authorized workers, the tunnel
had four separate checkpoints. The last of these
was a set of large trucks, which were moved to
let workers like Landis and Vette pass. In down-
town Manhattan, they then had to clear both an
external security zone and an inner loop where
security was even tighter.
Inside Ground Zero, the two teamed to set
up and service a monitoring network that yields
continuous measurements and daily integrated
samples of fine-fraction participate matter
IAI» ,1,1 T.-.. - <•»„..
World Trade Center
Parks; Medians Cleaned
Parking Areas Cleaned
I I Road.
O Personnel Wash Station
0 Truck Wash Station
0 Car S Personnel Wash Station
Cleaned Areas and Wash Stations
ag of 0ctQber is, 2001
Building Status
rT"l Destroyed
^| Partially Collapsed
I I Major Structural Damage; Occupancy No! Permitted
I 1 Damaged by Stable ,< Ready lor Occuparvcy VWh Repair
| \ Inspected But Mot Affected
| ] Not Affected
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Research and Development
NERL
Notables
(<2.5um), and gaseous volatile organic compounds. Except
for some elevated levels of lead early in the process —
levels that soon dropped — Landis and Vette found noth-
ing terribly remarkable. The elemental composition of the
dust was fairly consistent with building materials. It should
be noted that other researchers in academia had found
elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the
dust.
Today the two researchers continue to analyze data col-
lected as part of EPA's monitoring efforts, which were
completed on May 15, 2002. Their findings will be pub-
lished in peer-reviewed journals. Although most of the
monitoring was conducted to identify immediate health
concerns, Landis and Vette are interested in a detailed char-
acterization of the pollution and the implications for long-
term health risks. Future disaster-relief efforts stand to
benefit from their findings. Their research may shed light,
for example, on the relative importance of extinguishing
fires early in an emergency clean-up operation, or on re-
stricting demolition and debris removal in order to limit
emissions.
Both Vette and Landis say their academic careers — each
obtained his Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Michi-
gan School of Public Health — gave them crucial knowl-
edge and skills for this type of work. As graduate students,
both took part in several intensive air-monitoring cam-
paigns with Professor Gerald Keeler at sites in Chicago,
Detroit, Florida, and Baltimore before beginning their re-
search at the EPA. "The only difference was [then] we had
the benefit of being able to plan," says Vette. "In this case,
we didn't have much time to plan up front how we were
going to carry out the study in New York, so we had to
draw on those experiences from the past. Knowing what
we did and learning what we did in graduate school cer-
tainly helped us do that."
Understandably the experience has prompted both men
to reevaluate the significance of their chosen profession.
"We both work in various ways to protect the public's
health, and this is certainly one way," Vette notes. "I never
thought this type of situation would arise — I don't think
anyone did. But it has made me think about future things
that could be done to protect people's health."
To peers, colleagues and current students, Landis offers
this encouragement: "A lot of times public health work is
not in the news, and you may not get a lot of attention for
what you do, but it sure is important. It's just like the mili-
tary," he adds. "You take it for granted until you need it. I
just hope we can respond as well in other events."
*NOTE: the article was originally published in the Uni-
versity of Michigan School of Public Health magazine
Findings. This is the first in a series of reports from EPA
staff involved in activities at the World Trade Center.
Anthrax Response
During December and January, Jim Kitchens, from
NERL's Ecosystems Research Division, assisted EPA Re-
gion 3 safety personnel in the Anthrax clean-up of the
Senate office buildings and postal facility in the Washing-
ton, DC area. While at the site, he participated in surveys
of activities including the chlorine dioxide decontamina-
tion of the Hart Senate Office Building and recovery of
spore strips from ethylene oxide sterilization of office
materials, review of newly constructed decontamination
areas at the P Street postal facility, and oversight of the
health and safety activities involved at the affected sites.
While at the Anthrax response, he was asked to assist
with an emergency response at the U.S. Department of
Commerce. Mail that had been irradiated and sealed in
shrink-wrap was opened in the Commerce Building result-
ing in illness to eleven people and hospitalization of three.
Kitchens provided chemical expertise for the EPA Region
3 response, consulting with Department of Commerce,
FBI, DC Fire, and Capital Police.
Commander Brian Kovak (left) and
Jim Kitchens (right) inside the
Capital Police Station, which was
used as the command post for the
Anthrax response.
