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Monthly Newsletter September 2019
Topic: Risk-Based Closure Criteria for Colorado’s Petroleum Storage
Tank (PST) Program
Speaker: Tom Fox, PG, Environmental Protection Specialist III, Colorado
Division of Oil & Public Safety
Time: Tuesday, September 10, 11:30am-1pm
CEMS has receive one (1) CLE for this presentation
The Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety (OPS) has established risk-based closure criteria for petroleum
releases based on the risk that contaminants of concern pose to receptors at points of exposure (POEs) by evaluating
exposure pathways using multiple lines of evidence. When the PST program was created in 1988 following the
promulgation of federal UST regulations, a Tier I closure was the only option and required remediation of dissolved
phase contamination to meet drinking water maximum contaminant levels. After the risk-based corrective action
(RBCA) strategy was developed by the American Society of Testing Materials, OPS adopted the Tier II closure in 1999,
which allowed credit for onsite natural attenuation to the downgradient property boundary using conservative
contaminant fate and transport modeling (i.e., site-specific target levels). Tier III and Tier IV closure criteria were
established in 2014 to allow for offsite contamination to remain in place if the risk evaluation indicates a low risk to
receptors and the release source area has been remediated to the maximum extent practicable with consideration of
factors such as risk reduction, application of feasible remedial technologies, access, and cost.
For complete topic information, a full biography, and reservations, please follow this link: CEMS September Luncheon
LOCATION: PLEASE note that the location for the September CEMS luncheon will be Davis Graham &
Stubbs LLP, 1550 17th Street, Suite 500 (5th Floor), Denver, CO 80202. When entering the building, please
proceed to the fifth floor to register with the CEMS representative.
MEETING FORMAT: Members may either bring their own lunch and attend the meeting for no charge, or they may
request that CEMS order a box lunch for them. The cost of the box lunch for members is $16.00; for non-members,
$19.00.
RESERVATIONS: PLEASE give your name, company name and phone number via email to [email protected].
PLEASE INDICATE IF YOU ARE RESERVING A BOX LUNCH OR BRINGING YOUR OWN. Reservations
must be received BEFORE Friday, September 6, 2019 at 5:00PM. No reservations will be taken after this date! Payment
of $16.00 for members, $19.00 for non-members will be accepted at the door with prior reservation. Please cancel your
reservation by Friday, September 6, 2019 if you are unable to attend. It is the policy of the Society to bill for meals
reserved but unclaimed. You may also pay with credit card via PAYPAL by following this link: CEMS September
Luncheon
NOTICE: CEMS would like to thank Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP for the use of meeting space and would like to
emphasize that the use of Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP space does not constitute endorsement of CEMS, sponsors of
CEMS functions, or the content of CEMS workshops or meetings.
CEMS Fall Conference Speakers, Sponsorship, and Registration forms
may be found on pages 8, 9, & 10
PAGE 2
2019 CEMS Officers: President: Steve Brauner, PhD, PE, Environmental
Works, Inc., (303)328-7982,
Vice-President: Brian LaFlamme, (303)570-7703,
Secretary: Noreen Okubo, [email protected]
Treasurer: John Fontana, Vista GeoScience,
(303)277-1694, [email protected]
Past President: David Lipson, PhD, PG, HRS Water
Consultants, Inc., (303)462-1111 Ext. 306,
[email protected] CDPHE Liaison: Fonda Apostolopoulos, CDPHE,
(303)692-3411, [email protected]
Alternate CDPHE Liason: Rachel Blomberg,
CDPHE, (303)691-4024, [email protected]
US EPA Liaison: Stephen Dyment, US EPA Region 8,
(303)312-7044, [email protected]
OPS Liaison: Rob Herbert, CDLE; Division of Oil and
Public Safety, (303)318-8543,
Board Members: Fonda Apostolopoulos, CDPHE, (303)692-3411,
Erik Gessert, PE, Terracon Consultants, Inc. (303)454-
5277, [email protected]
Andy Horn, Westwater Hydrology LLC, (303)456-
1981, [email protected]
Mike Jahn, Tasman Geosciences, Inc., (303)487-1228,
Maggie Mandell, PE, Versar, (301)943-2830,
Evan Singleton, Gablehouse Granberg, LLC, (303)572-
0050, [email protected]
Committee Chairpersons: Monthly Programs:
Andy Horn, Westwater Hydrology LLC, (303)456-
1981, [email protected]
Spring Movie Event:
Monica Genadio, Environmental Science Partners,
LLC, (720)936-1694, [email protected]
Fall Conference Co-Chairs:
Erik Gessert, PE, Terracon Consultants, Inc. (303)454-
5277, [email protected]
