SUMMARY OF THE
ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Teleconference: 866-299-3188/9195415544#

September 18, 2013; 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. EDT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board
(ELAB or Board) teleconference was held on September 18, 2013. The agenda for this meeting
is provided as Attachment A, a list of the participants is provided as Attachment B, and action
items from the teleconference are included as Attachment C. The official certification of the
minutes by the Chair or Vice-Chair is included as Attachment D.

AGENDA ITEMS:

1.	OPENING REMARKS

Ms. Lara Phelps, Designated Federal Official of ELAB, welcomed participants to the
teleconference and explained that she would act as Chair for the meeting, as Ms. Patsy Root and
Ms. Michelle Wade were unexpectedly unable to attend. Following this explanation, she called
an official roll of the Board members and guests.

2.	APPROVAL OF AUGUST MINUTES

Ms. Phelps asked whether any members had any comments regarding the August minutes; there
were none. Mr. Dave Speis moved to accept the minutes without changes, and Dr. Mahesh Pujari
seconded the motion. The Board approved the August minutes unanimously with no discussion.
Dr. Dallas Wait asked whether there had been any comments regarding the methods harmony
effort during the August meeting; the Board members and Ms. Phelps noted that comments were
few, and no one recalled any specific comments on the methods harmony effort.

3.	NEW TASK GROUPS

Ms. Phelps stated that the previous Workgroup structure had been successful, serving its purpose
well for a long time. It is unfortunate that it had to be abandoned because of the misconduct of
other Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committees serving other agencies. Her
perception is that the transition to the new Task Group format had not been as successful as the
previous structure. She asked the ELAB members for their opinions, and if they did not think
that it was working as smoothly as possible, whether they had any suggestions for improvement.

Mr. Phillips thought that the new system was less efficient because it necessitated an increased
number of smaller meetings, and several topics cannot be dealt with on one call. A greater
number of meetings has occurred, and coordination is a burden.

Dr. Pujari thought that small groups, such as those that worked on Methods 608, 624 and 625,
worked well. He asked when these methods would be published in the Federal Register.
Ms. Phelps responded that ELAB does not have the answer to that question.

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Dr. Wait thought that the new structure has the potential to work well, but the responsibilities for
leading the groups has been diluted from three to many people, which decreases the effectiveness
of each group. Also, members now belong to more than one group, which increases time
pressures for the members. During the first teleconference in July, only three of the six members
of his Task Group attended, so the effort did not progress as far as he would have liked. He
thought that the new structure dilutes the responsibilities too much. He was impressed with how
the Task Group coordinated by Mr. Phillips was run, but he has not heard anything about the
liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) effort. Dr. Pujari explained
that he had been out of the country and had been unable to schedule a meeting to discuss the
issue.

Mr. Speis thought that the new system also was a function of the origin of the issues; the
characteristics of the issues have changed in that most of them used to come from within ELAB,
whereas many of the current topics have been from external origins. As a result, the level of
passion to work for solutions or recommendations is not present.

Dr. Richard Burrows said that leading a Task Group is work, and it is difficult to coordinate the
members' schedules for meetings. He also noted that Board members should not volunteer to be
Task Group leaders unless they truly are engaged and willing to put forth a significant amount of
effort.

Ms. Phelps asked whether it would be helpful for a student contractor to help coordinate the
meetings or whether it was possible to combine two or more topics to increase efficiency.
Mr. Farrell said that contractor assistance would be helpful. He noted that ELAB had asked EPA
to identify issues on which the Board could work, and ELAB has received several "hot" issues;
however, the Board needs more time to deal with external requests. He suggested rotating each
of the topics monthly at Board meetings, with the Task Group leading a discussion of the entire
Board. He thought that ELAB needed to give the Task Group structure some more time as this is
a busy season, and all of the Board members have many commitments.

Dr. Michael Wichman agreed that it was difficult to schedule multiple meetings because of the
number of Task Groups on which each member now sits. Ms. Ruth Forman thought that tasks
should be prioritized. Ms. Silky Labie agreed that it is difficult to schedule meetings and that
prioritization would be helpful. Ms. Patricia Carvajal also agreed with all of the points that had
been made, particularly regarding time constraints for attending multiple meetings; prioritizing
the topics definitely would be helpful.