Identifying the Hepatitis E Virus in Water
A new method developed to identify the waterborne
hepatitis E virus (HEV) was described in a recent jour-
nal article by Ann Grimm and G. Shay Fout, "Develop-
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ment of a Molecular Method
to Identify Hepatitis E Virus
in Water," which was pub-
lished in the March, 2002, issue of the
Journal of Virological Methods. HEV is one
of the most common causes of hepati-
tis worldwide. In most cases the illness
caused by this virus is symptomatically similar to hepa-
titis A, but it is particularly severe in pregnant women,
causing a 15-25% maternal fatality rate. To date, there
have been no recorded outbreaks of HEV in humans in
the U.S.; however, sporadic cases have been seen, usually
among travelers who have visited endemic countries.
There has been a recent report of a person in the
U.S. infected with a version of HEV that is 97% identi-
cal to a type of HEV found in hogs — this person had
not traveled outside of the U.S. Swine HEV is endemic
in the Midwest, so it is possible that swine or other ani-
mals may act as reservoirs for this virus. Similar cases
of humans infected with swine-like HEV have been
reported in Taiwan.
Due to the potential for an HEV outbreak in the U.S.,
a rapid method to detect both human and swine HEV
in water has been developed and will be used to look
for HEV in environmental water samples.
Ann Grimm, NERE-Cincinnati, (513) 569-7397
*NEKL Task #5423
Mercury Measurements and Analysis
Scientists at the NERL's Environmental Sciences Divi-
sion (BSD) are using several approaches to measure and
analyze mercury levels.
Results of recent research were pre-
sented at the national meeting of the
Society of Environmental Toxicol-
ogy and Chemistry (SETAC) by Dr.
James Cizdziel, a National Research
Council postdoctoral associate at
2O1
SO
IRV
ESD The approach uses a commercially available instru-
ment that directly analyzes liquid or solid samples without
digestion. This analysis method is much faster than con-
ventional methods of measuring mercury, requires less
sample, and produces virtually no laboratory waste. It has
been validated for both whole-fish and fish muscle tissue
by Thomas Hinners of ESD (manuscript in preparation).
Dr. Cizdziel combined the analytical method with mi-
cro-sampling of muscle tissue with a biopsy punch. Dr.
Cizdziel, mentored by Dr. Ed Heithmar of ESD, demon-
strated that concentrations representative of the entire fish
muscle can be obtained from milligram-size samples, mak-
ing possible non-lethal mercury sampling, as well as mea-
surements on samples intended for other analyses. He
applied the method to fish collected from Lake Mead by
researchers led by Dr. James Pollard of the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas. As expected, mercury concentrations
were higher in fish of higher trophic level and larger size.
Mercury concentrations were found to be highly corre-
lated between muscle, liver, and blood tissues, with evi-
dence of redistribution toward the liver at high
concentration. Dr. Cizdziel also provided a summary of
his results to the Lake Mead Water Quality Forum (a con-
sortium of federal, state, and local agencies).
An article published in the Native American Fish and
Wildlife Society newsletter, From the Eagle's Nest, describes a
similar effort that is being undertaken by NERL. Accord-
ing to the article, "Use of ... a mercury analyzer has been
proposed by EPA research chemist Thomas A. Hinners for
a study of the Aleut community on St. Paul Island in the
Arctic. In an outreach effort with Mr. Michael Schaver, En-
vironmental Coordinator with the Big Valley Rancheria,
Lakeport, CA, (the Big Valley Band of Porno Indians), this
type of analyzer may be acquired by the Tribe to assess
mercury exposures in a tribal area of California." The ar-
ticle also states, "Mercury levels in fish tissue are relevant
to the health not only of humans, but also of fish-eating
mammals and birds." The mercury analyzer can be used to
detect levels of mercury in hair, fish-tissue, and feathers.
Edward Heithmar, NERL-Las Vegas, (702) 798-2626
Thomas Hinners, NERL-Eas Vegas, (702) 798-2140
*NERE Task #5452
Developing Landscape Indicator Models
Nearly 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used
annually in the United States, with approximately 80
percent being used for agricultural purposes and the
remainder used for industrial, commercial, and
household purposes. Excess pesticides and nutrients
may be transported to streams through ground-water
discharge or overland runoff and can cause a variety of
ecological and human-health effects.
A variety of interacting natural and human processes
affect the level of pesticides and nutrients in streams
and ground water. Landscape-indicator models can be
used to identify specific areas of concern and target
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the limited resources typically available for environ-
mental monitoring, mitigation, or remediation.
The NERL Environmental Sciences Division is
collaborating with the U.S. Geological Survey to relate
land use, geology, and other geographic variables to wa-
ter quality and aquatic ecology in approximately 200
small streams of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Data
from the study, which includes coastal areas from New
Jersey to North Carolina, will be used to develop land-
scape-indicator models of pesticides and nutrients and
to provide an assessment of water quality and stream
biology in the study area.
