Greal
Lakes
National
Program
&EPA
On the Web at;
www.epa.gov/glnpo
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
Significant Activities Report
April-May 2003
IN THIS ISSUE:
Lake Guardian at Work
Voluntary Mercury Initiative
Proposals Break Record
Measuring Mud
Heavy Metal Dog
The Green Way
Assuring Quality
Quality Assurance/Assistance?
North American Toxics Reduction
Mudpuppy Starts 2003 Surveys
Detroit River PCB Assessment
Aquatic Invasive Species Summit
Lake Guardian at Work
After a delay of nearly two weeks, due to
extensive ice on the Great Lakes, the Spring
Water Quality Survey began on April 9th
and was completed on May 5th. Samples
were taken for investigation of water chem-
Passing Milwaukee Harbor Light, R/V Lake Guardian
begins Spring 2003 monitoring cruise
R/V Lake Guardian transiting from Lake Michigan to
Lake Huron passes lake carrier in Straits of Mackinac
istry and biology. This is the latest survey in
a long-term monitoring program that began
in 1983. The surveys have documented
trends in nutrient and chlorophyll levels in
the lakes, and changes in their plankton
communities. Samples were taken at from
eight (Lake Ontario) to twenty stations
(Lake Erie) in each of the five lakes. Lake
Erie was sampled twice because of very
high turbidity levels in the lake on the first
pass. Turbidity readings did not decrease for
the second sampling of Lake Erie. High tur-
bidity levels often indicate high total phos-
phorus concentrations in the water. Re-
searchers from Michigan Technological
University tested new atmospheric sampling
technology aboard the R/V Lake Guardian
during the Lake Superior segment of the
survey.
(Contact: Glenn Warren, 312-886-2405,
warren.glenn@epa.gov)
The activities of GLNPO's 180-foot re-
search ship, the R/V Lake Guardian, can
now be tracked online at: http://www.epa.
gov/glnpo/guard/underway/index.html. The
"R/VLake Guardian at Work" pages will be
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April-May 2003
Significant Activities Report
Rosette Water Sampler in Operation
updated on a weekly basis with new infor-
mation collected on surveys and informa-
tion about the operations of the ship. Visi-
tors can read ship position reports which
give a daily log of ship operations and can
view photos of the ship's operations. Actual
monitoring station data from the Guardian's
Seabird profiler (which measures tempera-
ture, turbidity and chlorophyll versus
depth), will also be available. Other features
of the "At Work" pages include the "Safety
Tour" video of the R/V Lake Guardian, a
feature on the dry-docking of the ship in
September 2000, and the ship's schedule.
(Contact: Pranas Pranckevicius, 312-353-
3437, pranckevicius.pranas@epa.gov)
In preparation for this year's surveys,
GLNPO updated and finalized its sampling
manual, "Sampling and Analytical Proce-
dures for GLNPO's Open Lake Water Qual-
ity Survey of the Great Lakes."
The new manual was used in procedural
training for scientists aboard the R/VLake
Guardian on March 24th and 25th. The train-
ing involved:
Review of ship operations, the SOP
manual, and ship safety;
Review of sampling and data collection
activities (e.g., bridge, DO, board, biol-
ogy, and physical and chemical parame-
ters),
Demonstrations of the SeaBird/Rosette
sampling on station,
Review of depth determination using
thermocline profiles, and
Review of the GLEND A Remote Data
Entry Tool.
The training concluded with a performance
assessment to assure a minimum level of
competence in performing the activities in-
volved in the survey and to acquaint survey
participants with the new sampling manual.
(Contact: Lou Blume, 312-353-2317,
blume.louis@epa.gov)
Voluntary Mercury Initiative
On May 15th, GLNPO's Frank Anscombe
and Alexis Cain of USEPA Region 5 Air
Division received the James W. Craig Pol-
lution Prevention Leadership Award
from USEPA Administrator Christine Todd
Whitman for "achieving a 75% reduction in
mercury use from the chlor-alkali industry
by creating a model voluntary initiative."
The amounts of mercury consumed by
chlor-alkali factories are significant. Over a
six-year period, 14 U.S. mercury cell chlor-
alkali factories consumed an average of 160
tons per year, more than 10 tons each. For
perspective, USEPA estimated that annual
mercury air emissions from all U.S. indus-
tries were 157 tons during 1995.
In 1996, the U.S. chlor-alkali sector an-
nounced a voluntary program to go beyond
compliance with regulations and reduce
mercury lost during the production process.