Ms. Phelps said that she wanted to provide as much support as possible. She expressed her
frustration that the Board must deal with this new situation through no fault of its own,
particularly because the increased meeting burden on the ELAB members is not fair. Everyone is
busy, and some months will be busier than others, but there must be a way to move forward and
be productive. Although the Board cannot establish standing workgroups, it is important to
recognize that there are subgroups within ELAB with certain expertise regarding the various
topics; if the Board can find efficiencies within these groups, several topics under each area of
expertise can be addressed. She also supports prioritizing topics and developing a more
manageable list. She would like to see three Task Groups, each with a good combination of
expertise that can address multiple topics. When it is necessary to deal with one topic at a time, it
still will be possible through the Task Group structure. She wants to identify the best method(s)

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to increase functionality, recognizing that all Board members will be busy throughout the year.
She wondered whether there is a better, technical method to group the topics/issues for the Task
Groups while staying outside of the previous Workgroup structure.

Ms. Forman recommended examining the topics that each ELAB member was assigned to so
that commonalities could be identified, allowing the topics to be organized in groups. Ms. Phelps
supported this idea and volunteered to be the administrative contact to set up the various Task
Group meetings. She will provide support as much as possible, including contractor support, to
ease the burden on Task Group leaders and members. Mr. Farrell reiterated that the support
would be helpful, particularly if the tasks are prioritized, so that the Task Groups are focused on
the issues at hand rather than administrative issues and can accomplish the necessary work.

Dr. Wichman asked whether the list of the current Task Groups and their members were
published on the ELAB website. Ms. Phelps said that the list had not been posted on the website,
but if the Board determines that it would like to post it, she will ensure that it is published.
Mr. Phillips made a motion to publish the current Task Group list to the ELAB website, which
Dr. Wichman seconded. The Board unanimously approved the motion.

Dr. Wichman reported that the Workgroups still are listed on the main page of the Board's
website. Ms. Phelps said that there are several issues that she has been trying to address
regarding the website; however, all Office of Science Advisor websites have been chosen to be
migrated into the new system and are being translated into Drupal. Any requests that are
considered "structural," which includes the website issues she has been trying to address, have
been deprioritized until the migration is complete.

Mr. Farrell thought that the helium issue needed to be prioritized. He thought that the methods
efforts that Dr. Burrows had headed up could be combined with the method harmonization effort.
Mr. Phillips noted that some tasks have timeline drivers, whereas others do not.

Dr. Wichman reported that the Task Group devoted to qPCR for Recreational Water Quality
Criteria was trying to meet with Dr. Robin Oshiro (EPA) about several issues regarding
implementation of the method, including training, auditing and method validation. Ms. Forman
added that the Task Group's messages had not been understood, so a teleconference with EPA
staff would resolve the confusion.

Mr. Speis reported that the Task Group working on the helium issue had developed an outline
regarding next steps, and the members are beginning to work on them. A draft will be available
in time for the next Board meeting. The recommendation will be that EPA may have to take
additional action to use hydrogen in certain circumstances, as 40 CFR 136 Part 6 is not sufficient
as is. Dr. Pujari commented that hydrogen can be used in some but not all methods, and it is
necessary to validate methods. Mr. Speis said that the recommendation would not include a level
of detail regarding how EPA should validate methods. Dr. Burrows reported that the strategic
Federal Helium Reserve (also known as the National Helium Reserve) will be closing in
October, and the Bureau of Land Management will begin shutting down operations on October 1,
2013, unless Congress takes action. He remains hopeful that Congress will act. Mr. Speis said
that the Helium Stewardship Act is on the Senate agenda, but he is not aware of any timeframe
associated with Senate discussion of the bill.

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Mr. Phillips asked whether helium recovery systems were or could be installed for certain
technologies. Dr. Burrows thought that helium recovery was technically feasible but would not
be in place by October.

Ms. Labie said that in terms of the Interagency Data Quality Task Force (IDQTF) issue, the goal
is to increase laboratory involvement in the data quality objective process; laboratories had been
supportive of this idea at ELAB's recent face-to-face meeting. She did not think that this was a
topic that needed to be prioritized. She spoke to several members of the IDQTF, but none were
aware of the identity of the IDQTF Chair; they promised to find out and contact
Ms. Labie, but she has not heard from them.

Dr. Pujari explained that in terms of the LC/MS/MS issue, he has performed some research and
found that some of the detection limits are questionable, and there is neither information nor
sufficient examples to demonstrate that the methods are working. He has not been able to
convene the Task Group but hopes to report more progress during the Board's October
teleconference.