Ann Pitchford, NERE-Eas Vegas, (702) 798-2366
*NERL Task #5448
Water Safety
The NERL Ecological Exposure Research Division
has two important documents now available to
! assist anyone in working safely on rivers and
selecting sampling methods. Both of these
documents are available on a web site.
• Comparisons of Boating and Wading Methods Used to
Assess the Status of Flowing Waters: by J. E.
Flotemersch, S. M. Cormier and B. C. Autrey (SoBran
Inc.) EPA600/R-00/108 (www.epa.gov/EERD/
MCD_nocover.pdf).
• Logistics of Ecological Sampling on Large Rivers: by J.
E. Flotemersch, S. M. Cormier and B. C. Autrey
(SoBran Inc.) EPA600/R-00/109 (WWW.epa.gOV/EERD/
logistics_nocover.pdf).
In addition to these products, statistical comparison of
biological and physical habitat data collected at 60 beatable
river sites using a variety of methods is underway. The
biological side of the study includes the comparison of
various field methods for the collection of fish, benthic
macroinvertebrates, and algae.
The field component of an additional large river
benthic macroinvertebrate project studying the relation-
ship of distance sampled with metrics and species compo-
sition, as well as variability among transects and between
banks was completed this summer. These data will be ana-
lyzed to determine the most efficient sampling design for
large rivers.
Susan Cormier, NERE-Cindnnati, (513) 569-7995
*NERE Task #8374
Serving Organic Compounds on ICE
Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) is a very selective
and sensitive analytical technique developed by the NERL
Environmental Sciences Division for characterizing or
identifying compounds such as pharmaceuticals and per-
sonal care products found at trace levels in water and
other environmental samples. ICE relies on the high re-
solving power of a double-focusing mass spectrometer.
Currently, this analytical approach can only be performed
by the NERL, but Dr. Andy Grange is in the process of
transferring this technology to the Centers for Disease
Control for use in solving complex analytical problems.
NERL is also applying this technology to complex envi-
ronmental problems in coordination with Professor David
Epel of Stanford University, Professor Lawrence R. Curtis
of Oregon State University, and Mr. Floyd Genicola of the
New Jersey EPA.
Andy Grange, NERE-Eas Vegas, (702) 798-2137
*NERL Task #5452
Volatile Organic Compounds
An article published in the April—May 2002 issue of The
Solution (a GSA newsletter) highlighted three areas of re-
search by the NERL Environmental Sciences Division
(ESD): soil and sediment sampling methods, ground-water
sampling and geophysical methods development and
evaluation, and the environmental technology verification
(ETV) program.
All three areas of research focus on volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) in the environment. The ESD works
to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and representativeness
of sampling techniques for collecting soils and sediments
contaminated with VOCs. This work includes research
into ground-water sampling methods and geophysical
methods development for detecting and monitoring con-
taminants within and below ground-water and in the soil/
vadose zone (located in the zone of aeration above the
ground water level). The ETV program is used to test and
verify the performance of instruments and tools.
The GSA newsletter underscores the importance of this
research by stating, "VOCs are the most common contami-
nants encountered at Superfund and other hazardous
waste sites. Many VOCs are considered hazardous because
they are toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic, and because
they are highly mobile in the subsurface."
Scientists at the ESD are making valuable contributions
toward developing methods for measuring VOC concen-
trations and understanding how they behave in the envi-
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ronment, with the ultimate goal of establishing standard
protocols. Furthermore, the ETV program seeks to pro-
vide decision makers with objective, quality-assured data
on commercial-ready environmental technologies.
Eric Kogin, NEKL-Las Vegas, (702) 798-2432
*NEKL Task #5539
Regional Vulnerability Asse&sffletffc
Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA)
NERL is the leading partner in the ORD-wide Regional
Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) program, which is an ap-
proach to regional scale, priority-setting assessment. ReVA
is a cooperative effort among laboratories and centers
across ORD that is integrating research on human and en-
vironmental health, ecorestoration, landscape analysis, re-
gional exposure and modeling, problem formulation, and
ecological risk guidelines. The following articles highlight
recent or upcoming ReVA activities.
Smith, NERL-RTP, (919) 541-0620
*NERL Task #8877
CONFERENCE IN 2003—The first Regional
Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) conference will be May
13—15, 2003 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Planning is un-
derway and a call for papers will be out soon. The confer-
ence will focus on work that has been done for the ReVA
pilot study in the mid-Atlantic region as part of the Mid-
Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) and will also look
ahead to research that is planned as ReVA expands to in-
clude additional endpoints (e.g. estuarine health) in that
region and gears up for a second region. The call-for-pa-
pers will solicit presentations on research that is relevant
to ReVA, both in the Mid-Atlantic and in other regions.
