Global Perspectives on Green Remediation

Making Clean "Green"

DTSC hosted a free, one-day symposium open to the public on Feb. 4, 2009, at Cal/EPA Headquarters in Sacramento titled Global Perspectives on Green Remediation—Making Clean "Green". The audience included cleanup consultants, businesses with contaminated sites, and brownfield developers; governmental representatives of DTSC and state and regional Water Quality Control Boards; Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPAs); and federal agencies. To save the expense and CO2 emissions associated with air travel, speakers from the United Kingdom as well as audience members were invited to participate remotely through a live, interactive Webcast. DTSC offered the symposium in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the Groundwater Resources Association (GRA).

The speakers' presentations and biographies are available through the agenda link below. Webcast videos of each session are also available through the agenda link.

Agenda (plus speaker presentations, biographies, and session Webcasts)
Symposium Evaluation Form
Flyer

♦ Academicians from the University of Nottingham and the University of Reading in England and consultants from Canada provided perspectives on the approaches in use by other nations to address sustainability concepts in site remediation.

♦ Industry consultants shared the results of case studies and a variety of tools for assessing the health and safety risk at cleanup sites, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental impacts from the application of different treatment alternatives.

♦ The Illinois EPA presented its green remediation assessment tool.

♦ State of California representatives noted DTSC’s forthcoming guidance document on Green Remediation and presented breaking information on revisions to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines that will address GHG emissions,

♦ The U.S. EPA summarized its technology primer on Green Remediation and highlighted its Green Remediation Voluntary Standards Initiative.

♦ Speakers representing the Sustainable Remediation Forum (SuRF) USA—an assembly of environmental consultants, representatives from industry, and members of the regulatory community—presented the results of a recent survey of environmental professionals about green remediation, and announced the forthcoming release of a white paper titled "Integrating Sustainable Principles, Practices, and Metrics into Remediation Projects."

♦ The program concluded with a panel discussion of the needs for changing the framework for environmental cleanups and the obstacles remaining in effectively addressing sustainability.

Questions may be submitted to GreenRemSym@dtsc.ca.gov.

Disclaimer: In an effort to foster scientific and technical advances in characterization, monitoring and remediation of contaminated sites, DTSC in cooperation with GRA, and U.S. EPA, encourages full and frank discussion of all technical matters and related issues that come before it. Information presented in this remediation symposium represents the views of the participants and has not received formal DTSC, GRA or U.S. EPA peer review. Therefore, this information does not necessarily reflect the views of DTSC, GRA or U.S. EPA or other participating organizations and no official endorsement should be inferred. The information is not intended, nor can it be relied upon, to create any rights enforceable by any party in litigation with the State of California, United States or any other party. Use or mention of trade names does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation for use. Errors and omissions in the information will be corrected as they are found and as time permits.