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Quality
Assurance/Quality Control: An Integral Part of Brownfields
Redevelopment When a community
wins a brownfields redevelopment grant from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the
recipient organization must agree to meet specific
quality assurance requirements. Even if the community
receives no funding from EPA, quality assurance
is still a worthwhile procedure to follow in attaining
high-caliber results in a brownfields redevelopment
project.
Quality assurance (QA) is a set of
management activites that helps to ensure success
in any organized business endeavor. Quality control
(QC) is the measuring tool (or tools) used to test
a business process against known standards.
Communities begin the QA/QC process
by defining their problem and determining what information
they need to solve it. This activity is known as
setting data quality objectives (DQO) as shown in
the seven-step process in Figure 1.
 If
a community uses EPA resources to collect environmental
data at the brownfields site, then municipal officials
must establish a QA/QC system, including a quality
management plan for documentation purposes.
Communities must also compile a quality
assurance project plan that lays out the specific
quality objectives for brownfields site assessment
activities.
Meeting EPA quality requirements
can be a challenging process to communities without
QA/QC experience. Outreach specialists with the
TOSC and TAB programs can provide assistance in
understanding how to meet these requirements. A
factsheet on QA/QC is available at: www.hsrc.org/hsrc/html/tosc/sswtosc/update15.pdf.
At EPA, the following individuals
and web sites may be helpful in providing information
regarding quality requirements at brownfields sites:
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response (OSWER)
Greg Jordon
Telephone: 202-566-2751
EPA Region 6
Don Johnson, QA Manager
Telephone: 214-665-8343
EPA Region 4
Gary Bennett, QA Contact
Telephone: 706-355-8500
EPA also provides assistance that
can be read on the web or downloaded. The topics
and web addresses are as follows:
The primary South & Southwest HSRC contact
for information on QA/QC programs is Faith Stephens
at fstephens@hsrc.lsu.edu.
 Environmental
Factsheets Valuable Community Resource
Over the past three years, the Hazardous
Substance Research Centers' outreach program
has prepared a library of factsheets to
help communities understand common environmental
hazards. Factsheets are now available on
15 topics, but the series is continuing
to add titles and is available to read or
download on the web. Just go to www.hsrc-ssw.org and select the "Technical Outreach" button.
On the page that comes up on your computer
screen, choose "Publications." Titles in
the factsheet series include:
- Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC)
in Brownfields Redevelopment Projects
March 2004
- Understanding the Principles of Groundwater
December 2003
- Guidelines for Getting a Contaminated
Site Placed on the National Priorities
List June 2003
- Environmental Update of the Petroleum
Industry June 2003
- A Community Guide to Safe Landfill
Management September 2002
- Understanding the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) June 2002
- Understanding the Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
April 2002
- Understanding the Potential Environmental
Hazards of Asbestos March 2002
- Understanding EPA's Underground Storage
Tank Regulations February 2002
- Introducing the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry (ATSDR) January
2002
- Understanding the Hazards of Arsenic
in Drinking Water November 2001
- Environmental Overview of the Concrete
and Cement Industries August 2001
- The Environmental Impact of Dry Cleaning
Operations April-May 2001
- Petroleum Contaminants in Groundwater
March 2001
- Understanding the Potential Hazards
of MTBE February 2001
Send suggested topics for future Environmental
Update factsheets to Mark Hodges at 404/894-6987
or mark.hodges@gtri.gatech.edu. |
 TOSC
Developing Method for Determining Accidental
Toxic Releases
Environmental
permitting requirements restrict the amount
of toxic chemicals that manufacturing plants
are allowed to release. These regulations
were designed to keep industries from dumping
excessive pollutants into the environment,
but they do not take into account accidental
releases, which may account for a significant
source of a company's total contamination.
How great a problem do accidental
releases pose? The answers are likely to
vary from place to place, but grassroots
organizations often have trouble making
realistic assessments because of the voluminous
regulatory paperwork that they must analyze.
TOSC staff members at LSU
are trying to develop a method for communities
to generate such estimates, and they are
using Louisiana's Calcasieu Parish as a
case study.
Calcasieu Parish has been
home to a number of oil refineries and other
petrochemical industrial facilities in Louisiana
since the 1930s and 1940s. Consequently,
the parish is responsible for a large amount
of the state's toxic releases to air, soil
and water. The Calcasieu Estuary contains
high levels of toxic substances, including
PAHs, PCBs, and metals such as mercury,
zinc, lead, and copper.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) carried out a remedial investigation
in Calcasieu Parish, releasing its report
in 2003 that declared the area a "Superfund
initiative." TOSC became involved in the
investigation when the Calcasieu League
for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) asked
its staff to review EPA's report on the
group's behalf and assist them in interpreting
the findings. CLEAN also requested that
TOSC focus in particular on the accidental
releases of contaminants into the air by
existing Calcasieu industries.
 In
the study that has ensued, TOSC outreach
specialists Denise Rousseau Ford and Tomeka
Prioleau have built off the work of Wilma
Subra, a Louisiana-based chemist, community
activist, and member of the TOSC advisory
committee. Subra used Toxic Release Inventory
(TRI) data to provide information on the
levels of accident or unauthorized releases
of toxic chemicals into the air by Louisiana
industrial facilities.
In Louisiana, one of the
complicating factors in assessing accidental
releases is that companies make two different
reports to the Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ). The initial estimate is submitted
within two days of the incident as a kind
of best guess of the scope of a release.
Companies send more refined assessments
to DEQ within a week of the incident, and
the agency places these latter totals in
quarterly and annual reports.