Dr. Dallas Wait reiterated that the Task Group devoted to methods harmony had held its first
teleconference in July but was not able to proceed without the majority of the group present; he
will schedule a teleconference with the group shortly. Ms. Phelps reiterated that she was
available to help schedule any meetings.

Mr. John Philips said that the Task Group devoted to the method detection limit (MDL) issue
had met on September 6, 2013, during which the history of the prior Workgroup's efforts was
discussed. The new TNI procedure was provided to the group members, who are reviewing it. He
will convene another teleconference for the members to discuss their thoughts on the proposal
before developing any next steps or recommendations. These thoughts will be shared with all
ELAB members to discuss in more detail during the next Board meeting. There is an Agency
meeting on October 30, 3013, to discuss the proposed revisions; he would like to attend this
meeting before making a decision regarding whether establishing a stakeholder review group
will meet EPA's needs and expectations.

4. NEW TOPICS/ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION

Mr. Farrell thought that there had been significant discussion about the competency policies that
the Forum on Environmental Measurements released, and much of it has been positive, with
some focus on implementation and other potential issues. He wondered whether ELAB should
examine the issue and determine whether it can take action to help reinforce the progress from
the laboratory, field sampling and measurement standpoints. Ms. Phelps said that she could make
the presentation about the policies during the October Board meeting if there is interest. Mr.
Farrell thought that there were many ramifications, and ELAB's expertise could help EPA with
clarification or implementation. The Board members agreed that they would like to hear the
presentation during the October meeting.

The Board members and Ms. Phelps discussed the successful completion of the chlorinated
ethers effort, noting that it was completed in a short amount of time. Several EPA offices also
consider it a successful effort as well, as they were in a position to take positive efforts quickly.
Mr. Speis had been surprised by the response of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,

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and Ms. Phelps explained that it had been a function of the office's normal operating procedures
in terms of its responsibilities for toxic compounds. Also, the staff member assigned to respond
had not been privy to prior discussions on the topic.

Mr. Speis said that Ms. Kim Kirkland (EPA) had approached him to determine whether ELAB
was willing to provide a review of some methods the Office of Resource Conservation and
Recovery is considering. The goal is to obtain the Board's input before the methods are released
to the public docket to preempt any concerns that the environmental laboratory community might
raise.

Ms. Forman asked whether the Task Groups devoted to Methods 608, 624 and 625 would be
dissolved. Ms. Phelps thought that the group could be recognized as intact for a reasonable
statutory limit of time, and if there is nothing further from the Office of Water, then the Board
can consider the Task Groups disbanded. Ms. Forman thought that given the substantial number
of comments that ELAB had submitted, it might be helpful to contact Dr. Lem Walker (EPA)
regarding an appropriate timeframe. Ms. Phelps will contact Dr. Walker. Mr. Phillips reported
that Dr. Walker had said that ELAB was only one group to provide comments; therefore, it could
be inferred that the office had obtained input from various perspectives and was less interested in
an ongoing dialogue.

Dr. Wait asked about the EPA quality system and promised forthcoming changes. Ms. Phelps
replied that these changes were not going to occur, but she did not want to provide an unofficial
status update when quality staff in Office of Environmental Information are developing
statements that will provide an update about the topic. More details will be forthcoming, but
essentially the changes were halted because of public feedback that the streamlining would not
have the intended impacts. Ms. Phelps clarified for Dr. Wait that the G4 and G5 documents still
are in existence as applicable guidance documents.

5. WRAP-UP/REVIEW ACTION ITEMS

Ms. Phelps explained that the end of the Agency fiscal year is September 30, 2013, and part of
her obligation is reporting the activities of the FACA committees for which she is responsible for
via the FACA database. Information submitted in the report includes a variety of topics, such as
current Board members, charter status, deliverables and accomplishments, and so forth. The
report on all FACA committees throughout the government will be available by the end of the
calendar year. She congratulated ELAB for all of its accomplishments during this fiscal year.

Ms. Kristen LeBaron reviewed the action items identified during the meeting, which are included
in Attachment C. Dr. Wait asked for confirmation that the current Task Group structure would
not change. Ms. Phelps agreed and said that the Board had not come to a definitive decision
about how to proceed. She introduced the topic so that ELAB could consider possible solutions,
and the discussion will be revisited during the October Board meeting to determine whether any
fundamental changes will be made. She will provide as much support as possible.

