Soil Background & Risk Assessment: Overview of the Guidance Document, In...

The first of four training videos produced by ITRC's Soil Background & Risk Assessment team in 2022. All four videos complement the team's Web-Based Guidance Document and can be viewed in no particular order!

Soil Background & Risk Assessment Team Page:

https://itrcweb.org/itrcwebsite/teams...

Soil Background & Risk Assessment Web-Based Guidance Document:

https://sbr-1.itrcweb.org/

ITRC's Website: https://itrcweb.org/home

Using Risk Assessment to Guide Environmental Remediation Decisions

EPA Announces Community Meeting Feb. 23 to Discuss Groundwater Contamination in St. Charles, Missouri

 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 - 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

Contact Information: Ben Washburn, washburn.ben@epa.gov, 816-518-4154

LENEXA, KAN. (JAN. 31, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 will hold a Community Meeting at the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Parish on Thursday, Feb. 23. The session will begin at 6 p.m. with a formal presentation held at 7 p.m. Following the presentation, EPA staff will facilitate a question-and-answer session until 8:30 p.m.

“We are committed to providing the residents of St. Charles with timely and accurate information regarding EPA’s work at the Findett Corp. Superfund Site,” said EPA Region 7 Superfund and Emergency Management Division Director Bob Jurgens. “EPA will be available to address community concerns in St. Charles on Feb. 23.”

The purpose of the meeting is to provide members of the public with an update on the field sampling conducted by EPA to identify the source of new contamination found near the Ameren Huster Road substation. EPA conducted this field work in January 2023.

This meeting follows a November 2022 Public Meeting in which EPA shared information about the Consent Decree for the Operable Unit 4 Remedial Design/Remedial Action and response actions at the site.

The Community Meeting will be held:

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023

 

Public Availability: 6 to 7 p.m.

Presentation: 7 to 7:30 p.m.

Question and Answer: 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

 

The meeting will be held at:

St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Parish Gymnasium

534 N. 5^th Street

St. Charles, MO 63301

During the public availability portion, representatives from EPA will be available for one-on-one discussions and to answer questions. Following the availability, EPA will provide a site update presentation at 7 p.m. After the presentation, EPA will facilitate a question-and-answer session until 8:30 p.m.

Site project information is available to the public on EPA’s Site Profile webpage at www.epa.gov/superfund/findettcorp. If you do not have internet access, you can view these documents online at this location: Kathryn Linnemann Branch, St. Charles City-County Library, 2323 Elm Street, St Charles, MO 63301; 636-946-6294.

EPA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. For reasonable accommodations at the Community Meeting, including the public availability portion, please contact Euleashia Embry at embry.euleashia@epa.gov or 1-800-223-0425.

# # #

Learn more about EPA Region 7

 

Modeling and Monitoring Tools to Support Passive and Active NAPL Remedia...

@DawnChapmanSTL @cureworks this tool would allow the people to verify what the @EPA @EPAregion7 is recomending for the #WestlakeLandfill nuclear pollution activities by inputing their own data into the program. https://t.co/h22JcfpgQc pic.twitter.com/Kl1MdaJ7lV

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 26, 2023

i just attended this webinar and the free tool they are discussioning i feel would be a valuable addition to monitoring the site conditions as well as the remediation techniques in use.

they answered a question i submitted about using Arduino weather monitoring systems (these inexpensive mini computers can also monitor radiation)

I will be following up with them about the unanswered question about using their tool to incorporate electrokinetics into the remediation system. This is a system to get the toxins to move to a point for extraction as well as create a barrier, using low voltage.