Since then, through 2002, firms have re-
duced replenishment mercury to 30 tons per
year. Adjusting for factory closures, the rate
of mercury loss from operating factories has
fallen by 74 percent during the past 6 years.
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Alexis Cain (left) and Frank Anscombe, recipients of
USEPA's James W. Craig Pollution Prevention
Leadership Award
Reductions reflect the efforts of the 1,000
men and women who work in mercury cell
factories. Companies have developed new
maintenance and operation procedures, im-
proved the longevity of parts, and invested
in new equipment. One worker invented a
UV light that reveals mercury vapor
sources. The industry provides an annual
progress report to EPA.
EPA has contributed in several ways. The
Agency has worked with the industry to de-
fine a useful indicator of its performance.
EPA convened a scientific team that con-
ducted an unprecedented 10-day fugitive air
emissions study from inside an operating
factory. Also, the Great Lakes Binational
Toxics Strategy has provided a forum for
the industry to share information on its ac-
tivities to the public
In Anscombe's view, the chlor-alkali sector
illustrates that "with a meaningful indicator
of progress, self-regulation can be highly
effective. It is much the best outcome for
society if responsible parties determine how
to prevent their pollution, in least cost ways,
tailored to their individual circumstances."
Mercury vapor travels widely via the atmos-
phere. The United States receives air depo-
sition of mercury from foreign emissions
and vice versa. There are 100 to 200 mer-
cury cell factories worldwide, in contrast to
just nine now operating in the United States.
A survey suggests that 17 factories in India
consume 7 times more mercury than U.S.
ones. Happily, the U.S. industry has begun
dialogue with factories in developing coun-
tries so as to spread know-how regarding
practical ways to prevent mercury losses.
U.S. industry representatives have bench-
marked the best factories in Europe and
Brazil, bringing back lessons that they are
employing in this country. They are now
looking to promote the sharing of such les-
sons to counterpart factories in other na-
tions. "It would be welcome if chlor-alkali
factories in all nations reduce their mercury
vapor losses. It is praiseworthy that U.S.
factories are convening practical interna-
tional dialogue toward this goal," suggests
Cain.
Information on the voluntary program of the
mercury cell chlor-alkali industry may be
viewed at: http://www.epa.gov.Region5/air/
mercury/reducing.html#chloralkali.
(Contacts: Frank Anscombe, 312-353-0201,
anscombe.frank@epa.gov; or Alexis Cain,
312-886-7018, cain.alexis@epa.gov)
Proposals Break Record
As mentioned in last month's Significant
Activities Report, the competition for up to
$4,827,000 in grant funds closed on March
31st. In response to this year's competitive
proposal solicitation, GLNPO received a re-
cord number and amount of proposals: 338
proposals, requesting a total of $28 million.
The complete list of proposals received can
be viewed on the Web at: http://www.epa.
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
gov/glnpo/fund/2003 guid/idli st. html.
Proposals were requested through the
"FY2003-2004 USEPA Great Lakes Na-
tional Program Office Funding Guidance -
Four Requests for Proposals." The process
was different this year from that of the pre-
vious 10 years. It consolidated the annual
GLNPO competitive solicitation with funds
previously managed by USEPA Water pro-
grams in Regions 2 and 5 for projects for
development and implementation of
Lakewide Management Plans and Remedial
Action Plans.
(Contact: Mike Russ, 312-886-4013, russ.
michael@epa.gov)
Measuring Mud
The recently completed "Guidance Manuals
to Support the Assessment of Contaminated
Sediments in Freshwater Ecosystems" are
now available electronically. The docu-
ments were developed by the Sustainable
Fisheries Foundation through a 1999 grant
from GLNPO and published as USEPA
documents. The guidance manuals present
an ecosystem-based approach for assessing
and managing sediments, evaluates specific
tests available for evaluating sediments,
provides recommended procedures for de-
signing and implementing sediment quality
investigations, and presents procedures for
.
interpreting the results of sediment quality
investigations. The manuals are important
resources for those involved in the assess-
ment of sediments in the Great Lakes Basin.
The manuals are available electronically on
the web at: http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
sediments.html#Manual. A limited number
of hard copies are also available. For hard
copies, please e-mail your request to Larry
Brail at lawrence.brail@epa.gov.
(Contact: Scott Cieniawski, 312-353-9184,
cieniawski.scott@epa.gov)
Heavy Metal Dog
Clancy, a 4-year-old black Labrador Re-
triever mix, is removing mercury from Min-
nesota schools, while educating students
about the olfactory prowess of dogs. An
EPA grant to the Minnesota Pollution Con-
trol Agency (MFCA) is helping support a
"Mercury-Free Zone Program."
