Toxics Subcommittee Meeting Minutes 5/27/2008 Participants: Greg Allen- EPA Nick Hilosky- EPA Fred Pinkney- USFWS Travis Loop- ACB Karey Harris- CRC Jamie Mitchell- HRSD Leonard Schugam- MDE Tom Barron- PADEP Chesapeake Bay Program A Watershed Partnership Agenda Item and Desired Outcome Notes Introductions and Announcements Karey Harris is the new CRC Staffer replacing Hannah Bracken. Nick Hilosky will be leaving at the end of this week, to be replaced by Socrates Michael, who will be at the CBPO for six months. Updates CAP: Chesapeake Action Plan is a report to congress about the management of the program. Reports what we are doing, and is a way to systematize the program and make it more predictable. There are ~$5 million pending from congress, based upon this report. It is currently going through an internal review by EPA, and will be to congress in June. Toxics is represented; Greg helped to write the Adaptive Management Chapter. Reorganization: PSC meeting is in June, where there should be a final diagram for the decision. The last seen diagram has the Toxics Subcommittee on it. Should be finalized in next few months. Get most recent diagram from Matt Robinson and post online- Karey Review Past Action Items o "Contact Charlie App regarding PCB TMDL meeting- Greg/Nick": completed o "Identify next step for PAH initiatives- Greg/Fred": Karey and Greg are working on a power point and a white paper. They will finish next revision of the documents, and sit down with Fred to discuss further, o "The subcommittee should be in touch with Jack Frye and Jeff Corbin as soon as possible to find a way to incorporate pesticides/IPM into cost-share initiatives. - Greg, Jamie": Jamie will contact Jack and Jeff o "Discuss sampling for pesticides during spring pulse in stormwater - Greg, Cathleen"- Cathleen said she could get spring pulse Atrazine. Greg will call for data. Also work with CBL lab- they are doing toxics in stormwater research, o "Send Leonard contact information for Toxics Stormwater Monitoring project - Greg"- Neither is sure it was ever sent, will recheck. 5 Priorities Implementation Sujay Kashal with CBL is working on CBPO sponsored urban stormwater runoff and stream restoration in Gwynns Falls, Baltimore. He has helped to create an automated sampler that sits in a stream. When it detects an increased flow, will collect "first flush" samples. The stream Greg and Karey saw is beneath 1-95, and quickly changes from a small brook to a 10+ foot high raging body of water. Sujay is confident that his data will be very valuable. Ask Sujay if he would be willing to speak/demonstrate sampler at next TSC meeting- Greg Last year's data from this project will be coming soon, possibly with some strong results for PAHs. Currently working on spring samples There is a PSC meeting with the deadline for topics on June 5, as well as the EC meeting ------- in the fall. There is not a lot of time, but we could try to put out initiatives on a few chemicals. If a paragraph or so by June 5 can be written, it can be posed for discussion at the PSC meeting. PCBs Power Point by Nick Hilosky Fish consumption advisories are one of the main drivers, with 23 fish species in the watershed under an advisory due to PCBs. They are a main contaminant leading to river impairments (See Toxics Today May 2008). USGS Synthesis says that the concentration of PCBs is unchanged since they were banned in the 70s. A new study by NOAA found PCBs in dolphins. Spills from transformers and electrical equipment, and contaminated sites appear to be the largest contributors. Transformer owners are a likely focus for remediation. EPA HQ does not have any regulatory efforts in the process of being put into effect. Any efforts appear to be stalled, it is not reasonable to rely on them. We could begin a voluntary phase out or awards program. Great Lakes, Minnesota, and Washington State all have programs in effect that we could mimic; we do not need to reinvent the wheel. Greg noted that this sounds "soft" and financial/cost relief would be better, but awards are easier and could be immediate. Also, we do not have the money available right now. A reasonable goal would be to have an awards system for PCB removal this year, and begin a regulatory (Federal or State) plan or something that will help the economics of the situation by 2009. Fred agrees that recognition would be good; it would generate interest with other transformer owners. Monetary incentives are possible but require more time to develop. Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG) wants us to promote that they are working hard to promote PCB removal. They offered to contact all transformer owners with PCB programs, and give us a summary. They also offered to work with EPA to improve the transformer database. They gave no time commitment. Follow up with USWAG on the transformer database and PCB owners this week- Socrates. Federal facilities would be useful to talk to and work jointly with. They potentially own a large fraction of PCB-laden transformers, and we may have more influence with them. It would also be useful to talk individuals working with superfund and brownfield sites. Invite superfund /brownfield individuals to next TSC meeting- Greg Goals for Socrates- next EPA intern: Fill in logic model, revise white paper, gear initiatives towards quicker results (awards/initiatives), keep up with