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Dan-Tam Nguyen

From: jlapcev@firstenergycorp.com

Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 10:27 AM

To: Flanders, Phillip

Cc: Jordan, Ronald; Thomas Finseth; Schroeder, Cuc; Dan-Tam Nguyen; Anna Dimling; 

wcannon@firstenergycorp.com

Subject: RE: Follow up to comments on proposed Steam Electric effluent guidelines

Phil, 

Sorry for the confusion on units for each column. 

1) Yes, the units listed in the header column is correct – milligrams per liter for columns D, H, & I 

(As-200.7, Hg-245.1, As-200.8). 

2) Allegheny’s lab ceased analyzing Hatfield’s samples on 11/30/2011. FE’s Beta Lab began analyzing 

Hatfield’s samples on 12/1/2011. So, the MDL for arsenic samples analyzed in December of 2011 

is the Beta MDL of 0.006 mg/L for arsenic. 

3) The Beta Lab’s quantitation limit for mercury (Column H) is 0.0002-mg/L for Method 245.1. I 

inadvertently listed it as the MDL, which at that time was 0.00006-mg/L for Beta. 

Joe Lapcevic 

Supervisor, Water Permitting 

(724) 838 – 6099 work 

(234) 678 – 2385 fax 

FirstEnergy Corp. 

800 Cabin Hill Drive 

Greensburg, PA 15601-1689 

From: Flanders, Phillip [mailto:Flanders.Phillip@epa.gov]  

Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 12:44 PM

To: Lapcevic, Joseph P

Cc: Jordan, Ronald; Thomas Finseth; Schroeder, Cuc; Dan‐Tam Nguyen (Dan‐Tam.Nguyen@erg.com); Anna Dimling

Subject: RE: Follow up to comments on proposed Steam Electric effluent guidelines

Joe,

Thank you for the clarifications.  Looking at the data we had just a couple more clarifications to ask you about:

1. What are the units for the MDL in columns D, H, and I?  The units are not specified in Rows 4 and 5. Are they

same as the data listed below?

2. What is the quantitation limit for the arsenic data in Column D prior to 12/30/2011 (Allegheny’s Chemical Lab)?

3. What is the quantitation limit for the mercury data in Column H?

Thanks, again!

Phillip Flanders, Ph.D.
2

Environmental Engineer

Engineering and Analysis Division

Office of Science and Technology

Office of Water

Mail Code 4303T

(202) 566‐8323

From: jlapcev@firstenergycorp.com [mailto:jlapcev@firstenergycorp.com] 

Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 2:42 PM 

To: Flanders, Phillip 

Cc: Jordan, Ronald; Schroeder, Cuc; Thomas Finseth; rjones4@firstenergycorp.com; mjjirousek@firstenergycorp.com; 

wcannon@firstenergycorp.com

Subject: RE: Follow up to comments on proposed Steam Electric effluent guidelines 

Phil, 

The attached Word document contains the questions you raised below along with my responses. I tried 

pasting the responses into this email, but kept losing the formatting. Please don’t hesitate to call if you 

would like to discuss in more detail, or need further clarification. 

Take care, 

Joe Lapcevic 

Supervisor, Water Permitting 

(724) 838 – 6099 work 

(234) 678 – 2385 fax 

FirstEnergy Corp. 

800 Cabin Hill Drive 

Greensburg, PA 15601-1689 

From: Flanders, Phillip [mailto:Flanders.Phillip@epa.gov]  

Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 9:38 AM

To: Lapcevic, Joseph P

Cc: Jordan, Ronald; Schroeder, Cuc; Thomas Finseth

Subject: RE: Follow up to comments on proposed Steam Electric effluent guidelines

Good Morning Joe,

Thank you for submitting additional data from Hatfield’s Ferry.  We believe that this will be helpful for evaluating

comments regarding treatment of FGD wastewater.  We would like to ask you some follow‐up questions to ensure that

we understand the submitted data.  We understand that it may be difficult to locate some records  because of the

deactivation of the facility, however we would appreciate any input that you can offer.

These are the specific questions we would appreciate your input on regarding the Excel Spreadsheet that you sent us a

couple of weeks ago.
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1. What method was used for Arsenic in column D (AS ‐ Arsenic) and Column E (HGTGEO ‐ Mercury, Trace,

Geochemical Labs)?  The MDL is included on the spreadsheet, but we don't know what the quantitation limit and the

reporting limit are.   

2. In Column D (AS ‐ Arsenic) one value is reported as <MDL and several are reported as 0.  What exactly does a

reported value of "0" mean?  Were these samples also below the MDL? Does this mean the sample was a nondetect?

3. In Column E (HGTGEO ‐ Mercury, Trace, Geochemical Labs) several values are reported as 0.  What exactly

does a reported value of "0" mean?  Were these samples also below the MDL? Does this mean the sample was a

nondetect?  

4. What is the difference between Column F and Column G, both of which are labeled Hg (245.7)?  Is the unit on

Column G a typo? Should they both be ug/L? (The same numbers are reported in the two columns, but the units are

different) Why is the sample from 9/17/2013 listed as below MDL in Column F and zero in Column G?

5. What is different about the samples reported between 7/7/2009 and 11/29/2011 and 11/6/2012 and

12/10/2013?  Decommissioning Hatfield's Ferry only accounts for data acquired after 10/6/2013.  The samples from

11/6/2012 onwards do not have sample numbers.  Was a different method or a different laboratory used?  Are these

values in different units?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer,

Phillip Flanders, Ph.D.

Environmental Engineer

Engineering and Analysis Division

Office of Science and Technology

Office of Water

Mail Code 4303T

(202) 566‐8323

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The information contained in this message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the 

recipient(s) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or an agent 

responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this 

document in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly 
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