Many high schools harbor some mercury,
often in science lab thermometers and beak-
ers. Every year, mishaps result in dozens of
Sediment Undergoing Bioassay Testing
Clancy Takes a Well-deserved Break
(Photo courtesy of Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency)
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Clancy and MPCA's Carol Hubbard Hard at Work
(Photo courtesy of Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency)
mercury spills at schools across the United
States, necessitating temporary closures and
expensive cleanups. Sometimes these spills
are not noticed. Because mercury is semi-
volatile (partly a gas) at room temperature,
an untended spill will contribute some mer-
cury vapor to the air in a class-room. This
vapor isn't easy to detect because mercury
is odorless to humans.
The MPCA's program aims to ward off
spills, by finding and removing mercury
within schools. At the same time, the
MPCA offers a short presentation on mer-
cury and Clancy demonstrates his skill at
detecting mercury vapor, offering interest-
ing perspectives for students.
Through the efforts of Clancy and his
MPCA team-mates:
550 pounds of mercury have been re-
moved from Minnesota schools,
176 (out of 1,800 schools) have thus far
taken a mercury-free pledge, agreeing to
eliminate high risk mercury containing
equipment and all bulk mercury,
75 schools have been checked for mer-
cury, and
8,963 students and teachers have been
educated about the hazards and prudent
management of mercury.
Clancy's work has been noticed by the me-
dia. Since October 2001, there have been 47
newspaper articles, 16 television spots, and
5 radio spots on Clancy's efforts to sniff out
mercury from Minnesota schools.
Further information about the Mercury-Free
Zone Program and Clancy is available on
the MPCA's Web Site at: http://www.pca.
state, mn.us/programs/mercury- free/index.
html.
(Contact: Frank Anscombe, 312-353-0201,
anscombe.firank@epa.gov)
The Green Way
GLNPO funding helped the Community
Foundation for Southeast Michigan hold
two workshops on greenways. The work-
shops, held in April of 2002, brought na-
tional renowned greenways expert Charles
Flink to present information about the eco-
nomic benefits of greenways to Southeast
Michigan. The workshop also provided
greenways practitioners with a template of
what to look for in the planning of green-
ways in their communities. More than 200
people attended the first workshop to learn
about economic benefits of greenways, land
Putting finishing touches on Polly Ann Trailway
greenway project in Oakland County, Michigan
(Photo courtesy of Community Foundation of South-
east Michigan)
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
use issues, greenways design and construc-
tion, community engagement, and funding
opportunities for greenways. Eighty people
were invited to attend the second workshop
to discuss how to plan greenways, how to
underwrite the costs, community outreach
and engagement, and issues as basic as the
type of materials used in greenways con-
struction. A workbook was distributed to all
who came at no cost to the attendees.
(Contact: Karen Rodriguez, 312-353-2690,
rodriguez.karen@epa.gov)
Assuring Quality
In an effort to ensure that all the work that
the Great Lakes National Program does is of
documented high quality, GLNPO devel-
oped a new Quality Management Plan
(QMP). The QMP describes the daily activi-
ties that GLNPO implements to ensure
quality management and add value to our
program and decisions. The QMP was ap-
proved by USEPA's Office of Environ-
mental Information in April 2003.
Great
Lakes
National
Program
Office
.&EPA
USEPA's Great Lakes National Program Office
The QMP defines GLNPO's quality system,
describing how GLNPO will plan, imple-
ment, document, and assess its quality sys-
tem to support its mission. The document
also communicates the policy and provides
guidance on GLNPO's quality management
system to all personnel associated with
GLNPO. GLNPO's innovative quality man-
agement policy focuses on four operating
principles: assistance, flexibility, value-
added, and continuous improvement. These
operating principles guide GLNPO quality
staff in implementing the quality system on
a daily basis. GLNPO's quality system also
is based on a graded approach. In GLNPO's
quality system, requirements are commen-
surate with the:
Importance of the work,
Availability of resources,
Unique needs of the organization, and
Consequences of potential decision er-
rors.
GLNPO's QMP fits into the USEPA's over-
all Agency-wide Quality System. The
Agency-wide quality system management
system provides the necessary elements to
plan, implement, document, and assess the
effectiveness of quality assurance and qual-
ity control activities applied to environ-
mental programs conducted by or for
USEPA. The intent is to develop a consis-
tent approach to environmental decisions
that ensures the collection of supporting
data that are scientifically sound, legally de-
fensible, and of known and documented
quality. The USEPA Office of Environ-
mental Information's Quality Staff is re-
sponsible for developing, coordinating and
directing the implementation of the
Agency's QA program.
