# Presentation: 235612

## Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER)Perspective 

- Elizabeth Lee Hofmann, PhD, DABT
- Senior Science Advisor
- Office Solid Waster & Emergency Response
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

## Overview

- OSWER Program Offices
- Importance of Partnerships
- Program specific projects
- Risk assessment support
- Regulatory and guidance support
- Risk management support

## OSWER Organization

- Immediate Office of Assistant Administrator

- Office of Superfund Remediation & Technology Innovation

- Office of Brownfield Cleanup & Redevelopment

- Office of Solid Waste

- Office of Underground Storage Tanks

- Office of Emergency Management

- Oil program

- FFRO

- Revitalization

**Notes:**
Betsy Southerland will speak about OSRTI today, and Harold Ball will provide the regional prespective

## OSWER – ORD Partnerships

- OSWER is frequently confronted with complex issues that require input from a wide range of technical and scientific expertise
- OSWER and ORD have collaborated to address a number of challenging topics including:
- Contaminated sediments
- Groundwater contamination
- Multimedia contamination
- Oil spills
- Resource conservation/materials management

## Office of Solid Waste (OSW)

- Past emphasis on regulatory approach
- Recent shift in emphasis to:
- Recycling - Resource conservation challenge (RCC)
- Life cycle approach
- Voluntary programs

## ORD Support for OSW 

- Short-Term Needs:
- Consultations (e.g. vetting new biotransfer factor method)
- Current “short-term research” pilot
- Combustion Technical Assistance Center (CTAC)
- Long-Term Needs:
- Multi-media model development (3MRA)
- Landfill Liner/Cap design and performance
- Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS)

**Notes:**
There were numerous times when OSW needed to tap ORD subject matter experts, while we were developing our protocol for performing site-specific risk assessments of hazardous waste combustors.  Most recently, the contributions of NCEA’s Matt Lorber (and others in the Risk Characterization Group) were invaluable in finalizing a new method for estimating biotransfer factors for uptake of contaminants into Beef and Milk cattle.  Though the duration of each consultation wasn’t extended, the final product was more scientifically robust, and will reflect well on OSW, ORD and EPA.

The current short-term research projects were sculpted to be completed in two years or less, have well-defined outcomes, and directly address OSW’s mission needs.  Less than a year into the effort, we’re very happy with how it’s going so far.

The Combustion Technical Assistance Center has acted as a model for other groups, due in large part on ORD’s involvement.
[unfortunately, OSWER is not longer able to fund CTAC, and it’s been discontinued]

There’s also significant value in basic research which can only be completed over longer time frames.  
ORD’s continuing work in developing the 3MRA risk model passed the peer-review test last fiscal year, and continued support shows great promise in addressing OSW’s shifting needs in testing potential beneficial re-use scenarios for various waste streams.  

The work NRMRL has done on landfill liner and cap design and long-term performance, as well as their CEMS research are two examples of ORD work to support OSW that require more sustained, long-term effort.
There were numerous times when OSW needed to tap ORD subject matter experts, while we were developing our protocol for performing site-specific risk assessments of hazardous waste combustors.  Most recently, the contributions of NCEA’s Matt Lorber (and others in the Risk Characterization Group) were invaluable in finalizing a new method for estimating biotransfer factors for uptake of contaminants into Beef and Milk cattle.  Though the duration of each consultation wasn’t extended, the final product was more scientifically robust, and will reflect well on OSW, ORD and EPA.

The current short-term research projects were sculpted to be completed in two years or less, have well-defined outcomes, and directly address OSW’s mission needs.  Less than a year into the effort, we’re very happy with how it’s going so far.

The Combustion Technical Assistance Center has acted as a model for other groups, due in large part on ORD’s involvement.
[unfortunately, OSWER is not longer able to fund CTAC, and it’s been discontinued]

There’s also significant value in basic research which can only be completed over longer time frames.  
ORD’s continuing work in developing the 3MRA risk model passed the peer-review test last fiscal year, and continued support shows great promise in addressing OSW’s shifting needs in testing potential beneficial re-use scenarios for various waste streams.  

The work NRMRL has done on landfill liner and cap design and long-term performance, as well as their CEMS research are two examples of ORD work to support OSW that require more sustained, long-term effort.
There were numerous times when OSW needed to tap ORD subject matter experts, while we were developing our protocol for performing site-specific risk assessments of hazardous waste combustors.  Most recently, the contributions of NCEA’s Matt Lorber (and others in the Risk Characterization Group) were invaluable in finalizing a new method for estimating biotransfer factors for uptake of contaminants into Beef and Milk cattle.  Though the duration of each consultation wasn’t extended, the final product was more scientifically robust, and will reflect well on OSW, ORD and EPA.

The current short-term research projects were sculpted to be completed in two years or less, have well-defined outcomes, and directly address OSW’s mission needs.  Less than a year into the effort, we’re very happy with how it’s going so far.

The Combustion Technical Assistance Center has acted as a model for other groups, due in large part on ORD’s involvement.
[unfortunately, OSWER is not longer able to fund CTAC, and it’s been discontinued]

There’s also significant value in basic research which can only be completed over longer time frames.  
ORD’s continuing work in developing the 3MRA risk model passed the peer-review test last fiscal year, and continued support shows great promise in addressing OSW’s shifting needs in testing potential beneficial re-use scenarios for various waste streams.  

