This session will provide examples of how States have incorporated environmental justice into their cleanup programs, successes, challenges, and tools to continue the true mission of environmental justice, that all people are entitled to equal environmental protection regardless of race, color, or national origin.

This interactive session will focus on how communications are changing and how people receive and process information. The keynote speaker will share information on how to be heard and how to address conflicting information. In addition, an overview will be provided of some of the most effective methods for reaching stakeholders.

You only have one shot at making a good first impression. Over the years, scientists, engineers, and regulatory officials have developed a reputation for giving technically sound [perhaps overly detailed] presentations but at the risk of not connecting with their audience due to scientific jargon or highlighting uncertainty to the point of blurring the technical conclusion. This program will provide a strategy, approaches, and specific examples for positive engagement and meaningful communication with your audience. The program will also highlight the SERO Speaks program being led by a young professional at the Massachusetts DEP with a focus on communication skills and promoting public speaking.

U.S. EPA speakers will start the session with an Open Burning/Open Detonation (OB/OD) “101” presentation to put session attendees on the same page with a basic understanding of the issue, provide updates of the Agency’s work, and discuss CERCLA considerations. A Department of Defense (DoD) speaker offer will a Department perspective with a focus on permit renewals, including implementation of the requirement in the June 2022 U.S. EPA OB/OD policy memo that an alternative technology evaluation must be done before a permit is issued. Following these opening remarks, much of the session will be discussion oriented to allow information sharing about where States are in the permitting process, what issues they are facing and the challenges they are experiencing, or experienced if they have already finalized permit renewals.

Topics within the scope of work of ASTSWMO Materials Management (MM) Subcommittee Task Forces will be highlighted during this session. The Chair of the Radiation Task Force will present an overview and demonstration of the Task Force’s recently issued Radiological Disaster Debris Self-Assessment Questionnaire. The session will then turn to activities by companies in Delaware that implement materials management program areas addressed by other Task Forces. Construction and demolition debris (C&D) recycling will be featured in a presentation by Revolution Recovery, which operates a C&D Materials Recovery Facility in Delaware. Bioenergy Devco currently operates a food waste specific digester in Maryland and a compost facility focused on agricultural residuals in Delaware and will discuss use of anaerobic digesters for food waste and agricultural residuals.

The Veeder Root TLS 300/350, which makes up most of the automatic tank gauges in North America, is at the end of its sales and service life and is being discontinued by Veeder-Root in the foreseeable future. Veeder-Root announced last year that it will no longer be manufacturing the TLS-300 and TLS-350 systems. They indicated that the sales cycle where manufacturing the products is no longer feasible due to obsoleted components and increased costs for older technologies. The ASTSWMO Release Prevention Task Force will present information on Underground Storage Tank (UST) unsupported monitoring systems, options for State regulators, and what the future holds for different types of UST facilities as TLS 300/350 tank gauges are discontinued. In group discussion, attendees will further discuss their States’ monitoring processes and share successes and failures among their programs. Come and share your experiences and leave with ideas to implement in your State!

Casa Ramona is a social services organization in the highly disadvantaged community of San Bernardino, California. They are helpers working tirelessly to rehabilitate their former elementary school into a viable community space and accessible senior housing. Their struggle is illustrative of remediation challenges across the nation where brownfield resources could make a difference. Learn how CA’s $270.5M Equitable Community Revitalization Grant for assessment, investigations and cleanups was designed with projects like Casa Ramona’s in mind, with the intent to revitalize communities across California. However, after the launch of the first round, additional conversations with environmental justice advocacy groups resulted in the entire program being paused to discuss and collaborate on ways to ensure that post-cleanup uses were equitable, useful, safe, and available for the communities for which they were being designed. This session will provide actionable information on how to design and course-correct to ensure community voices, cleanup options, and anti-displacement practices are central in award criteria. You will leave the session with a clearer understanding of how equity issues play out in practice throughout the brownfield program development process.

The Department of Energy will clarify what climate change is and what can be expected. Present examples of climate impacts at federal sites and federal agencies recognition regarding the need to combat climate change will also be discussed. EPA will identify guidance documents and demonstrate available tools that can be used to assess potential climate impacts at federal facility Superfund sites and preventative actions that can be performed.

U.S. EPA will discuss the flow of EV batteries through their lifecycle, including recycling and disposal, and will also provide updates of the Agency’s work on batteries as directed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Call2Recycle will address environmental and economic differences between end-of-life management of traditional combustion engines and EV batteries, including identifying issues that could lead to costs being absorbed by States/municipalities. Following the presentations there will be time for information sharing and discussion among attendees.

The Tanks Subcommittee Financial Responsibility Task Force has collected information from each State/Territory on their cost controls to further develop a resource to States in developing costs and managing funds. This data will show various types of cost control methods, details about the processes each State uses, as well as provide insight into the successes and failures of different cost controls implemented. The information gathered during this session will be used as part of the Task Force’s larger Cost Controls project. Join the Task Force in the conversation as they disseminate their data and allow the audience to provide feedback on the results and share what deliverables would benefit your State!

In 2022, the EPA Federal Facilities Restoration & Reuse Office (FFRRO) initiated an environmental justice pilot study at three federal facilities in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in partnership with EPA Region 3, Air Force, Army, and Navy. During this session EPA will highlight tools used to identify impacted communities and sites’ conditions, data gaps, and recommended actions. Following the brief presentation, participants of the pilot will share their experiences and answer questions from the audience in a facilitated panel discussion to share lessons learned and opportunities for applying environmental justice at federal facility cleanups.

High-resolution site characterization (HRSC) strategies and techniques use scale-appropriate measurement and sample density to define contaminant distributions, and the physical context in which they reside with greater certainty than traditional borehole and monitoring well investigation techniques, supporting faster and more effective site cleanups. In this session, EPA OUST will provide an overview and status update of the HRSC project, which identified scenarios in which HRSC can be useful and cost effective to States, and barriers to wider use of HRSC in petroleum release investigations. An open discussion for States to suggest action steps for EPA to consider (i.e., training, guidance, etc.) will follow. To conclude the session, EPA OUST will provide a brief update of the ASTM Moving Sites to Closure (MStC) Task Group that is developing a standard on alternative closure criteria and best management practices for stalled remediation projects and ask States to share their experiences and perspectives.

Delaware DNREC and the U.S. Air Force will share successes and challenges associated with off-base sampling of PFAS near Dover Air Force Base, which will include their Tier 1 team collaboration, identifying and treating private drinking water wells and reconciling federal and State PFAS policies and guidance for addressing PFAS. South Carolina DHEC will discuss its partnering with the U.S. Navy in the State, including risk communication and community outreach associated with off-base sampling for PFAS.