GLNPO's Quality Management Plan is
available on the Internet at: http://www.epa.
gov/glnpo/qa/qmp/index.html. The docu-
ments that make up the QMP are very large,
so if you have difficulty accessing these
documents from the Web Pages, you can
request a CD version of the QMP from
Marybeth Giancarlo, 312-886-2253, gian-
carlo.marybeth@epa.gov.
(Contact: Lou Blume, 312-353-2317,
blume.louis@epa.gov)
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Lou Blume hard at work providing Quality Assistance
Quality Assurance/Assistance?
GLNPO's QA Manager, Lou Blume, pre-
sented a paper with that title at the USEPA
22nd Annual National Conference on Man-
aging Environmental Quality Systems. He
noted that too often researchers or decision
makers are asked to develop a Quality Man-
agement Plan and believe that the process of
doing this is just another requirement to
"get the money" or to make a bureaucrat
happy. These feelings typically are driven
by past experiences of working with quality
documentation or quality managers that
were inflexible and rigid in their interpreta-
tion of requirements with the hopes of guar-
anteeing or assuring success in a project,
similar to an insurance policy or a guaran-
tee.
Mr. Blume said that the Agency's current
Quality System developed within the con-
straints of the ISO 9000:2000 and ISO
9001: Quality Management Systems-
Requirements provides for a time saving
cost effective planning and implementation
process that adds value to the decisions or
questions being addressed. Further the
Quality staff employed within a successful
organization provide a critical assistance
role to the researcher or environmental
manager. As an organization matures in ap-
plying these successful quality systems in a
flexible manner that focuses on assistance,
the historic polarization between the client
and the quality assistors is greatly reduced.
This promotes continued interaction be-
tween the client and quality assistors well
beyond the initial award phase of the project
to the reporting, assessment, and peer re-
view phases. This continued interaction
helps in assuring that results are consistent
with the requirements of OMB's new Infor-
mation Quality Guidelines.
(Contact: Lou Blume, 312-353-2317,
blume.louis@epa.gov)
North American Toxics Reduction
The Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy
(GLBTS, U.S.-Canada) held its semi-annual
Stakeholder Forum jointly with the Com-
mission for Environmental Cooperation's
(CEC, U.S.-Canada-Mexico) Sound Man-
agement of Chemicals (SMOC) meeting in
Windsor, Ontario, Canada on May 13th and
14th.
GLBTS and CEC logos
Approximately 80 people attended the two-
day SMOC meeting, including representa-
tives from government, industry, and non-
governmental organizations from the U.S.,
Canada, and Mexico. Danny Epstein, the
Canadian Co-Chair of the GLBTS informed
the participants about the Strategy's driving
force, focus and accomplishments to-date.
More importantly, natural program syner-
gies between the CEC's SMOC and the
GLBTS were identified which underlined
the need to work collaboratively in address-
ing persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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substances.
Other Presentations included:
An overview of the CEC SMOC pro-
gram,
"Frontera 2012," a binational (U.S.-
Mexico) strategy to address pollutants
across the U.S.-Mexican border,
Aboriginal perspectives on toxic sub-
stances from representatives located
within each of the three nations repre-
sented by the CEC:
Shawna Larson, Alaska Community Ac-
tion on Toxics, Indigenous Environ-
mental Network,
Stephanie Meakin, Inuit Circumpolar
Conference,
Angel Valencia, Yeomem Tekia Foun-
dation (an affiliate member of the Inter-
national Indian Treaty Council),
An overview of the upcoming imple-
mentation of the Great Lakes Legacy
Act,
Long-range transport of emerging
chemicals,
and reports on progress in GLBTS ef-
forts to reduce levels of PCBs, mercury,
PAHs, dioxins and furans.
GLBTS representatives will continue coor-
dination with CEC efforts by attending CEC
stakeholder forums. One joint project of the
CEC and GLBTS in the works is a long-
range transport workshop planned for Sep-
tember 2003 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Proceedings and copies of the presentations
will be available on the GLBTS web-site,
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/bns/index.html,
shortly.