Suzanne Gabriele, Geosyntec Consultants, (303)790-
1340, [email protected]
Golf:
Mike Jahn, Tasman Geosciences, Inc., (303)487-1228,
Scholarship – Co-Chairs:
Fonda Apostolopoulos, CDPHE, (303)692-3411,
Bruce Marshall, Marshall Environmental Solutions,
LLC, Inc. (720)708-8329, [email protected]
Website: Juliana Reid, CEMS, [email protected]
From the Board… Innovative Technologies for
the Assessment of Petroleum Releases by Rob
Herbert, P.G., Remediation Supervisor,
Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety
The Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety (OPS)
implements a risk-based corrective action program to protect
human health and the environment from petroleum releases from
OPS-regulated storage tanks. Over the last decade, OPS has
focused on release prevention with more frequent compliance
inspections for high-risk facilities, implementing incentive
programs for upgrading spill prevention equipment and
permanently removing tank systems, and reimbursing tank
owner/operators for costs to remove aging UST systems. These
efforts have contributed to a decrease in open release events from
1,200 in 2008 to less than 600 in 2019. In addition, the
Petroleum Brownfields Program supports the assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment of former gas station sites with
abandoned unregulated tanks, and the installation of EV charging
stations. Relatively recent technological advances in site
characterization are being utilized by OPS to achieve closure of
release events in the most timely, cost effective, and technically
efficient manner. Two of these technologies are discussed in this
article: LNAPL (light non-aqueous phase liquid) transmissivity
testing, and high-resolution site characterization.
LNAPL Transmissivity Testing
A common obstacle to closing petroleum release events
with measurable LNAPL is meeting the nebulous EPA standard
of recovering LNAPL to the “maximum extent practicable” or
MEP (40 CFR 280.64). EPA has left the interpretation of the
MEP standard to the state and tribal implementing agencies.
Historically, LNAPL recoverability has been associated with in-
well LNAPL thickness measured in monitoring wells. However,
as presented by the Interstate Technology and Regulatory
Council (ITRC, 2009 and 2018), measured in-well LNAPL
thickness does not correlate with actual LNAPL thickness in the
subsurface and is a poor indicator of LNAPL recoverability. As
a result, many implementing agencies have a backlog of
petroleum release sites that are not effectively approaching site
closure because of the presence of measurable LNAPL in
monitoring wells.
To help implementing agencies define “maximum extent
practicable”, ITRC identified LNAPL transmissivity (Tn) as a
metric to evaluate LNAPL recoverability. Tn depends on soil
type, LNAPL type, LNAPL saturation, and thickness of mobile
LNAPL and can be measured and analyzed using the American
Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E2856-13: Standard
Guide for Estimation of LNAPL Transmissivity and an
associated workbook developed by the American Petroleum
Institute (API). (Continued on page 6)
PAGE 3
Products and Services
Advertise Your Business Here!
Please contact [email protected]
for pricing details.
For information on listing products and services in the CEMS newsletter, please contact CEMS at (303)674-9752 or [email protected].
PAGE 4
CEMS REGULATORY UPDATE
FEDERAL AND STATE ACTIONS IMPACTING COLORADO
By April D. Hendricks
Burns, Figa & Will, P.C.
August 2019
On August 8, 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a news release, available here,
that the Denver metropolitan area and the Northern Colorado urban corridor failed to satisfy federal ozone
pollution and air quality standards outlined in the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).
Based upon an evaluation of air quality data collected between 2015 and 2017, the EPA has proposed
reclassifying and downgrading the Denver Metro/Northern Colorado non-attainment areas (consisting of
Denver County, along with eight other Front Range counties), from “moderate” to “serious” status. Under the
Clean Air Act, the State of Colorado is responsible for developing a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to
achieve compliance with national air quality standards. The EPA’s proposed action would require that
Colorado revise its SIP to include new measures for attaining the ozone standard, which could include the
implementation of reasonably available control technologies and establishing a lower threshold for permitting
large sources. The proposal would set a new deadline of July 20, 2021, for the Denver region to attain the 2008
ozone standard.
