November 29, 2001

THIS WEEK:

• $22 Million Hazardous Substance Grant Awarded to 22 Universities
• Brown University Settles Enforcement Case; Rhode Island Schools Benefit
• Attend "Sustainable Communities: Science and Solutions": Dec 6-7
• Hazardous Waste Cleanup in Neighborhood Backyards Nears Completion
• Bacteria's Appetite Could Be Harnessed for Bioremediation

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$22 Million Hazardous Substance Grant Awarded to 22 Universities

WASHINGTON, D.C. - EPA Administrator Christie Whitman has awarded more than $22 million in research grants to establish five new Hazardous Substance Research Centers affiliated with 22 universities. The Centers will address concerns about hazardous substances in the environment by conducting basic and applied research, and providing technology transfer and community outreach. Whitman announced the awards at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.

Thirty percent of the total grant money will be used to provide outreach and technology support to help citizens in low-income communities become effective participants in hazardous substance management decisions that might affect them.

The grants were awarded by two EPA offices: the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program in the Office of Research and Development. STAR is an ongoing $100 million a year grant program designed to engage the nation’s best university scientists and engineers in environmental research.

The new Centers are part of EPA’s program to fund research and training on the management of hazardous substances and publish the research results. The Centers will also work on the remediation and redevelopment of Brownfields.

Research programs planned and the grant amount received as follows:

• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., “EPA Center for Hazardous Substances in Urban Environments” will receive $5.2 million. The Center is a consortium of universities that will provide technical expertise to community groups, state, municipal and local environmental regulators and industry in the Northeast.
• Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., “Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, and Great Plains Hazardous Substance Research Center for Integrated Remediation Using Managed Natural Systems” will receive $4.5 million. This consortium of universities will focus on low-cost remediation technologies to remove contaminants from the environment and restore ecosystem quality, thereby enhancing site redevelopment options. The focus of this Center will be the remediation needs of the Midwest, Middle Atlantic and Great Plains states.
• Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., “Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center for Developing In-Situ Processes for VOC Remediation in Groundwater and Soils” will receive $4.5 million. This Center will focus on the remediation of below-ground contamination problems associated with volatile organic chemicals and known groundwater contaminants, especially in the western part of the country.
• Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La., “South and Southwest Hazardous Substance Research Center” will receive $4.5 million. The objective of this Research Center is to provide information about the engineering management of contaminated sediments and other problems of special interest to communities in southeastern parts of the country.
• Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo., “Rocky Mountain Hazardous Substance Research Center for Remediation of Mine Waste Sites” will receive $3.8 million. This Center will focus on developing new or improved methods or technologies to clean up environmental problems associated with mine wastes, especially in the Rocky Mountains.

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Brown University Settles Enforcement Case; Rhode Island Schools Benefit

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island - Brown University settled an enforcement case with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by agreeing to fund $285,000 of innovative environmental projects - including pollution prevention programs at four Providence high schools - and pay a civil penalty of nearly $80,000.

"This settlement will lead to significant environmental benefits that extend far beyond Brown University's campus," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office. "High schools in Rhode Island will see a real benefit from the projects Brown will perform because of this enforcement case."

This settlement stems from violations EPA inspectors discovered during a May 1999 visit to the campus. According to an EPA complaint filed in November 2000, the university violated federal environmental laws designed to ensure proper handling of hazardous waste, as well as to protect ground and surface waters from oil pollution. Almost all the violations occurred at various laboratories and waste storage facilities at the 143-acre campus in Providence, RI.

Under the terms of the settlement, Brown University will pay a civil penalty of $79,858 to settle violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the federal Clean Water Act.

Even more important are the three components of the supplemental environmental project Brown University has agreed to in order to resolve these complaints. The project will cost an estimated $285,000 and will involve:

• Converting labs at Brown and four Providence area high schools from traditional labs to labs that use a "microscaling" technique by 2003. Microscaling provides a "less-is-better" approach to high school chemical experiments and leads to fewer and often less hazardous chemicals being purchased for experiments and ultimately less waste.
• Implementing purchasing and inventory tracking systems for Brown and the four high schools. A centralized inventory system prevents the purchasing of too many chemicals and may uncover inappropriate storage of chemicals.
• Funding a one-time cleanout of the schools that will properly dispose of chemical or hazardous wastes that may present an environmental threat.

