The Collision of MTBE and NRD in New Jersey

The Situation

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) recently filed a natural resource damage (NRD) complaint against a long list of petrochemical companies who previously provided the state’s gasoline supply. The suit is specifically targeted at alleged releases of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a fuel oxygenate approved by U.S. EPA in 1979 and added to gasoline to reduce combustion emissions.

MTBE contamination primarily impacts groundwater after accidental releases. NJDEP has set a health-based primary maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 70 ppb for drinking water. Several states have previously sued suppliers of reformulated gasoline for exceedances of this standard.

NRD claims have traditionally focused on both lost ecological and human use services. Claims for non-NRD damage resulting from MTBE in New Jersey and other states have previously focused on groundwater and human health effects. This recent NRD claim, however, is not limited to injuries to groundwater resources. Now for the first time, damages associated with MTBE releases are being claimed for injuries to surface waters and ecological resources. The state is claiming compensatory damages for the lost interim value of the water as well as a long list of other damages ostensibly related to the discharge of MTBE.

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Next Issue - Advancing Environmental Assessment and Communication Using GIS

“Knowing where you are is more than half the battle”

The increasing use of powerful analytical tools such as advanced event-specific projection models (e.g., oil spill models), multi-media transport and fate models, and spatially-explicit wildlife exposure models, generates large and complex data sets that decisionmakers may not be able to interpret. Another tool, however, offers both analytical power and risk communication utility. A Geographic Information System (GIS), generically and within the context of Exponent’s work, uses digital maps, photographs, satellite images, and other visual media to capture user-specified geographic data. Environmental stressors, once viewed in one flat and static dimension, are increasingly incorporated into and assessed with GIS tools. Conditions that affect these stressors change through time and across landscapes. Potential impacts may appear very different at one scale compared to another scale, depending on the assessment metric. As scientists, we are increasingly challenged to develop new ways to integrate and communicate our findings. Through GIS, which is now routinely applied to most of our projects, we can present our assessment findings (e.g., lines of evidence in a risk-based environmental review) within the larger spatial context of the study area. GIS offers another tool for emphasizing our conclusions from a range of scales. In our next issue, through a series of case studies, we will highlight the analytical applications of the powerful GIS tools.

New Faces

Dr. Waverly A. Thorsen
Senior Scientist, Environmental
Bellevue, WA
Dr. Waverly A. Thorsen has expertise in the bioavailability of hydrophobic organic contaminants, particularly PAHs. She also has designed and conducted toxicokinetic studies to measure uptake and elimination rate constants of PAHs in bivalves. She has experience working in both laboratory and field settings and is interested in the fate and effects of contaminants in the environment, and the potential for human exposure and health effects.

Dr. Thorsen has conducted field studies in Maine, North Carolina, and Virginia to measure PAH concentrations in multiple environmental compartments (soil, sediment, water, particulate organic carbon). She has also measured biota-sediment accumulation factors in the laboratory and field to better understand hydrophobic organic contaminant partitioning. She has evaluated the effect of varying levels of soot carbon and organic carbon on PAH transport and fate in the environment. Dr. Thorsen's toxicokinetic work has been used to better inform environmental regulators, managers, and scientists, and her soot carbon and PAH partitioning work is applicable to address environmental remediation issues related to contaminant bioavailability.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Thorsen worked as a consultant at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the Agricultural Development Program.

Recent/Upcoming Publications

Boehm, P.D., and D.S. Page. 2007. Exposure elements in oil spill risk and natural resource damage assessments: A review. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. 13:418–448.

Chan, W., W. Nazaroff, P. Price, and A. Gadgil. 2007. Effectiveness of urban shelter-inplace– I: Idealized conditions. Atmos. Environ. 41:4962–4976.

Kane Driscoll, S.B., and R.M. Burgess. 2007. An overview of the development, status, and application of equilibrium partitioning sediment benchmarks for PAH mixtures. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. 13(2):286–301.

Menzie, C.A., and A.J. Coleman. 2007. Debate and commentary. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments: An overview of risk-related issues. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. 13:269–275.

Menzie, C.A., M.M. MacDonell, and M. Mumtaz. 2007. A phased approach for evaluating the combined effects from multiple stressors. Environ. Health Perspect. 115(5):807–816.

Johnson, M.S., W.T. Wickwire, M.J. Quinn, D.J. Ziolkowski, D. Burmistrov, C.A. Menzie, C. Geraghty, M. Minnich, and P.J. Parsons. In press. Are songbirds at risk from lead at small arms ranges? An application of the spatially explicit exposure model. Environ. Toxicol. Chem.

Recent/Upcoming Conferences & Presentations

U.S. EPA Science to Achieve Results Workshop on Valuation of Ecological Benefits
Washington, DC
April 23–24, 2007

Use of Stated Preference Methods to Value the Benefits of Ecological Risk Reductions: A Case Study of Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls.
K. von Stackelberg and J. Hammitt.
Invited paper.

SETAC Europe 17th Annual Meeting
Porto, Portugal
May 20–24, 2007

The Iraqi Wetlands: Ecological Stress and Hydrological Potential for Restoration.
A. Cattarossi, J. Lecollinet, D. Hamilton, and T. Deardorff.

The Feasibility of Using a Microcosm-scaled Wetland for Treating Wastewater from a Pulp and Paper Mill.
T. Deardorff.

Development of a Constructed Wetland in Southern Iraq.
T. Deardorff, T. Flowers, D. Hamilton, A. Cattarossi, and J. Lecollinet.

North American Advancement of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), Coal to Liquids (CTL), and Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) Workshop
Houston, TX
May 24, 2007

CO2 Utilization Technologies.
D. Mueller and S. Saraf.

SETAC Pellston Workshop: The Tissue Residue Approach
Leavenworth, WA
June 7–12, 2007

S. Kane Driscoll, participant

Air & Waste Management Association Annual Meeting
Pittsburgh, PA
June 26–29, 2007

RCRA: The Past Quarter Century and the Next,
D. Mueller, Panel Chair.

Environmental Forensics,
D. Mueller, Panel Chair.

Texas State Bar Association's 19th Annual Texas Environmental Superconference
Austin, TX
August 1–3, 2007

Global Climate Change Modeling.
J. Levy.

Environmental 101—Solid Waste/Superfund.
D. Mueller.