More than a dozen states have filed a lawsuit against the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), available here, challenging the NHTSA’s final rule that reduces penalties against
automakers that fail to comply with the United States’ fuel-efficiency and emissions standards. According to
the petitioning states, by lessening the penalties for complying with fuel-efficiency standards, the NHTSA’s
rule will keep less efficient vehicle choices on the market, thereby increasing pollution and air quality concerns
on a nation-wide level. As argued by the petitioners, the NHTSA’s rule violates an existing federal law that
requires public agencies to revise civil penalties to account for inflation. Before the new rule was adopted,
automakers were required to pay $14, adjusted for inflation, for every tenth of a mile per gallon that failed to
meet the fuel-efficiency standards. The NHTSA’s final rule, published in the Federal Register on July, 26,
2019, reduces that penalty to $5.50 per tenth of a mile per gallon.
On August 13, 2019, more than two dozen cities and states, including Colorado, filed a lawsuit in the
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeking to prevent the EPA’s rollback of Obama-
era carbon emission regulations. The 2015 Clean Power Plan outlined specific targets for greenhouse gas
reductions for each state and was intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electric utilities
(predominantly coal-burning power plants). The EPA’s new rule, known as the Affordable Clean Energy Rule,
available here, was announced on June 19, 2019. The Affordable Clean Energy Rule repeals the Clean Power
Plan in its entirety and instead permits state regulators to establish performance standards for greenhouse gas
emissions from its fossil fuel-fired power plants. The parties to this lawsuit contend that the provisions of the
Affordable Clean Energy Rule are not sufficient to curb greenhouse gas emissions and that this rule violates
the Clean Air Act by weakening pollution standards.
RECRUIT AND PROFIT!!
Recruit a NEW member for CEMS and get a box lunch credit voucher! For each person you persuade to join CEMS,
you will be issued a box lunch voucher that you can apply to the CEMS fee of your choice, whether it be a luncheon,
workshop or your own membership renewal. Note that you cannot take credit for a member’s renewal. However, there
is NO LIMIT to the number of vouchers you can accumulate. Just have the new member put your name on the referral
portion of the Membership Application Form. And keep those new members coming!
PAGE 5
MEMBERSHIP – RENEWALS AND NEW MEMBERS A big thank you to all those members who renewed, and welcome to our newest members.
Renew – Individual Timmerly Bullman, EPS
Steven Humphrey, Geomega, Inc.
Mike Moes, EKI Environmental & Water, Inc.
Noreen Okubo, Independent Consultant
New – Individual
Renew – Corporate Ellingson – DTD David Bardsley Jim Doesburg Patrick Ferringer Jacob Gallagher Mike Lubrecht
Dan Ombalski Jason Yablonski Brian Younkin
Republic Services, Inc. Steve Derus Sam Hatmaker Chris Gronquist Neil Noble Elizabeth Stengl
Waste Management of Colorado Laura Adams Chris Anderson Stacy Anderson Travis Apodaca Olivia Arquiro
Gary Baldwin Louis Bull Ron Chacon Jason Chan Rick Davies
Brian Davis Eric DiEsposti Rod Gabol Bill Hedberg Rose Hudson
Scott Hutchings Steve Landucci Davin Mattila Doc Nyiro Dave Rowland
Esther Salazar Alan Scheere Tom Schweitzer Aaron Smith Jeff Sprowls
Greg Wermes Chip Wertz Rory Wirtjes Michelle Wittenbrink John Womack
Josh Yarber
Presentation Opportunities for Upcoming CEMS Meetings
The CEMS Program Committee is currently searching for "interesting, topical and informative" presentations
for our meetings in 2019 and beyond. This is a great opportunity to network with your peers, share information and
technology, and become more involved with the environmental community. CEMS is interested in an assortment and
variety of topics relevant to environmental and natural resources professionals. Each monthly presentation is roughly 50
minutes, followed by a question and answer period.
If you or someone you know is interested in presenting at our monthly meetings, or our annual
conference, please feel free to contact our Programs Committee, Andy Horn at [email protected] or
Steve Truesdale at [email protected].
Comments or suggestions from previous meetings, including the Annual Fall Conference, are also welcome.
Let us know if we can publish them in the newsletter or website.
PAGE 6
From the Board (continued from page 2)
Based on empirical data, ITRC proposed a Tn performance metric of 0.1 to 0.8 ft2/day (~1.5 gal/day), below which
LNAPL recovery is considered technically impractical.
OPS has adopted the ITRC Tn metric and considers LNAPL recovery impractical for Tn values below the
proposed ITRC range. In these cases, the saturation-based LNAPL concern has been eliminated and the focus of the
release event shifts to addressing the compositional concern to receptors posed by the primary contaminants of
concern, which are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX) and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Based
on ITRC’s LNAPL Technical/Regulatory Guidance, OPS has developed an LNAPL policy that allows for the closure
of release events with measurable LNAPL left in place if recovery has been determined to be impractical based on
calculated Tn values, and the composition-based petroleum risk to receptors has been addressed.