(Contact: Ted Smith, 312-353-6571, smith.
edwin@epa.gov)
Mudpuppy crew ready to take sediment core sample
Mudpuppy Starts 2003 Surveys
On May 5th to 8th, GLNPO's specially-built
sediment sampling boat, the R/V Mudpuppy,
was in Ludington, Michigan to help the
Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality (MDEQ) with sediment sampling
on Pere Marquette Lake. The field crew col-
lected a total often sediment cores through-
out the lake for laboratory analysis for
PCBs, PAHs, and heavy metals. The main
purpose of the sampling was to determine if
the sediments are a source of PCB contami-
nation in the fish within Pere Marquette
Lake. The MDEQ fish monitoring program
has detected elevated levels of PCBs in fish
tissue samples and is trying to find out
whether the elevated levels are due to back-
ground Lake Michigan contamination or are
caused by a more local source.
Next, the Mudpuppy was off to the Ashta-
bula River in Ohio to collect sediment sam-
ples from the Ashtabula River in Ohio. The
sampling survey was conducted to help the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determine
the design of the dredged material discharge
water and leachate water treatment facilities
they'll need when they dredge the Ashta-
bula River in Ashtabula, Ohio. From May
12th to 15th, the Mudpuppy was used to col-
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April-May 2003
lect a total of 80 cores from roughly 20 lo-
cations along the river, with core tube
lengths of nearly 15 feet of sediment at a
few locations. The sediment cores were
capped and ferried to shore for processing
and transportation to a laboratory for analy-
sis. This effort will provide the analytical
data necessary for the technical support of
the dredging, handling, dewatering, water
treatment, transport, and disposal of sedi-
ments that are scheduled to be dredged by
the Corps from the Ashtabula River.
(Contacts: Scott Cieniawski, 312-353-9184,
cieniawski.scott@epa.gov; Demaree Col-
lier, 312-886-0214, collier.demaree@epa.
gov)
Detroit River PCB Assessment
The report entitled "Evaluating Ecosystem
Results of PCB Control Measures Within
the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin"
is now available in hard copy and on the
Internet. Funded by a grant from GLNPO,
Wayne State University wrote the report to
help establish a surveillance network for the
Detroit River and Lake Erie watershed to
monitor the water quality of these areas.
The network will assist in evaluating
whether or not recent source loading reduc-
tions and sediment remediation for PCBs
had a beneficial impact on this ecosystem.
The report is based on information from a
binational workshop held at the Great Lakes
Institute in Windsor, Ontario in June of last
year. The workshop's purpose was to ad-
dress PCB monitoring, modeling, research,
remediation actions and ecosystem impacts
within the Detroit River-western Lake Erie
basin. The workshop brought together ap-
proximately 50 technical experts from the
United States and Canada to present and
discuss important results from their re-
search. These same experts then partici-
pated in one of three different breakout ses-
I "",.'-'"
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Detroit River and Ambassador Bridge
(photo courtesy of NASA)
sions to develop important recommenda-
tions and advice for future monitoring,
modeling and management of PCBs within
the basin.
To obtain a hard copy of the report, please
contact Larry Brail by phone at 312-886-
7474, or by Email at brail.lawrence@epa.
gov.
The report is available on the Internet at:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/sediment/
pcbreport.pdf
(Contact: Demaree Collier, 312/886-0214,
collier.demaree@epa.gov).
Aquatic Invasive Species Summit
On May 14th and 15th, nearly 70 technical
experts participated in a conference in Chi-
cago, Illinois to meet the aquatic invasive
species issue head-on. The experts dis-
cussed potential solutions for stopping the
exchange of non-native organisms between
the Great Lakes and Mississippi River ba-
sins via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Ca-
nal. Zebra mussels and the round goby have
already moved from the Great Lakes
through the Ship Canal to the Mississippi
basin, and 2 species of Asian carp are cur-
rently moving up the Illinois River towards
the Great Lakes basin. An electrical barrier
was put in place last year by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers as a first line of defense
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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The round goby, a non-native invader of the Great
Lakes and Mississippi River basins
in keeping the carp from moving into the
Great Lakes system. However, it is ac-
knowledged that a single barrier cannot be
100% effective at preventing the exchange
of all invasive species and life stages. The
objective of the conference was to come up
with options for long-term solutions that
would prevent the exchange of all invasive
species through the Ship Canal.
A number of ideas were proposed during
the summit including:
Physical separation of the waters of both
systems, while maintaining commercial
and recreational traffic,
Placement of additional technological
barriers,
Formation of an eradication zone, and
Physical removal of organisms by filtra-
tion or a bypass.
The summit was hosted by the City of Chi-
cago and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
supported by GLNPO. Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley provided opening re-
marks for the summit. Mayor Daley ex-
pressed great concern over the havoc that
Asian carp would wreak on Lake Michigan
if they were to inhabit the lake.
(Contact: Marc Tuchman, 312-353-1369,
tuchman.marc@epa.gov)
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.
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