TalkingPFAS

Talking PFAS Episode 44 Show Description/Notes/Links

INTRO:

Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast.  I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell.  If you are new to the podcast, I encourage you to have a binge listen, as the content is, of course, still very relevant today as attention, regulation and litigation regarding PFAS chemicals continues to accelerate. 

Today’s discussion is an Interview with two guests who were training people at the CRC Care Risk to Remediation Masterclass in Newcastle from the 1-5 May, 2023.

My guests are Paul Nathanail from Nottingham, England, Technical Director of LQM, which specialises in contaminated land management in England and around the world.   I have previously interview Paul before, when he was a keynote speaker at CRC Care International Clean Up Conference in Adelaide, South Australia.  You can hear that very important discussion in episode 37.

My second guest is Scott Warner, from California, who is a geologist, and has specialised as a hydrogeologist studying and assessing groundwater conditions, for 40 years.  Scott is the Principal Hydrogeologist for the BBJ Group.  

In early May I had the privilege of attending one of the training days at the CRC Care’s 4th Risk to Remediation Masterclass.  This course was held from the 1-5 May, 2023, at Newcastle (NSW), Australia.  I interviewed Paul and Scott at the end of a long week and a long day of very in depth training.  It is important to clarify that this was not a course that was solely dedicated to PFAS remediation but remediation in general, which included PFAS. 

CRC Care provided me with this information following the event:

“The CRC are Risk to Remediation Masterclass was a five-day course that provided participants with the cutting edge skills to manage and remediate contaminated sites in Australia and globally.  This course was developed in response to the critical need to build capacity to address the growing global contamination crisis.

While technical lessons learned through the study of past projects an advantage of this course was the semi-structured discussions problem-solving and personal interactions that allowed participants to consider the many facets of modern contaminant site assessment and remedial design. 

The course also discussed aspects of sustainable low impact remediation approaches, climate change considerations, policy and regulatory matters and economic considerations, all within the context of gaining and maintaining a social licence to operate.                               

There were 75 delegates present, and the Masterclass 2023 was attended by delegates from Australia and from overseas.  The delegates were from a varied background and experience.  They were from Department of Defence, regulators for EPA VIC and EPA Tasmania, Federal Government, consultants and practitioners, academia, scientists, researchers and early career professionals.  And the overseas delegates were from Malaysia and South Africa.  Now to my discussion with Paul Nathanail from the UK and Scott Warner from California.

Special thanks to CRC Care for allowing me to attend.

LINKS: 

Show Notes: Talking PFAS with Peter Murphy, MD EPOC Enviro (OPEC Systems) regarding PFAS remediation using their SAFF Foam Fractionation Technology – Published Wed 26/4/2023

Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast.  I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell.  If you are joining us for the first time a very big welcome. I encourage you to listen to past episodes, with a range of really excellent guests from around the world.

Just before I introduce today’s guest, I encourage you to have a listen to Episode 42, which published yesterday.  It is an update of the US EPA's proposed regulations regarding  PFAS in drinking water.   If the proposed MCLs are approved they will become mandatory levels.  As discussed in last week’s episode the guidelines and regulatory limits for certain PFAS keep going down. The number of PFAS lawsuits keep increasing, and the number of PFAS contaminated sites keeps growing.  This means there will be no shortage of PFAS remediation work for quite some time.

In fact, in a PFAS remediation special edition of the Environmental Business Journal published in 2019 they state, and I quote:

“The Environmental Business Journal has wrestled with the extent and scale of the PFAS Era in market terms.  The EBJ has published a working model which reflects a consensus on the scale of the emerging PFAS market.  The EBJ model includes major contributions from both waste and wastewater system upgrades and lifestyle costs as well as remediation.  The model published in 2019 points to the possibility of expenditures in excess of $160 billion over the next 20-30 years and over 40,000 sites or facilities where significant PFAS contamination will likely be identified and treated or remediated at some level.”                                     

Today’s discussion is another chat about a PFAS remediation method.   Today’s guest is Peter Murphy Managing Director of an Australian based company, OPEC Systems.  OPEC Systems trades as EPOC Enviro around the rest of the world which stands for Emerging Pollutants of Concern. 

Today we will be discussing at length EPOC’s PFAS remediation technology for removing PFAS from water and landfill leachate using their SAFF systems.  We also discuss the challenges that short chain PFAS compounds continue to present to remediators and how the SAFF has navigated these challenges so far. 

SAFF system trials have already been conducted in Oakey QLD at a Department of Defence site, and at a landfill site in Telgay Sweden.  These two systems have now moved out of their trial period into a fixed contract period.  SAFF has also been trialed in UK, as well as an undisclosed location in the US on the East Coast of New York and will be involved in projects in Spain, Germany, Massachusett’s and Minnesota. 

