Impact of Aging Time on the Risk from Dermal Exposure to Soil Contaminated with Phenanthrene
Mohamed S. Abdel-Rahman, UMDNJ, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ

What's The Matter With RBCA?
Roger C. Brewer, Hawai'i Department of Health, Honolulu, HI

Reducing Uncertainty in Ecological Risk Assessment: Measured Tissue Residues in Fish and Aquatic and Terrestrial Insects and Derivation of Bioaccumulation Factors
Amy E. Nelson, AMEC Earth & Environmental, Westford, MA

Streamlining Ecological Risk Assessment Reporting With Interactive CD Technology
William E. Corl III, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, Norfolk, VA

Environmental Effects of Hurricane Katrina
Alex Sherrin, US EPA Boston, Boston, MA

Impact of Aging Time on the Risk from Dermal Exposure to Soil Contaminated with Phenanthrene

Mohamed S. Abdel-Rahman, Ph.D., Pharmacology and Physiology Dept., UMDNJ, New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07101, Tel: (973) 972-6568, Fax: (973) 972-4554, E-mail: abdelrms@umdnj.edu
Gloria A. Skowronski, Ph.D., Pharmacology and Physiology Dept., UMDNJ, New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07101, Tel: (973) 972-6690, Fax: (973) 972-4554, E-mail: skowroga@umdnj.edu
Rita M. Turkall, Ph.D., Pharmacology and Physiology Dept., UMDNJ, New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07101, Tel: (973) 972-5096, Fax: (973) 972-4554, and Clinical Laboratory Sciences Dept., UMDNJ, School of Health Related Professions, 65 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ, 07107, Tel: (973) 972-5577, Fax: (973) 972- 8527, E-mail: turkalrm@umdnj.edu

The health risk from exposure to contaminated soil is related to the fraction of chemical absorbed by the body (bioavailability), rather than to the total concentration of chemical in soil.  Chemical bioavailability data are necessary to improve the accuracy of risk assessment following exposure to contaminated soil and to allow more realistic soil remediation goals. One of the factors that may influence chemical bioavailability and ultimately health risk from exposure is the residence time or “aging” of chemical in soil. Skin is a primary route of exposure to phenanthrene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon found in soil at former manufactured gas plant sites. This study was conducted to determine the extent to which soil alters the dermal bioavailability of phenanthrene with respect to soil aging and soil type. Bioavailabilty was assessed by measuring the penetration of phenanthrene through dermatomed male pig skin via an in vitro approach consisting of radiotracer and flow-through diffusion cell methodology. After 3 months aging, dermal penetration was significantly decreased by 83% in Atsion soil (high sand and high organic matter content) and by 69% in Keyport soil (high clay but low organic matter content) versus pure phenanthrene (without soil).  Extending the aging time to 6 months, reduced penetration through skin by 94% in Atsion soil and 86% in Keyport soil. The results indicate that because human risk from exposure to soil contaminated with phenanthrene would be reduced by aging, less soil cleanup would be needed. 

What's The Matter With RBCA?

Roger C. Brewer, PhD, Hawai’i Department of Health, 919 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96814, Tel: 1-808-586-4249, Fax: 1-808-586-7537, Email: roger.brewer@doh.hawaii.gov

“Safe” buildings floating on lakes of highly flammable liquids.  “Risk-free” sites with explosive levels of gasoline vapors lurking below.  “Nonpotable” but highly contaminated groundwater discharging into sensitive aquatic habitats.  “Nontoxic” backfill dripping with diesel fuel approved for reuse in residential areas.  Healthy kids but dying landscaping.   “Clean” backyards that could be mined for metals.  Does no “exposure” mean no environmental concern?  Fortunately, while often approved in “site-specific” risk assessments, the conditions noted above are rarely allowed to actually take place in the field, even if RBCA said it was OK.

State “Risk-Based Corrective Action” or “RBCA” programs implemented in the 90s provided a good starting point for the investigation, assessment and cleanup of contaminated sites. It’s time, however, to take a fresh look at what’s gone right and what’s still missing in these programs.  A wealth of good ideas and experience is ripe for harvest.  For groundwater, potential environmental concerns that should at least be initially assessed at all sites include impacts to drinking water resources, emissions of subsurface vapors to building interiors, impacts to aquatic habitats (i.e., discharges to surface water) and assessment of gross contamination concerns (odors, sheens, general resource degradation, etc.).  For soil, potential environmental concerns include direct exposure of residents and workers, emission of subsurface vapors to building interiors, leaching and impacts to groundwater, toxicity to ecological receptors and assessment of gross contamination concerns.  The development and use of Environmental Screening Levels plays an important role in expediting the assessment of potential environmental concerns at contaminated sites.  Not to be forgotten is the important role of professional judgment in assessing the need for remedial actions at contaminated sites.  If RBCA is telling you something that just doesn’t seem to make sense, it might be time to ask “What’s the matter?”.

