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2003 Progress Report: Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center Training and Technology Transfer Program
EPA Grant Number: R829515C005Subproject: this is subproject number 005 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R829515
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: HSRC - Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center for Remediation of Mine Waste Sites
Center Director: Shackelford, Charles D.
Title: Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center Training and Technology Transfer Program
Investigators: Woods, Sandra L.
Current Investigators: Wildeman, Thomas
Institution: Colorado School of Mines
Current Institution: Colorado State University
EPA Project Officer: Lasat, Mitch
Project Period: November 1, 2001 through October 31, 2003
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 2002 through October 31, 2003
Project Amount: Refer to main center abstract for funding details.
RFA: Hazardous Substance Research Centers - HSRC (2001)
Research Category: Hazardous Waste/Remediation
Description:
Objective:In May 2003, at the Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center's (HSRC) annual meeting, the Technical Transfer Advisory Committee (TTAC) reviewed the primary customers and objectives (as initially defined in the 2002 Annual Report) with the goal of evaluating their suitability for reaching the ultimate goal of having demonstration projects associated with the HSRC. The input from the TTAC resulted in changes to the initially stated goal and objectives to emphasize activities that will best generate possibilities for demonstration projects. One major change that occurred as a result of this review and evaluation is that activities that disseminate results will not be emphasized as much. Instead, the goal for technical transfer of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC is to take the research results generated from Center-funded research projects, package the results with related technologies created in other settings, and develop these technologies for our customers through the demonstration phase and then to full-scale operations.
The related objectives that have been set to reach this goal are to: (1) seek appropriate personnel in the agencies that are our primary customers to determine their needs concerning environmental projects at mine sites, make certain that those needs appear in the Requests for Proposals (RFPs) released by the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC, and give the customer a written assessment of how to meet these treatment needs; (2) interview the principal investigators for each research project funded by the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC to determine reasonable demonstration situations that would use the technology being developed (if any), and write a short description of the project and the demonstration situation to have available when contacting customers; (3) identify other public and private agencies, with which we can combine results, generate packages that showcase the technologies, make our customers aware of these technology packages, and generate proposals that use technologies that are within the packages; and (4) advise other agencies that contact the TTAC about demonstration situations to use either our research results or technologies that have been developed by other organizations, and assist them in generating proposals for those situations.
To further focus these efforts, our primary customers have been identified as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8, the U.S. EPA Mine Waste Technology Program (MWTP), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM). Our secondary customers are the U.S. National Park Service and state Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Programs in the Western United States. All other agencies will fall into the fourth objective, where they will be assisted when contacted. These objectives and the following measures of achievement are similar to how Technical Outreach and Service for Communities (TOSC) and Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) operate and measure success.
The approach for meeting these objectives requires informing individuals within agencies, committees, and societies of the activities of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC. If the individuals fall in the customer category, then their primary technical needs for remediating AML sites are to be ascertained. If the person represents an organization with which the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC should cooperate, then the Center needs to determine how that cooperation can be achieved. If the person represents an organization that is developing related technologies, then the Center needs to determine how to assist packaging the Center's technical expertise with that of the organization to improve the chances of taking the technical expertise to the demonstration stage. This approach involves making considerable contacts, preferably through personal visits. Fortunately, many of the individuals to be contacted are in the Denver area. The technology transfer budget, however, does contain a considerable travel allotment for trips to customers not in the Denver area.
Progress Summary:A symposium on the activities of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC was organized for the Billings Symposium/Annual Meeting of the American Society for Mining and Reclamation (ASMR) during the first week of June 2003, and two short courses were developed and presented. At the Billings Symposium/Annual Meeting of ASMR, two events sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC were the highlights of the meeting. Research activities at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the fate and transport group of Pierre Julien (EPA Agreement No. R829515C002), the toxicity group of Will Clements (EPA Agreement No. R829515C004), and assessment activities on waste rock piles at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) were integrated into a 1-day short course entitled "Assessing the Toxicity Potential of Mine Waste Piles." The workshop was attended by 25 people, and sufficient interest in the course was indicated by individuals from U.S. EPA Region 8 that a version of the course also was presented to individuals at U.S. EPA Region 8 in Denver on November 20, 2003. The first symposium on research activities of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC was organized. An important feature of this symposium was that students involved in the research projects gave most of the papers.
Related to the activities of the treatment focus group, the Passive Treatment Workshop previously organized and offered in the 1990s by James Gusek and Thomas Wildeman was updated and offered again. The first venue for the course was at the International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage (ICARD), held in Australia in July 2003, where 25 people from around the world attended. After the ICARD, the course was revised and presented as part of the Tailings and Mine Waste Conference held in Vail, CO, in October 2003, where 35 people attended. The presentations for these workshops have been copied to a CD-ROM, along with research papers related to the short course topics, for subsequent distribution to individuals in agencies that are our primary customers.
In addition to these activities, Thomas Wildeman gave presentations on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC at the University of Wyoming in February 2003, at the Contaminated Soils and Sediments Conference in San Diego in March 2003, and at the Mine Life Cycle Conference in Elko, NV, in March 2003.
Related to Objective 1, contacting agencies that are the Center's primary customers, the following activities were conducted:
• Contacts with personnel from U.S. EPA Region 8 are continuously maintained throughout the year. In addition, contacts with the people at the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) in Cincinnati, OH, also have been developed. Finally, meetings with Superfund coordinators on priority site activities have been conducted. For example, the activity on assessing mine waste piles in the Russell Gulch area of the Central City Superfund site was a result of these contacts. This assessment activity has been extended to the total toxicity assessment activities being conducted on North Clear Creek by Jim Ranville.