And just recently announced on the 13/4/2023 EPOC Enviro announced plans to open a major manufacturing facility in Statesville, North Carolina, with the first US built SAFF units scheduled to start PFAS remediation work in July 2023.

Pete Murphy from EPOC states in their recent media release: “Our award-winning SAFF technology has already visited eight different US states, and we are looking forward to leveraging this impact to all corners of the globe including back home in Australia to help communities remediate their PFAS impacted waters.”

However, despite the huge investments in remediation technology that are happening around the world, very little if any money has been invested to come up with solutions to clean up private land or farms that have been contaminated by PFAS.  That is certainly the case in Australia and indeed also in many other parts of the world.  I discussed this scenario very briefly with Pete today at the end of the episode.

Please note: I am an independent journalist and a podcaster no money was received for today’s interview.  If in the future money is received from remediation companies (as sponsorship) to support the continuation of this podcast I will disclose this.  Also any discussions with remediation companies is for information purposes, I am not endorsing any product or remediation method over another.

Copyright:  Please share the episode (in whole) with acknowledgement via social media or website, but anyone wishing to edit, alter, or republish any information from this podcast in another form is subject to copyright and must contact the rights holder at [email protected].

OPEC Information

For more information on SAFF: www.epocenviro.com

Phone: +1 844 662 3762

Show Notes

Talking PFAS Episode 42 – Published 25/4/2023

Welcome back to Talking PFAS Podcast.  I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell.

Today’s episode is the launch of Season 6, and I want to give a big thank you to everybody who continually listens to Talking PFAS podcast, and for sending me your emails on how much you enjoy it.  If you are new to the podcast, I encourage you to have a binge, as the content, of course, is still very relevant today as attention, regulation and litigation regarding PFAS chemicals continues to accelerate. 

In the Talking PFAS episode today we will be taking a closer look at what US EPA is doing regarding their proposed PFAS drinking water regulation. And it is important to note that I will be giving an overview, from their overview, so for you to get the full context of what they are doing, I strongly encourage you to look at their website. 

Also I really encourage you to look at their two webinars.  One was on the 16/3/23 and one was on the 29/3/23.  They are excellent.  They will give you all the information that you need whether you are somebody affected by PFAS contamination, or responsible to keep it out of drinking water, or responsible to clean it up.  And also, they go into great detail in parts of these webinars, but for the most part they are very easy to understand.

I just need to mention, in the intro, the proposed PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation,  that US EPA has proposed, is not an enforceable regulation yet, as some information online  and some news articles have reported that it is.  It is simply a proposal at this point.

Today I am going to share some key information from the US EPA webinars on these proposed  changes to drinking water regulation and I will put a link in my show notes.  And also the US EPA is running a virtual public hearing on May 4 and they are asking people to register and submit comments.  They will also take oral comments and written comments for this public hearing on May 4.  Throughout today’s discussion I am always talking about US EPA if I just say the word EPA, just for clarification.

I will also be sharing some of my interview with Boston Attorney John Gardella from CMBG3 Law.  This is a repeat from Episode 33 but I will not be publishing the whole of Episode 33.  But as we were discussing all of these changes it is relevant to today’s episode just to give people who are concerned about the legal ramification of these proposed changes.  So, I will be replaying it for the benefit of those listeners that are interested in litigation.

So why is the US EPA proposing these drinking water regulations regarding PFAS.  As they stated in the webinar, “they are taking this action because safe drinking water is fundamental to healthy people and thriving communities.”  EPA stated, “we rely on water from the moment we wake up and make a cup of coffee to when we brush our teeth at night.  Every person should have access to clean, safe drinking water.  That is why EPA is acting now to protect people’s drinking water from PFAS contamination.” 

As they stated in the webinar “The science is clear.  Long-term exposure to certain PFAS is linked to significant health risks.”  They continue to quote “people can be exposed to PFAS in a number of ways and when their drinking water is contaminated with PFAS it can be a significant portion of a person’s total PFAS exposure.”  This is very important to note, “based on EPA’s evaluation of current best available science,  PFOA and PFOS, are found to be likely human carcinogens.”

Commenters on the proposed rule have until May 30th this year, 2023, to provide comments to the agency on the proposed rule.  Comments must be submitted to the public docket by May 30th for consideration.

So, EPA is proposing a National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) to establish legal enforceable levels called Maximum Contaminant Levels, (MCLs) for short.

Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA has the authority to set enforceable National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for drinking water contaminants and require monitoring of public water supplies.  To date EPA has regulated more than 90 drinking water contaminants but has not established National drinking water regulations for any PFAS.