Reducing Uncertainty in Ecological Risk Assessment:  Measured Tissue Residues in Fish and Aquatic and Terrestrial Insects and Derivation of Bioaccumulation Factors

Amy E. Nelson, AMEC Earth & Environmental, 2 Robbins Road, Westford, MA, 01886, Tel: 978-692-9090, Fax: 978-692-6633, Email: amy.nelson@amec.com
Paul Anderson, AMEC Earth & Environmental, 2 Robbins Road, Westford, MA, 01886, Tel: 978-692-9090, Fax: 978-692-6633, Email: paul.anderson@amec.com
Jane Patarcity, Beazer East, Inc. c/o Three Rivers Management, Inc., One Oxford Centre, Suite 3000, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-6400, Tel: 412-207-8813, Fax: 412-208-8869

It is becoming more common for the protection of ecological receptors, rather than human receptors, to drive the extent of remediation at environmental sites.  At some sites and for some chemicals, food chain pathways can be a relevant source of potential exposure for ecological receptors.  Default media-to-receptor bioaccumulation factors used in food web modeling are typically derived from literature studies or are calculated using algorithms based on chemical/physical properties and may not represent actual site conditions.  For example, most of the available soil-to-insect accumulation factors are based on earthworm data.  Unlike most insects, soil in the gut of an earthworm composes a large fraction of an earthworm’s mass.  Therefore, chemical concentrations in whole body earthworms mirror concentrations in gut soil and do not represent what is actually accumulated into tissues.  Because most insects (e.g. flying insects) do not store soil in the gut, bioaccumulation factors for earthworms are not representative of bioaccumulation factors for insects.  The potential exposure of certain insectivorous feeding guilds, such as birds and mammals that feed on flying insects, could be misrepresented when earthworm data are used to estimate uptake into flying insects.  

This paper characterizes biota-sediment and biota-soil relationships for PAH and dioxins in forage fish and flying insects in two freshwater stream systems.  Fish were collected using typical active and passive sampling techniques (deployment of minnow traps and seining).  An innovative sampling program was designed to passively collect flying insects using a Universal Blacklight Trap.  The data from these two stream systems illustrate the extent to which commonly used default bioaccumulation factors overestimate actual concentrations of PAH and dioxins in prey species.  Site-specific bioaccumulation factors (expressed on a carbon- and lipid-adjusted basis) are derived for each of the two stream systems and are compared to default bioaccumulation factors. 

Streamlining Ecological Risk Assessment Reporting With Interactive CD Technology

William E. Corl III, MS, PC, Environmental Chemist, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, Technical Support Section, 6506 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk, VA 23508-1278, Tel: 757-322-4768, Email: William.corl@navy.mil

Consistent with current regulatory guidance, Ecological Risks Assessments are required to provide an evaluation that is robust and scientifically defensible, while at the same time, remaining accessible to a broad-based and often non-technical audience. These potentially conflicting objectives frequently result in Ecological Risk Assessments that are cumbersome, redundant, and difficult to interpret.  This presentation discusses an approach for using interactive CD technology with a tiered presentation to create a streamlined Ecological Risk Assessment that is consistent with regulatory guidance, eliminates redundancy, can be understood by a broader audience, and presents supporting data and background information in a detailed, but intuitive and user-friendly format. The presentation focuses on a case study application of this technology to an Ecological Risk Assessment which was recently completed for a tidal creek system at the U.S. Navy St. Juliens Creek Annex, located in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Environmental Effects of Hurricane Katrina

Alex M. Sherrin, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Emergency Planning and Response Branch, 1 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02114, Tel. 617-918-1252, Fax 617-918-0252, E-mail: sherrin.alex@epa.gov
Steven R. Novick, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Emergency Planning and Response Branch, 1 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02114, Tel. 617-918-1271, Fax 617-918-0271, E-mail: novick.steve@epa.gov  

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the New Orleans area of Louisiana, strong winds and flood waters destroyed many homes and businesses resulting in discharges of hazardous materials.  Oil was released from cars, auto garages, and large bulk oil storage facilities, etc.  Chemicals including metals and pesticides were released from homes, hardware stores, agricultural shops, and other facilities.  These materials mixed with flood waters and were transported across a wide area potentially contaminating major portions of New Orleans.

To determine if contaminants were present in the New Orleans environment that might pose a risk to residents or the biota, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) have collected thousands of soil, sediment, water and air samples within the flooded area and analyzed them for metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, and pesticides.  To date, the testing results show little to no health risk from Hurricane Katrina related impacts.  This paper provides an overview of the methods and results used to assess the potential impact to human health and the environment.

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