The work NRMRL has done on landfill liner and cap design and long-term performance, as well as their CEMS research are two examples of ORD work to support OSW that require more sustained, long-term effort.
There were numerous times when OSW needed to tap ORD subject matter experts, while we were developing our protocol for performing site-specific risk assessments of hazardous waste combustors.  Most recently, the contributions of NCEA’s Matt Lorber (and others in the Risk Characterization Group) were invaluable in finalizing a new method for estimating biotransfer factors for uptake of contaminants into Beef and Milk cattle.  Though the duration of each consultation wasn’t extended, the final product was more scientifically robust, and will reflect well on OSW, ORD and EPA.
The current short-term research projects were sculpted to be completed in two years or less, have well-defined outcomes, and directly address OSW’s mission needs.  Less than a year into the effort, we’re very happy with how it’s going so far.
The Combustion Technical Assistance Center has acted as a model for other groups, due in large part on ORD’s involvement.
[unfortunately, OSWER is not longer able to fund CTAC, and it’s been discontinued]
There’s also significant value in basic research which can only be completed over longer time frames.  
ORD’s continuing work in developing the 3MRA risk model passed the peer-review test last fiscal year, and continued support shows great promise in addressing OSW’s shifting needs in testing potential beneficial re-use scenarios for various waste streams.  
The work NRMRL has done on landfill liner and cap design and long-term performance, as well as their CEMS research are two examples of ORD work to support OSW that require more sustained, long-term effort.

## ORD support for OEM – Emergency Response

- Support on Katrina & Rita Hurricane
- Debris burning – air curtain destructors
- Compiling lessons learned
- Creation of Red Team – technical experts for emergency response
- Systemic studies of decontamination systems
- Development of rapid detection systems

## ORD support for OEM – Technical Support

- Support of National Decontamination Team exercises
- Participation in Foreign Animal Disease working group
- Sampling method development
- Providing web-based guidance on safe disposal of decontaminated wastes

## ORD support for Oil Program and OUST

- EPA’s Research Object Oriented Oil Spill (ERO3S) model – fate and transport
- Protocol development for testing and screening of remediation products (e.g., Baffled Flask Test)
- models and techniques for UST site closures
- MtBE adsorption/oxidation
- Biomass concentrator reactor
- Retrospective performance evaluation of in-situ technologies

## Support for Brownfields

- Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools – electronic (SMARTe); a web-based decision support tool
- Valuing market based incentives
- Predictive modeling of metal transport for use at abandon landfill sites

**Notes:**
Predictive modeling – Geochemistry, Biochemistry and Surface/Groundwater Interactions for As, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Zn with Applications to Contaminated Waterfronts

## Examples of Risk Assessment Support from ORD

- Superfund Technical Support Center – toxicological assessments (PPRTVs)
- Ecological Risk Assessment Support Center (ERASC)
- Modeling efforts – 3MRA
- IRIS Assessments – Asbestos, others
- Vapor intrusion - J & E model evaluation

**Notes:**
3 MRA – Multimedia, multi-pathway, multi-receptor risk assessment
PPRTVS – 50 per year 2006-2012
ERASC Products:
Non-dioxin-like PCBs: Effects and Considerations in Ecological Risk Assessments
Memorandum: Response to Ecological Risk Assessment Forum Request for Information on the Benefits of PCB Congener-specific Analyses
Methods for Determining the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in Soils and Sediments
Application of the Equilibrium Partitioning (EqP) Approach in Ecological Risk Assessment – Video
Assessing Risks to Populations at Superfund and RCRA Sites.  Characterizing Effects on Populations
Application of the EqP Theory to Soil  PAH Concentrations
Estimation of Biota Sediment Accumulation Factor (BSAF) from Paired Observations of Chemical Concentrations in Biota and Sediment

## Support for Health Risk Assessment Guidance

- Inhalation exposure
- Exposure factors update
- Dermal absorption estimates
- Statistical approaches for background characterization

## ORD support for Regulations

- ORD contributes to all regulatory workgroups to ensure
- consistency with Agency Action Development Process
- sound science is reflected in all rulemakings
- Example: regulatory incentives to promote recycling heavy metals in electroplating sludge (F006)

**Notes:**
HWIRE – 3MRA

## Guidance Document Support

- Cancer Guidelines
- Probabilistic Risk Assessment
- Vapor Intrusion
- Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities (HHRAP)

## Risk Management Support 

- Groundwater technical support center
- Engineering technical support center
- Sediment remediation and capping techniques
- DNAPL remediation
- Permeable reactive barriers
- Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program

**Notes:**
Value added - NRMRL accomplishments
Harry Ball - details

## Short-term Research Projects

- Additional funds ($220K) used to support 11 projects
- Address needs of Brownfields, OEM, OSRTI, OSW, OUST
- Diverse topics:
- 	- analysis of the toxic constituents of ewaste
- 	- optimization of nutrient applications for oil remediation

**Notes:**
I would like to end by mention an effort that is outside of ORD’s normal process for supporting OSWER, but one that we feel will be provide very valuable information: the short-term research projects.  
These projects were . . . 

## Summary

- ORD’s support is invaluable in
- 	- providing technical assistance to our various program offices
- 	- maintaining core technical expertise
- Toxicity assessment and risk assessment support
- Modeling Support
- Assistance with regulatory and guidance document development

## Thank you