Varney said, "Colleges and universities need to be responsible in their handling of hazardous waste, and Brown is striving to achieve that goal. But the university is also using this enforcement case to create environmental initiatives above and beyond what is required. This is what positive and constructive enforcement, not only with colleges and universities but across the board, is all about."

Brown is one of eight universities in New England which EPA has taken enforcement action against and either proposed or levied penalties. After finding widespread non-compliance with environmental laws at universities and colleges, EPA New England in 1999 launched an initiative environmental compliance at college campuses. The initiative includes a stepped up inspection presence at college campuses across New England and extensive compliance assistance activities, including workshops geared for university environmental compliance personnel.

EPA New England has created a university compliance web page, which can be visited at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/steward/univ/

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Attend "Sustainable Communities: Science and Solutions"
2nd National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment
December 6 - 7, 2001
Renaissance Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Join leading scientists and policymakers from around the world to discuss how science can contribute to solutions for achieving sustainable communities, locally and globally.

Help produce a set of recommendations for the upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg 2002 ("the Rio+10 conference") on how to advance and apply science for sustainable development.

Hear Edward O. Wilson, Professor of Biology at Harvard University present the 2nd Annual John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture on Science and the Environment.

Discuss Sustainable Urban and Rural Communities, Sustainable Designs and Industries, Societal and Behavioral Aspects, and cross-cutting topics such as indicators of sustainability during plenary sessions, break out groups and workshops. And view the Sustainability Exhibition, "Sustainability Science: Products and Projects," with displays on technologies and resources for sustainable communities.

For complete seminar information, please visit:
http://cnie.org/NCSEconference/2001conference/

Click here to visit the Brownfields.com Conferences page for the latest upcoming brownfields industry events.

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Hazardous Waste Cleanup in Neighborhood Backyards Nears Completion
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Last week, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Regional Director Charles Duritsa toured the hazardous waste cleanup project being completed in a neighborhood of Fair Oaks, outside of Pittsburgh.

"The waste, originally bound for disposal by the former H.H. Robertson Co., somehow made its way to the site to become backyards for some residents in the neighborhood," Duritsa said. "We hope the cleanup of this site will allow the neighbors to enjoy the wooded property once again, without fear of encountering any hazardous waste."

Waste was disposed at the four-acre site in the 1940s and 1950s. Over the years, the waste has slowly moved downhill into a wooded ravine, eliminating the yard areas created.

Waste also has been found in an unnamed tributary of Big Sewickley Creek. Waste material found at the site includes asbestos, zinc, lead, plastic resin, bottom ash, slag and construction debris. Studies at the site have shown that the contaminated materials have impacted soil and surface water.

The estimated $1.2 million cleanup, being completed by Thomas Construction Inc., will include removal of the contaminated soil, restoration of the stream and wetlands and continued monitoring of the site. Two homes at the site were removed in spring 2000. Robertson-Ceco Corp., one of the responsible parties, and DEP are funding the cleanup.

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Bacteria's Appetite Could Be Harnessed for Bioremediation

COLUMBIA, Missouri - If one University of Missouri-Columbia researcher can get it to switch its diet, a bacteria known for creating the rotten egg smell of stagnant water and corroding storage tanks and pipes might be harnessed to help clean up sites of uranium contamination.

For the past four years, Judy Wall, professor of biochemistry, has studied a species of bacteria with the goal of determining its potential for bioremediation of sites contaminated by uranium spills.

In the United States, radioactive materials, including uranium, contaminate about 40 million tons of soil and debris, enough to fill 17 professional sports stadiums, and 1.7 trillion gallons of groundwater, about four times the daily U.S. water consumption. Her research is funded as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research program.

“This particular bacterium is found virtually everywhere,” Wall said. “What makes it unique and a potential remediator for uranium is how it makes its energy. It doesn’t create its energy through photosynthesis like plants or by burning oxygen like animals. Instead, it makes energy by pushing, or adding, electrons onto other compounds.”

Wall believes this electron transport system could be used for bioremediation. By pushing electrons onto the very soluble but dangerous Uranium VI, a more neutral form - Uranium IV - is created. This form is not soluble and can be more easily contained and filtered from contaminated water.

“If we can use the bacteria occurring naturally at a site, we can reduce the level of disturbance to the environment during cleanup,” she said. “Bioremediation also should provide a cost savings.”

Currently, Wall is working with researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to understand the proteins that deliver the electrons to Uranium VI. The researchers have identified at least one protein in the process, and in the future, they hope to learn how to increase the bacterium’s affinity for uranium and increase its efficiency as a bioremediator.

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