A Natural Solution to the Pollution in the World

 I encourage everyone: if you don't think the creator has provided solutions to our problems, you might try getting out of the box and explore other avenues and thought patterns.

i can't stop them from spraying us with their chem trail geoengineering systems, but I can clean it out of the soil and water, in addition to other forms of pollution and toxins.  its pretty remarkable that the smallest organisms on the planet will take down the baddest and most harmful substances.  its not a coincidence that so many microbiologist have wound up dead in the prior 10 years.   i'm just a carpenter from missouri who asked God to lead me to a way to help my neighbors who have been exposed to the leftover nuclear contamination from the Atom Bomb creation. And thats how i figured out https://www.thepollutionsolution.org/  by reading hundreds of actual science papers where i figured out how to clean up pollution with what mother nature has provided. 

The Pollution Solution : Electricity Production by Geobacter sulfurreducen... https://t.co/xzxowpTHFz pic.twitter.com/hMZjsZ3s9X

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 17, 2023

i'm working a few projects, i've been waiting for an opportunity like this. i have been selecting interim crews to help serve as board members on https://t.co/McBKm8PvPy my other stuff is Farming Related and I also have a Kenya Africa project for later on down the road.

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 23, 2023

The Pollution Solution - https://t.co/6SGxnDqnBs

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 2, 2023

The Solution to Pollution https://t.co/IUKsiT2n1f

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 6, 2023

The Pollution Solution : The efficiency of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in remediating sites #phytoremediation https://t.co/ir6zrge7Oy

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 18, 2023

Dirty Water IN Clean Water OUT. its so simple, that the brainiac scientist in charge can't get outa the box. What do environmental scientist do all day, Play Tiddlywinks? Cuz a lowly carpenter from StLouis MO figured out the solution to the worlds pollution. #CanYouHearMeNOW pic.twitter.com/4j2jf6sWDP

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 18, 2023

i wanna clean up the earth. > WE ARE THE POLLUTION SOLUTION
THE POLLUTION SOLUTION SPECIALIZES IN TECHNIQUES AND SERVICES FOR NATURALLY INSPIRED AND COST EFFECTIVE REMOVAL AND REMEDIATION OF TOXINS AND CONTAMINANTS FROM AIR, SOIL, AND WATER. https://t.co/McBKm8PvPy

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 24, 2023

.@UnitedNewsChan1
back to #ThePollutionSolution here is a slide show about how and why this natural solution can clean up any toxin or pollution. https://t.co/1Q2CGGaQh5

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 2, 2023

Electrohemp was renamed to #PollutionSolution hemp has limits this doesn't. https://t.co/McBKm8PvPy

— systembuster (@stlsystembuster) January 25, 2023

Westlake Landfill Testing Update

Dawn Chapman uploaded a file.

We have some more great news to share with you all! 

EPA and the Responsible Party at West Lake are FINALLY finished with all the testing that is designed to locate all the previously unknown areas with radioactive waste on the landfill. There is now an updated map that EPA will be posting as well as two meetings the agency will host shortly in the next three months. We have entered the final phase right before the clean up, which is designing the plan for where to start and where to finish. EPA would also like to host another listening session so they can hear from you all what the impact of this site has been and what things you want and need. The are genuinely looking for your input so they can design their meeting and make sure they are meeting your needs for how to inform you about things having to do with the site and clean up moving forward. We are hoping to see these meetings in February and March-possibly beginning of April. Please be sure to let us know if there is a way we can help you access this meeting either in person or online. Our EPA TASK coordinator has stated that they could also help accommodate with childcare needs/ activities for the event. It's been a busy week with meetings between multiple agencies for multiple sites in our region. The one thing that appears to be the same between all the agencies and sites is that community engagement and direct interaction with agencies has had made the difference on getting these agencies to consider different plans, testing locations etc. Direct community involvement going forward is going to be critical at our site and others! The moms extend this invite to those of you on this page who care about these issues. Whether you lived in the areas decades ago, live here currently, have friends and family who live here now, or just care about the horrific situation that has been allowed to plague this region for over 70 years. No degrees or advanced degrees are required! While Karen Nickel and I have worked for over 10 years now to establish communications with this agency and help guide this process, this issue does not belong to just us and we are not, nor do we desire to be the only ones who have direct access to the agencies who make the decisions. While we are happy to take your questions back to the agencies, we also want to make sure you have the ability to reach out directly and ask them your questions. Look for invitations going forward to get more one on one time and be involved with working groups to be posted soon.

