EPRI Environment Newsletter, October 2007

Environment Quick News

A Monthly Report From EPRI's Environment Sector

October 2007

Program members can use their EPRI.com ID and password to download Acrobat PDF files of EPRI technical reports. For assistance, contact the EPRI Customer Assistance Center at (800) 313-3774.

Dear Environment Sector members:

We would like to thank all members who participated in the Cleveland advisory meetings, especially with regard to our priority setting and planning for the 2009 offering. From our perspective, and hopefully yours, the input we received was extremely valuable and we appreciate the thought and effort everyone expended in our first attempt at this process. We are currently sorting through the results and will be providing feedback over the next several weeks.

In this issue of Quick News, note that there are several articles that pertain to the issue of arsenic. This is an integrated research effort that involves several programs in Air, Water and Land/Groundwater. As this issue becomes more front burner, we intend to have our research results available as part of any regulatory process as well as help those who are dealing with arsenic remediation.

Thank you again for your energy and enthusiasm in Cleveland. We look forward to seeing you all again in Scottsdale next February or at one of our upcoming technical meetings.

Bryan Hannegan
Vice President, Environment
bhannegan@epri.com
650-855-2858

Michael Miller
Director, Environment
mmiller@epri.com
650-855-2455

ENVIRONMENT SECTOR

. Spreadsheets showing the status of all articles submitted to third-party peer-reviewed publications are now available on epri.com.

AIR QUALITY

Program 42: Air Toxics Health and Risk Assessment

. EPRI is participating in collaborative research to develop a biologically based dose-response model that can be used to estimate the carcinogenicity of inorganic arsenic at the low doses commonly encountered by U.S. populations.

. Five well-known arsenic researchers have accepted an invitation to serve on a scientific review panel for the joint arsenic research project undertaken by EPRI, The Hamner Institute (formerly CIIT Centers for Health Research), and USEPA.

Program 91: Assessment Tools for Ozone, Particulate Matter, and Haze

. Air quality models, such as the EPRI-funded AMSTERDAM model, and watershed models, such as EPRI’s WARMF, are typically applied independently by different groups to simulate atmospheric pollution and land/water ecosystem impacts, respectively. The end point of the air models is generally the starting point of the watershed models, but little effort has been made to link them in a rigorous manner.

. EPRI researcher Eladio Knipping attended a planning meeting held Sep. 21 in Sacramento, CA, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the California Air Resources Board, and the California Energy Commission.

Program 92: Assessment of Air Quality Impacts on Health and the Environment

. Two articles based on research conducted under EPRI’s Toxicological Evaluation of Realistic Emissions of Source Aerosols (TERESA) study have been published in the journal Inhalation Toxicology.

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Visit the Global Climate Webpage

Program 103: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Options

. Two more of EPRI’s series of meetings and webcasts for Climate Area funders have been held.

. EPRI is launching a study for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) on potential CO₂ policy impacts on Western power markets.

Area News

. Read the most recent in EPRI’s series of Climate Briefs.

. EPRI’s Richard Richels has been appointed to the National Academies’ Climate Research Committee, which is responsible for developing, coordinating, and providing oversight for climate-related activities across the National Academies.

LAND AND GROUNDWATER ISSUES

Program 49: Coal Combustion Products—Environmental Issues

. This technical report summarizes current knowledge of the human health and ecological effects of environmental arsenic and discusses use of this information in assessing risk and setting regulatory standards.

Program 50: MGP Site Management

. Companies are invited to provide TC matching credits for a bench-scale treatability study using thermal conduction heating to stabilize coal tar in contaminated soil.

WATER AND ECOSYSTEMS

Program 53: Water Quality Criteria Development and Assessment

Program 54: Fish Protection at Steam Electric Power Plants

. The following updates have recently been made to EPRI’s eTherm website.

. Results from EPRI’s study of fish response to fluctuating temperatures were presented at the 137th annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society, held Sep. 2–6 in San Francisco.

Program 55: Watershed and Water Resource Management

. Water quality trading (WQT) has potential as an alternate means for power facilities to meet compliance goals with nutrient discharge limits, particularly for nitrogen.

. This four-page brochure summarizes the main points of EPRI’s 10-year energy/water sustainability research plan for the electric power industry.

. EPRI’s project examining cross-pollutant trading has to date focused primarily on identifying existing and proposed cross-pollutant trading programs, and in determining answers to three questions about each program.

. Climate change and increasing weather variability can potentially create shortages of high-quality fresh water in many regions of the United States.

Program 56: Effluent Guidelines and Water Quality Management

. Biotechnology offers great promise for the electricity enterprise in terms of lower cost, higher efficiency, and sustainable options through applications in areas such as biomass, bioremediation, phytoremediation, carbon capture, industrial process enhancement, biofuels and hydrogen production, and corrosion control.

. As a follow-up to last year's workshop in Atlanta, a second workshop on the impact of FGDs on wastewater will be held at the Drury Hotel, #2 South Fourth Street, St. Louis, MO from 1 p.m. on Oct. 29 to noon on Oct. 30.

T&D ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Program 51: T&D Facilities & Equipment: Environmental Issues

. The November 29 meeting of the Arsenic Working Group in Dallas, TX will be a workshop held jointly with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL).

. In long-term laboratory column studies, no detectable arsenic leached from contaminated soils treated with the chemical fixation reagents ferrous sulfate (FS) or ferrous sulfate plus lanthanum chloride (FSLA), even after 280 years of simulated leaching by natural precipitation.

Program 60: EMF Health Assessment and RF Safety

Visit the EMF Health Assessment and RF Safety Webpage

. This case-control study examines the possible association between occupational magnetic field exposure and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) among patients residing in eight California Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Centers located throughout the state.

. A report assessing research on the potential health effects of exposure to electric and magnetic fields (EMF) was recently issued by the BioInitiative Working Group.

. Guidance on future radiofrequency (RF) research needs was the subject of a workshop held August 7–9 in Washington, DC.

ENVIRONMENT FEDERAL HIGHLIGHTS (Washington D.C. Office, John Novak)

ENVIRONMENT SECTOR SUPPLEMENTAL PROJECTS

Air Quality

Global Climate Change

Land and Groundwater Issues

Water and Ecosystems

T&D Environmental Issues

Program 60: EMF Health Assessment and RF Safety. Currently no supplemental projects.

Occupational Health and Safety

UPCOMING EVENTS

Environment Sector