There will also be training sessions on decision-support
tools developed with support from ReVA. More informa-
tion will be coming to you soon.
RsVA's WEB-BASED APPLICATION—The Regional Vulner-
ability Assessment (ReVA) is developing a number of deci-
sion-support applications but is focusing initial efforts on
a web-based application developed by Waratah Corpora-
tion to serve as the analysis engine for upcoming results
and for the decision workshops. Written in S-Plus, the ap-
plication allows exploration of data for hypothesis genera-
tion and preliminary analyses. It provides multiple ways to
view the presentation of individual indicators/coverages
or integrated results using a subset of the data or the en-
tire data set. It will also allow analyses on areas smaller than
the entire region, e.g. the mid-Atlantic Highlands. It will
soon have all of the candidate integration methods and
will incorporate a number of future scenarios based on
client-determined management options. The application
will soon allow differential weighting of indicators/data
along with comparison of results so that trade-offs can be
evaluated.
Application demonstrations have received strong en-
dorsement from potential users, including EPA regional
offices. The application provides flexibility for data, i.e. the
same framework can be taken to other regions (the ReVA
team is already talking with Regions 4 and 5 about develop-
ing versions that use data that represent those regions), and
can be adapted to any scale, i.e. national or subregional. It is
hoped that the application can be deployed on an EPA
public server in early FY 03, following review of data and
integration methods and results.
INTEGRATING HUMAN AND FISCAL HEALTH INTO RsVA—
The Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) is moving
beyond just doing an ecological assessment towards a com-
prehensive environmental assessment — one that not only
considers information on risks to human health, but also
considers how the financial health of families and com-
munities and changes in quality of life can impact environ-
mental quality (e.g., the impact of the opening or closing
of a major center of employment). ReVA has identified a
number of data sets, primarily from census data, that will
help to identify where there are sensitive subpopulations
of people — areas where there are lots of old or young
people, or those that don't have ready access to regular
health care. Similarly, ReVA is also including data on em-
ployment, indicators of fiscal health, and projected
changes in demographics to reveal areas that may be more
sensitive to changes in environmental quality. While the
initial analyses of these endpoints will be very coarse, they
will be included in the first assessments and should pro-
vide a much clearer picture of how changes in environ-
mental condition affect our quality of life.
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ESTABLISHING LINKS WITH THE PLANNING COMMUNITY—
Everyone on the Regional Vulnerability Assessment
(ReVA) team is particularly interested in applying their re-
search results and informing environmental decisions.
Much of the research they have done considers land use
change and how that affects water quality, habitat, and qual-
ity of life. Because of this, they have initiated discussions
with the American Planning Association (APA) to work
together to get their research results into the hands of
planners across the country. Working with the APA's re-
search department, the ReVA team hopes to develop better
ways to communicate the research results such that they go
beyond the usual science community to the people mak-
ing land use decisions.
Check Out These Web Sites
• http://www.epa.gov/nerlesd 1/cmb/default.htm
Characterisation and Monitoring — This group's research and
technical support address questions about monitoring for
site characterization, pollution prevention, the detection and
assessment of contaminants, and decision support systems
for site characterization and the evaluation of exposure.
•http://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/chemistry/ice/default.htm
Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) — This site provides ac-
cess to information about ICE and its applications.
• http://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/cihemistry/vacuum/default.htm
Vacuum Distillation — This site provides information
about vacuum distillation as a means to extract volatile
chemicals from most media.
1 http://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/land-sci/srsv/default.htm
Spectral Remote Sensing of Vegetation Conference — This con-
ference is to be held at the NERL's Environmental Sci-
ences Division in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 3-5,
2002. It will focus on applying to vegetation research
spectral information obtained from passive and active
sensors using imaging and non-imaging remote sensing
systems. Both lab-based and field-based (including air-
borne or spaceborne) studies are invited.
1 http://www.epa.gov/nerlesd 1/land-sci/ny.htm
New York City Watershed Assessment — This site provides
information from an assessment of the Catskill/Delaware
watersheds, which supply 90% of New York City's drink-
ing water (the report is undergoing peer review).
1 http://www. insecol.org/Journal/vol4/iss8/artg/
The US Forest Service, in collaboration with the Land-
scape Sciences Program, completed a global assessment
of forest fragmentation using 1-km AVHRR data from
the USGS EROS Data Center. The assessment, which
highlights a new fragmentation metric developed by Dr.
Kurt Riitters, Deputy Director for the US Forest Service's
National Forest Health Monitoring Program, was pub-
lished in Conservation Ecology, an on-line journal of the
Ecological Society of America.
Please send your comments, feedback, or items
for inclusion in the next edition to:
Robin Baily (baily.robin@epa.gov)
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