About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

GCAGS Transactions

Abstract


Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions
Vol. 49 (1999), Pages 282-291

The Dilemma of Assessing Heavy Previous HitMetalNext Hit Toxicity

Wayne C. Isphording (1) and Maria E. Bundy (2)

(1) Department of Geology-Geography, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688

(2) Department of Geological Sciences, Louisiana State University,Baton Rouge, LA 70802

ABSTRACT

Geologists must often determine the degree to which a site is contaminated by heavy metals. Critical to this is an understanding that it is not the total quantity of a Previous HitmetalNext Hit that determines toxicity but rather the bioavailable amount that is of concern. Soils near industrial and drilling sites may well contain elevated quantities of heavy metals. Standard practice is to perform a Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and if metals are found in excess of EPA limits, a "clean up" is mandated. Industries have spent millions of dollars treating such soils because they believe that there is no alternative action. The EPA will consider exceptions on a case-by-case basis and appeals procedures are available. To appeal, information must be supplied to show why an exception should be granted. The strongest argument is that quantities indicated by the TCLP do not reflect the amounts potentially releasable at a site or that the metals are in a"safe" form. The TCLP is a flawed procedure. The EPA is well aware that the TCLP does not always produce reliable results. Truly identifying the quantity of a Previous HitmetalNext Hit that can be leached from a soil and rendered bioavailable requires tests to be performed under ambient site conditions. The TCLP extracts the Previous HitmetalNext Hit at a pH of 4.93 (or 2.88). It is likely that conditions at the site are not at either of these pH's. Further, it is critical to know the manner by which the Previous HitmetalNext Hit is held in the soil. A TCLP in no way identifies the amount of a Previous HitmetalTop held in organic, reduced, oxide, or structural phases. These strongly control actual bioavailability and toxicity. To determine this, selective ion site partitioning analyses are needed. It is this information that may then be useful (or critical) in an appeal process.

Three examples are given where strict adherence to clean up operations based upon TCLP results would have been inappropriate and would have incorrectly addressed actual environmental problems at the sites. These include bottom sediments proximal to an oil-drilling operation near the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, a reservoir in Alabama surrounded by abandoned coal mine dumps, and a wetland area adjacent to a refinery in Louisiana.


Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24