TOSC's study is focusing
on accidental releases by 21 companies in
Calcasieu Parish. Ford and Prioleau are
looking through DEQ reports to identify
unusual or irregular emissions and compile
information on the frequency and amount
of toxic chemical releases. They are interested
in the impact of accidental releases to
Calcasieu's total contamination picture,
but they also want to identify a method
for efficiently finding this information.
 Prioleau
says that communities often fail to get
the answers they need because they don't
know the right questions to ask or who to
ask for the information. "We're doing a
lot of research at the Department of Environmental
Quality, trying to establish a procedure
for communities to follow," she says.
Ford believes that greater knowledge of
the scope accidental releases will be in
invaluable for communities in their negotiations
with companies over realistic cleanup operations.
"This is strong information to come to the
table with," she says.
The study began in August 2003 and should
be completed by August 2004. For more information,
contact Ford or Prioleau at 225-578-6770
or by e-mail at: drf@hsrc.lsu.edu.
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| TAB
Program Receives Contract Extension
The South & Southwest HSRC Technical Assistance
to Brownfield Communities Program (TAB)
was awarded a three-year extension of its
existing contract with the U.S. EPA Brownfields
Office beginning in 2004.
Delays in disbursement of grant funds
to the South and Southwest HSRC, however,
has caused a temporary suspension of TAB
activities in Region IV due to a lack of
funds to assist its eight TAB client communities.
Nevertheless, TAB staff members continue
to remain in contact with their communities
and municipalities. When funding is resumed,
TAB technical assistance efforts will immediately
restart. Click
here to download a document summarizing
TAB's assistance to its eight current communities
to date. |
 TOSC
Assists 10 Communities in First Quarter 2004
In the first quarter of 2004, the Technical
Outreach Services to Communities (TOSC)
program assisted 10 communities in EPA's
Regions IV and VI. The communities included
several communities new to the program.
Several other communities were inactive
in the first quarter but are expected to
become active as cleanup work progresses
in these areas. In addition, TOSC is continuing
to pursue new communities, and several are
expected to become active in the second
quarter.
In other program activities, TOSC contacted
several Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) in Region VI to strengthen
ties and form collaborative relationships.
Program staff members also met with Dr.
George DaBai of Langston University in Oklahoma
in April and the outreach team attended
the National Environmental Justice Advisory
Council Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana,
in April. The latter meeting focused on
the council's document on cumulative risks
and impacts entitled "Ensuring Risk Reduction
in Communities with Multiple Stressors:
Environmental Justice and Cumulative Risks/Impacts."
The TOSC team presented a session on "TOSC
& TAB Assistance: What's Our Legal Liability"
during the TOSC/TAB/EPA National Conference
in St. Louis, March 31.
Click
here to download a summary document
describing TOSC assistance to communities
in the first quarter.
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 Web
Resources for Community Cleanup and Redevelopment
The World Wide Web has a
wealth of information for communities involved
in environmental cleanup or redevelopment
projects. Here is a sampling of resources:
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In 1997, GSA launched the Brownfields
Redevelopment Initiative to identify
and redeploy underutilized federal properties.
Read about some of the success stories
of this program at: http://bri.gsa.gov/brownfields/success/
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Brownfields-oriented conferences at
the Center for Brownfields Initiatives
site: www.brownfields.com/conferences.htm
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Toolkit developed by EPA on how to
set up a community advisory group to
participate in decision-making for Superfund
projects or other sites with environmental
problems. www.epa.gov/superfund/tools/cag/cagtlktc.pdf
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EnviroTools is a site at Michigan
State University established to empower
citizen participation in cleaning up
contaminated sites. It has a page with
links to fact sheets on topics such
as: 1) community building; 2) environmental
assessment; 3) pollutants, fate, transport
and behavior; 4) health effects on humans
and the environment; 5) risk assessment;
6) regulations and legal considerations;
7) finances; 8) remediation; and 9)
redevelopment. To access these resources,
go to: www.egr.msu.edu/~envirotools/cgi-bin/factsheets.php3.
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EPA funding will support training
for over 1,000 persons for environmental
jobs in brownfields communities nationwide.
In its ongoing efforts to promote economic
revitalization and safeguard the environment
and public health, EPA has announced
the awarding of its second round of
Brownfields Job Training Grants under
the new Small Business Liability Relief
and Brownfields Revitalization Act of
2002. www.epa.gov/brownfields/archive/pilot_arch.htm
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Go to the EPA Brownfields Technology
Support Center to download a 21-page
document entitled, Improving Decision
Quality: Making the Case for Adopting
Next Generation Site Characterization
Practices. www.brownfieldstsc.org/publications_index.htm
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Small Community Quarterly is a new,
free electronic newsletter published
by the National Center for Small Communities
(NCSC). The NCSC provides small-town
decisionmakers with tools to govern
effectively and skills to expand local
economies, protect natural resources
and preserve community character. Go
to: www.natat.org/ncsc/ and select "Publications." The newsletter
is on the publications link page.
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The Sustainable Communities Network
offers a downloadable brochure with
ideas for how communities can plan a
sustainable event as well as a starter
kit for a community member, city official,
planner, or design professional to identify
available planning tools and assess
their appropriateness. www.sustainable.org/
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The Florida Brownfields
Association (FBA) is posting a
"Call for Posters" for the 2004
Florida Brownfields Conference
held in Sarasota, Florida,
August 15-18. Proposals 250
words or less are due June 15
and should be sent to: Shawna
Chandler, FBA Board Member, 7856
Westside Park Drive, Suite G,
Mobile, AL 36695, (251)776-7344,
Fax: (251)776-1758,
schandler@aerostar.net. For more
information, go to
pdf/fla-brownfields.pdf.
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The national Brownfields 2004 conference will be held September 20-22 in St. Louis, Missouri. For more details, go to: http://www.brownfields2004.org/
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