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6. CLOSING REMARKS/ADJOURNMENT

Ms. Forman made a motion to adjourn the meeting, which Mr. Speis seconded and the Board
approved unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

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Attachment A

AGENDA

ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY ADVISORY BOARD

Monthly Teleconference: 866-299-3188/9195415544#
September 18, 2013; 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. (EDT)

Opening Remarks	Phelps/Root

Approval of June Minutes	Root

New Task Groups	Phelps/All

qPCR in Recreational Water Testing: QA/QC Issues and

Method Implementation for Auditors and Laboratories	Root

Conversion From Helium to Hydrogen as a Carrier Gas in

Various EPA-Approved Methods	Wade

Interagency Data Quality Task Force/Data Quality

Objectives Process	Labie

Liquid Chromatography With Tandem Mass Spectrometry	Pujari

Methods Harmony	Wait

Method Detection Limit (MDL)/Revision of 40 CFR Part 136

Appendix B	Phillips

New Topics/Issues for Consideration	Root

Wrap-Up/Review Action Items	Root/LeBaron

Closing Remarks/Adjourn	Phelps/Root

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Attachment B

MEMBERSHIP LISTING AND GUESTS

ELAB TELECONFERENCE
September 18, 2013; 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT

Attendance
(Y/N)

Name

Affiliation

N

Ms. Patsy Root (Chair)

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.

Representing: Laboratory Product Developers

N

Ms. Michelle L. Wade

Kansas Department of Health and the Environment

(Vice-Chair)

Representing: Laboratory Accreditation Bodies

Y

Ms. Lara P. Phelps, DFO

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Representing: EPA

Y

Dr. Richard Burrows

TestAmerica Laboratories, Inc.

Representing: Commercial Laboratory Industry

Y

Ms. Patricia M. Carvajal

San Antonio River Authority
Representing: Watershed/Restoration

Y

Mr. John (Jack) E. Farrell, III

Analytical Excellence, Inc.

Representing: The NELAC Institute (TNI)

Y

Ms. Ruth L. Forman

Environmental Standards, Inc.

Representing: Large Third-Party Assessors

Y

Ms. Sylvia (Silky) S. Labie

Environmental Laboratory Consulting &
Technology, LLC

Representing: Third Party Assessors

N

Ms. Susan L. Mazur

Florida Power and Light
Representing: Utility Water Act Group

Y

Mr. John H. Phillips

Ford Motor Company

Representing: Alliance of Automobile

Manufacturers

Y

Dr. Mahesh P. Pujari

City of Los Angeles

Representing: National Association of Clean
Water Agencies (NACWA)

N

Dr. James (Jim) N. Seiber

University of California, Davis
Representing: Academic and Research
Communities

N

Ms. Aurora Shields

City of Lawrence, Kansas
Representing: Wastewater Laboratories





QC Laboratories

Y

Mr. David (Dave) N. Speis

Representing: American Council of Independent
Laboratories (ACIL)

Y

Dr. A. Dallas Wait

Gradient

Representing: Consumer Products Industry





State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of

Y

Dr. Michael D. Wichman

Iowa

Representing: Association of Public Health
Laboratories (APHL)

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Attendance
(Y/N)

Name

Affiliation

Y

Ms. Kristen LeBaron (Contractor)

The Scientific Consulting Group, Inc. (SCG)

Y

Ms. Lynn Bradley (Guest)

TNI

Y

Ms. Paula Hogg (Guest)

Hampton Roads Sanitation Department

Y

Mr. Stuart Magoon (Guest)

City of Tacoma, Washington

Y

Ms. Elizabeth Turner (Guest)

North Texas Municipal Water District

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Attachment C

ACTION ITEMS

1.	Ms. LeBaron will finalize the August 2013 meeting minutes and send them to
Ms. Phelps via email.

2.	Ms. Phelps will request that appropriate EPA staff publish the Task Group list to the ELAB
website.

3.	The Board members will consider methods to increase the efficiency of the Task Groups and
prioritize tasks and will revisit the topic during the October ELAB meeting; in the meantime,
the Task Groups will continue to function as they have.

4.	Ms. Phelps will contact Dr. Walker to determine the expected timeframe for retiring the
Methods 608, 624 and 625 Task Groups.

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Attachment D

I hereby certify that this is the final version of the minutes for the Environmental Laboratory
Advisory Board Meeting held on September 18, 2013.



Signature Chair

Ms. Patsy Root
Print Name Chair

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