I have downloaded the file and uploaded it to my google storage files here is the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-GCs7DWIauJXcCK6PYFLNH3Ies18ndya/view?usp=sharing

EPA Announces Latest Actions to Protect Groundwater and Communities from Coal Ash Contamination

Agency issues six proposed determinations to deny facilities’ requests to continue unsafe coal ash disposal Issued: Jan 25, 2023 (2:29pm EST)

WASHINGTON (Jan. 25, 2023) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the latest action to protect communities and hold facilities accountable for controlling and cleaning up the contamination created by coal ash disposal. The Agency issued six proposed determinations to deny facilities’ requests to continue disposing of coal combustion residuals (CCR or coal ash) into unlined surface impoundments.

For a seventh facility that has withdrawn its application, Apache Generating Station in Cochise, Arizona, EPA issued a letter identifying concerns with deficiencies in its liner components and groundwater monitoring program.

“With today’s proposed denials, EPA is holding facilities accountable and protecting our precious water resources from harmful contamination, all while ensuring a reliable supply of electricity to our communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “We remain committed to working with our state partners to protect everyone, especially those in communities overburdened by pollution, from coal ash contamination now and into the future.” 

Coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal in coal-fired power plants that, without proper management, can pollute waterways, groundwater, drinking water, and the air. Coal ash contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic associated with cancer and various other serious health effects.

Today’s action delivers protections for underserved communities already overburdened by pollution, and reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice in impacted communities.

EPA is proposing to deny the applications for continued use of unlined surface impoundments at the following six facilities:

 

• Belle River Power Plant, China Township, Michigan.
• Coal Creek Station, Underwood, North Dakota.
• Conemaugh Generating Station, New Florence, Pennsylvania.
• Coronado Generating Station, St. Johns, Arizona.
• Martin Lake Steam Electric Station, Tatum, Texas.
• Monroe Power Plant, Monroe, Michigan.

 

EPA is proposing to deny these applications because the owners and operators of the CCR units fail to demonstrate that the surface impoundments comply with requirements of the CCR regulations. Specifically, EPA is proposing to deny these applications due to:

 

• Inadequate groundwater monitoring networks.
• Failure to prove groundwater is monitored to detect and characterize any elevated levels of contaminants coming from the coal ash surface impoundment.
• Evidence of potential releases from the impoundments and insufficient information to support claims that the contamination is from sources other than the impoundments.
• Inadequate documentation for the design and performance of the impoundment liners.
• Failure to meet all location restrictions.

 

If EPA finalizes these denials, the facilities will have to either stop sending waste to these unlined impoundments or submit applications to EPA for extensions to the deadline for unlined coal ash surface impoundments to stop receiving waste.

In the significant interest of maintaining grid reliability, the Agency is also proposing a process for these facilities to seek additional time, if needed to address demonstrated grid reliability issues. This process relies in part on reliability assessments from the relevant regional transmission organizations, ensuring a reliable supply of electricity while protecting public health.
EPA is collecting public comments on these proposals for 30 days through dockets in Regulations.gov. For more information, visit the Part B implementation webpage.

Background
The CCR Part B Final Rule, published November 12, 2020, allowed facilities to demonstrate to EPA that, based on groundwater data and the design of a particular surface impoundment, the operation of the unit has and will continue to ensure there is no reasonable probability of adverse effects to human health and the environment. EPA approval would allow the unit to continue to operate.

EPA received applications for alternate liner demonstrations from eight facilities with 17 CCR surface impoundments. These applications were from facilities in Arizona, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Texas. One Arizona facility and the Louisiana facility have since withdrawn their applications.

Learn more about coal ash

For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)