High Resolution Site Characterization
OPS has found high resolution site characterization (HRSC) tools to be more effective than conventional site
assessment methods for characterizing petroleum releases in Colorado. The primary HRSC tools include:
• MIP (membrane interface probe) for dissolved phase plumes,
• HPT (hydraulic profiling tool) for estimating hydraulic conductivity, and
• LIF (laser induced fluorescence), UVOST (ultraviolet optical screening tool), and OIP-UV (optical imaging
profiler ultraviolet) for defining LNAPL.
While utilizing HRSC tools may result in higher upfront assessment costs, these tools enable a more accurate
definition of release source areas and subsurface contaminant distribution, which leads to better conceptual site
models, identification of targeted treatment areas, and implementation of more technically efficient, expedient, and
cost-effective corrective action plans. In addition to defining source areas and targeted treatment areas, HRSC tools
can be used to characterize hydraulic conductivity at release sites. For example, the MiHPT tool is a combination of
the MIP (membrane interface probe) and the HPT (hydraulic profile tool) to better characterize heterogeneity of
hydraulic conductivity. Understanding the hydrogeology of the release site provides the foundation for decision-
making to select appropriate remedial options and determine remedial endpoints by identifying low-permeability
contaminant storage zones and higher permeability transport zones.
OPS promotes HRSC not only at new release sites, but also at older sites where conventional site
characterization methods have resulted in ineffective remediation efforts due to inadequate source area definition and
poor hydrogeological characterization. At some of these older legacy sites, HRSC has been used to re-evaluate and
define source areas and LNAPL pockets that were missed using conventional assessment methods, and to identify
targeted treatment areas to implement more effective remedies to achieve site closure.
Although some HRSC tools have been available for several years, advances in computing and supporting
technologies have significantly improved data analysis and presentation. In addition, HRSC tools can collect much
more data than conventional methods within the same time frame, and costs have decreased while the number of
contractors offering these services has increased. Based on OPS experience, the cost of HRSC ranges from $4,000 to
$6,000 per day depending on the contractor bid package. However, the effectiveness of any corrective action plan is
contingent on a thorough site characterization. Embarking on petroleum cleanups can cost several hundred thousand
dollars, so without spending a fraction of that upfront on a thorough site characterization is being pennywise and
pound-foolish.
(Continued on page 7)
PAGE 7
Looking for a New Position
CEMS posts many job opportunities on our website.
http://www.coems.org/jobs
If you or your company would like to post to our website, please just send over the job description,
with contact information to [email protected].
We also will post resumes for our members to help you find new opportunities.
CEMS Meeting Sponsorships
Sponsors for a CEMS lunch meeting are provided a table where brochures or other materials can be displayed. The
cost to sponsor a CEMS meeting is $30 for members and $85 for non-members. The non-member rate includes a
one-year CEMS individual membership. Please send your request to sponsor a lunch meeting to [email protected].
From the Board (continued from page 6)
References
Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council, 2009. Evaluating LNAPL Remedial Technologies for Achieving Project
Goals, December 2009.
Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council, 2017. 2018 ITRC Project Proposal: Implementing the Use of Advanced
Site Characterization Tools, June 2017.
Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council, 2018. LNAPL Site Management: LCSM Evolution, Decision Process,
and Remedial Technologies, March 2018.
Rob Herbert is the Remediation Supervisor of the Petroleum Program for the Colorado Division of Oil and
Public Safety. He received a BS in Geology from Louisiana State University and an MS in Geology with emphasis in
hydrogeology from the University of New Orleans. He is a licensed Professional Geologist (Utah) with over 27 years
of experience in environmental consulting and state and federal environmental protection programs. Before moving to
Colorado, Rob was Program Manager of the Groundwater Protection Section for 10 years at the Utah Division of
Water Quality, which included administering the EPA-delegated 1422 Underground Injection Control Program, which
includes all injection wells except Class V, and the Utah Groundwater Quality Protection Program issuing
groundwater discharge permits for mining, milling, and agricultural waste management units. Prior to his promotion
to Program Manager at Utah DWQ, he was a hydrogeologist for six years in the Utah Division of Radiation Control
addressing groundwater protection issues for low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities, and uranium mill tailings
impoundments. Before his tenure at Utah DEQ, Rob was a senior hydrogeologist for five years in environmental
consulting working on CERCLA, RCRA, and UST projects for MWH (now Stantec) and IHI Environmental (now
Terracon).