USWAG and their efforts, get a superfund/brownfield meeting together, touch base with federal owners of transformers to check on numbers. Send any suggestions or comments about any of the PCB documents on the TSC website to Greg or Karey welcome within the next few weeks- all PAHs Karey and Greg are currently working on revising a power point and white paper, as well as creating a logic model similar to Nick's. They are tentatively focused on coal tar sealant for parking lots, although they do not know for sure yet ------- that coal tar sealants are the #1 source of PAHs in the watershed. They were a very significant (-90%) source of PAHs in Austin and seems a logical assumption for now; the door is still open. TSC suspects that the two largest are parking lots and the burning of wood Find information on loading for PAHs in Bay- Karey A ban would be hard, because coal tar is not regulated under RCRA; it is considered a recycled coke product. EPA has been urged to reconsider, but nothing appears to be happening. There are concerns that a local ban may not work effectively for various reasons. Check on status of DC coal tar ban- Karey There is also the Green Highway Initiatives plan, which reuses slag in highways to "grab nutrients." It would be great to include PAHs and pesticides in that research. Contact Ron Landy (EPA ORD) about PAH BMPs and Green Highway Initiatives- Greg/Karey Mercury Cindy Gilmour is not here to speak; she has a document of mercury workshop and outcome that is currently out for comments. She is doing striper YoY mercury monitoring. Contact Howard Townsend (NOAA, Oxford) for Hg food web model- Greg Pesticides A year ago, Maryland Pesticide Network met with us and we now have several workgroups. There is a meeting on June 11 in Reisterstown, MD where each workgroup will be reporting. This will hopefully lead to a charge to EC. There will hopefully be a push for recommendations; nutrient/herbicide dual benefit initiatives, ideas for BMPs, or a call for more research. There are still research gaps; Lenwood Hall (WRERC) says Atrazine is not a big deal, but no research is done on parent compound + degredate effects. With a decreased corn prediction in 2008 it may not be as urgent, but may still have ongoing effects. Farm bill and Healthy Waters Initiative will probably be a large topic at meeting. Recap pesticide meeting, and maybe get speakers (Ruth, AK) for next TSC meeting- Greg EDCs in Wastewater There was a workshop 2 weeks ago with WERF (Amit Pramanik) and WashCOG (Tonya Spano). Proposed work products from the workshop include a 2-4 page summary document, similar to the Hg one, as well as a guidance document targeted to WWTP operators. This may prove to be more difficult; hard to balance EDC/Nutrient removal with plant operations (electricity, greenhouse gas emissions, training, time, space, etc.) Definite risk vs. reward problem, and not easy to give a definitive answer. The workshop said that BNR/ENR provides EDC treatment. ENR takes out many EDCs- musk ketone and others aren't removed as easily. In treatment, there is a conversion/transformation of chemicals from their parents. (In anaerobic treatment, some estrogenic compounds become estrone, which is even more potent). It was also suggested that biosolids keep chemicals out of the water for a time, and decrease the immediate bioavailability. Next TSC meeting may also be a joint meeting with the Nutrients Subcommittee, since many topics overlap and treatment plans often have a dual benefit. Set ------- up joint Toxics/Nutrients subcommittee meeting- Greg Action Items: ¦ Get most recent reorganization diagram from Matt Robinson and post online- Karey ¦ Finish next revision of PAH power point and white paper, and sit down with Fred to discuss further- Karey/Greg ¦ Contact Jack Frye and Jeff Corbin regarding pesticides- Jamie ¦ Call Cathleen for data on spring pulse Atrazine levels, and work with CBL- Greg ¦ Send Leonard contact information for Toxics Stormwater Monitoring project - Greg ¦ Ask Sujay if he would be willing to speak/demonstrate sampler at next TSC meeting- Greg ¦ If a paragraph or so by June 5 can be written, it can be posed for discussion at the PSC meeting- Karey/Greg ¦ PCBs o Follow up with USWAG on the transformer database and PCB owners this week- Nick o Invite superfund /brownfield individuals to next TSC meeting- Greg o Have an awards system for PAH removal this year, and begin a regulatory (Federal or State) plan or something that will help the economics of the situation by 2009- Greg/Socrates o PCB Goals for Socrates: ¦ Fill in logic model ¦ Revise white paper ¦ Gear initiatives towards quicker results (awards/initiatives) ¦ Keep up with USWAG and their efforts ¦ Get a superfund/brownfield meeting together ¦ Be in contact with federal owners of transformers to check on numbers. o Send any suggestions or comments about any of the PCB documents on the TSC website to Greg or Karey welcome within the next few weeks- all ¦ Find information on loading for PAHs in Bay- Karey ¦ Check on status of DC coal tar ban- Karey ¦ Contact Ron Landy (EPA ORD) about PAH BMPs and Green Highway Initiatives- Greg/Karey ¦ Contact Howard Townsend (NOAA, Oxford) for Hg food web model- Greg ¦ Recap June 11 pesticide meeting, and maybe get speakers (Ruth, AK) for next TSC meeting- Greg ¦ Set up joint Toxics/Nutrients subcommittee meeting- Greg ------- |