Now the Agency is developing a proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for PFOS and PFOA and additional certain other PFAS.  The EPA is also considering regulatory actions to address groups of PFAS.   The Agency expects to issue a final drinking water regulation by the end of 2023, after considering public comments on the proposal.

I am now going to play a portion of my interview with Boston Attorney John Gardella from Episode 33,  and I will ADD in some more relevant US EPA information around this, including the impacts that the new mandatory drinking water limits, if passed,  will have on public water system providers.

Now Boston Attorney, John Gardella, has been a regular guest on the Talking PFAS podcast.  It is always a great, open and easy to understand conversation with him.  He is well-versed on PFAS and writes frequently in the National Law Review and you can catch up on his multiple PFAS articles there.

Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast, and if you are joining us for the first time, a very big welcome.  I encourage you to listen to previous episodes.  I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell.  This is the last episode of Season 5.  I will be taking a publishing break until the end of March, as I conduct some more interviews.  Before I introduce today’s guest, I have some news.  I am very pleased to announce that a collection of my PFAS interviews is now available as an oral history collection in the QLD State Library.  I will put a link to that collection in the show notes. 

Today’s guest is the second last guest from the 2022 International Clean Up Conference posted by CRC Care, held in Adelaide, South Australia.  I have one more interview from Germany and that will go up in the break.

My guest today is Dr Scott Coffin, a Research Scientist, with the California State Water Resources Control Board.  This is the Agency in California that governs the drinking water and all other water resources.  What I think was significant about this discussion with Scott was that from his position working for the California State Water Resources Control Board he was willing to share openly about PFAS and California’s water issues.  Here is a little of what he said:

“So California has a legal mandate to ensure all of the data that we collect on the environment is transparent and accessible to the public.  It is a law since 2015, the Open Water Data Act and this means that any consumer in California, or anyone living in California, can find out what is in their drinking water, if they have PFAS monitored, even if it is unregulated which it often is they can find that information.” (Dr Scott Coffin)

Since commencing this podcast in 2018 I have not found that same level of openness or willingness in Australia from water providers to talk about PFAS.  I believe it is time that the Australian water providers, those people tasked with providing safe drinking water to the public, actually become more transparent about what is in the public’s water.  And in particular advise whether PFAS or other contaminants are present.

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and a very big thank you for listening.  If you enjoy the Talking PFAS podcast I encourage you to please share with colleagues, friends, associates and get the word out about this podcast.  I love receiving the emails from listeners telling me how much you enjoy the podcast.

LINKS mentioned in today’s podcast episode:

Collection of PFAS Interviews as Oral history QLD State Library – by Kayleen Bell, journalist

Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast.  I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell.

Please note I am having some technical challenges with some podcast players not updating to my latest episode, especially Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which I am in the process of fixing.  I apologise for any inconvenience.  But you can always find the latest episode on my podcast host Omny Studio, and Podlink, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Podlink and Google podcasts.  If you enjoy this podcast please share to encourage more listeners to find this podcast.

This is the finale for Season 5 of Talking PFAS.  I will be releasing two more episodes from international speakers from Clean-Up Conference 2022 in January, one speaker from California (up next) and one from Germany.  This will complete the series of interviews I recorded at Clean-Up Conference (2022).

My guest today is Dr Mark Bowman, who is a Technical Director working for GHD based in Sydney, Australia.  He has worked on PFAS since 2005 helping to assess, clean-up and manage risks associated with their use.  Dr Bowman is widely published on PFAS management, and he also presented a session at the 2022 Clean-Up Conference on emerging contaminants, including PFAS.

PFAS is a key focus for the team at GHD and Dr Bowman said their team had a strong presence at the Clean-Up Conference with up to 18 people attending including five from their Americas teams who are some of the leading people in North America dealing with PFAS and emerging contaminants.

Dr Bowman said “GHD is championing PFAS response for clients in the Asia Pacific, Americas and Europe-Middle East. The company has industry leading PFAS response capabilities and is the most experienced and trusted team working to protect people and the environment from PFAS.”

He also states: “GHD is successfully delivering PFAS contaminated site assessment, soil-water-sediment remediation, human health and ecological risk assessments, statutory audits, monitoring and strategic program management.  GHD also assists clients transition away from PFAS including advising on replacements and performing decontamination of plant and infrastructure.”

In today’s episode Dr Bowman says a key take-away is this message, “it is fine to use a chemical that has been approved for commercial use but we need to ensure that unlike some of the challenges with PFAS where they have been dispersively released and haven’t controlled how we have used those chemicals that has been a key take-away.  We need to really not let those chemicals out into the environment in the first place.  It often doesn’t matter what the chemical is.  We don’t want it in our drinking water.  We don’t want them in our food.  We want to have safe, breathable air.  We want to have safe drinking water and it is best to ensure that we are not releasing chemicals into areas that we are using for food and water.”