• Last November, extensive meetings with Joe Galetovic of the OSM were held. Dr. Galetovic’s technical concerns about AML sites were ascertained and included in the RFPs released by the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC. For example, the issue concerning lowering of total dissolved solids in mine drainages is a specific concern of the OSM.
• Interviews of the principal investigators for each research project of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC (Objective 2) are being implemented as of November 1, 2003.
Activities related to Objective 3, on combining the results of research projects for the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC with those of other organizations, were as follows:
• Throughout the spring of 2003, Jim Ranville and Thomas Wildeman interacted with people from the USGS with regard to work that both have been doing on assessing the hazards of mine waste piles and stream sediments. This interaction resulted in funding of a project by the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC. In conjunction with this project and other projects at the USGS and CSM, a large sampling event on North Clear Creek was conducted in August 2003, to verify how well various methods for assessing aquatic toxicity correlate with one another. The workshop on mine waste piles at the Billings/ASMR Conference in June 2003 also grew from these efforts to assess the aquatic toxicity of mine wastes. This activity is an excellent example of how results from various groups can be combined to make a powerful research and demonstration package.
• Negotiations with the U.S. EPA to find an opportunity to put into demonstration the alkalinity generator of Barnaby Watten and Phil Sibrell of the USGS, Kearneysville, WV, are continuing. Currently, the plan is to show how this system could be used to remove zinc from mine drainages through the precipitation of calcite. Laboratory tests will be conducted on water from the French Gulch mine near Breckenridge, CO, to show that the treatment system is feasible. With these results, a proposal for submission to the MWTP is planned for the beginning of 2004. In this proposal, a faculty member from the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC would be added to the proposal to investigate the geochemical principles behind the removal process.
• At the ICARD 2003 meeting and again at the Tailings and Mine Waste Conference in October 2003, Greg Olsen of Little Bear Laboratories reported on a new method for controlling the bacteria that catalyze the oxidation of pyrite that uses thiocyanate. Efforts are being undertaken to work with Greg Olsen to find a waste rock pile that can be used for a demonstration. In addition, because there is a bit of uncertainty regarding the chemistry involved in the suppression of the bacteria, efforts also are being made to find a faculty member who could investigate this aspect of the process. A successful team of developer, scientist, and technology customers has been formed, and plans are underway to put together a proposal for the MWTP early next year.
In terms of Objective 4, finding situations for going to the demonstration phase, inquiries have been initiated to see how technologies being developed at MSE Technology Applications, Inc., in Montana can be combined with the research being conducted at the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC. The objective of this activity is to find proper combinations of projects that can be prepared for proposals to the MWTP.
Future Activities:Planned activities related to Objective 1 are as follows:
• The CD-ROMs containing the short courses and the application briefs generated from Objective 2 will be distributed to representatives of the USFS and U.S. EPA Region 8 for the purposes of informing these organizations of the activities of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC, and soliciting their primary technical needs for dealing with AML sites for incorporation into the yearly RFPs.
• The technical requirements of U.S. EPA, OSM, BLM, and MWTP also will be solicited for inclusion in next year’s RFP.
Planned activities related to Objective 2 are as follows:
• An application brief form will be developed for the purpose of connecting researchers of projects funded by the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC with partners who want to conduct a demonstration project.
• These briefs will be distributed at meetings with our primary customers and the people at MSE Technology Applications, Inc., in Montana.
Planned activities related to Objective 3 are as follows:
• The establishment of a working relationship with MSE Technology Applications, Inc., will be pursued to see how the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC can bundle its research and development results and present them to organizations for possible demonstration projects.
• Discussions with the USGS on mine waste assessment will be continued to determine if the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC can initiate some reconnaissance projects with the U.S. EPA, BLM, or USFS.
Planned activities related to Objective 4 are as follows:
• Potential demonstration situations will continue to be explored with the agencies that are the primary customers of the Rocky Mountain Regional HSRC, including MSE Technology Applications, Inc.
• The activities of the other HSRCs will be ascertained to determine if any of their activities would benefit from our expertise in treating metals contamination.
Supplemental Keywords:Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center, HSRC, Technical Transfer Advisory Committee, TTAC, mine sites, Mine Waste Technology Program, MWTP, Technical Assistance for Brownfields, TAB, Technical Outreach and Service to Communities, TOSC, abandoned mine land, AML, Office of Surface Mining, OSM, Bureau of Land Management, BLM, mine waste, toxicity, technology transfer, acid rock drainage, tailings, American Society for Mining and Reclamation, ASMR, U.S. Forest Service, USFS, U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, demonstration, metals contamination. , Industry Sectors, Water, Scientific Discipline, Waste, RFA, Remediation, Geology, Ecological Risk Assessment, Hazardous Waste, Environmental Engineering, Contaminated Sediments, Hazardous, Mining - NAIC 21, Ecology and Ecosystems, arsenic, heavy metals, risk assessment, runoff, treatment, mining impacted watershed, redox, contaminated waste sites, mining, mining wastes, stream ecosystems, acid mine runoff, suspended sediment, acid mine drainage, groundwater, technical outreach, remediation technologies, contaminant transport, natural organic matter, metal contamination, aquatic ecosystems, sediment transport, field monitoring, contaminated marine sediment, training and outreach, technology transfer
Relevant Websites:
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/hsrc/ 
Progress and Final Reports:
2002 Progress Report
Original Abstract
2004 Progress Report
2005 Progress Report
Main Center Abstract and Reports:
R829515 HSRC - Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center for Remediation of Mine Waste Sites