Vince Gallardo, 513-569-7176, past SITE program manager (10 yrs) now with the EPA's National Homeland Security Research Center). Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 12:15:51 -0500
From: Gallardo.Vincente@epamail.epa.gov, Keith, As discussed.Vince

U.S. EPA Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program.
Request for Sites to Host Demonstrations / Evaluations of Innovative Technologies for Hazardous Waste Cleanup http://www.epa.gov/ORD/SITE/solicitations.htm
Application http://www.epa.gov/ORD/SITE/HSA-07.pdf
Roles and responsibilities of the project participants (site owner, technology vendor, and US EPA) are summarized here.

EPA's Environmental Technology Verification Program, National Homeland Security Research Center
http://www.epa.gov/NHSRC/htm/etv.htm

Vince recommended that I speak with Steve Rock, who I called (spoke with him for 30 minutes) Rock.Steven@epamail.epa.gov, 513-569-7149, Steve is a project manager for the SITE program, and the leading expert on phytoremediation. http://www.epa.gov/ORD/SITE/solicitations.htm

Other contacts from Vince:
Measuring and Monitoring Program, soil and sediments
Steve Billets: 702-798-2232
Eric Koglin 702-798-2332

Steve Rock is an Environmental Engineer in the Remediation and Contaminant Branch at EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio. Steve manages field projects using phytoextraction, phytodegradation, plume control and vegetative. He is the author of several phytotechnology publications, including acting as team leader on the EPA's Introduction to Phytoremediation, and a chapter in the Standard Handbook of Environmental Engineering. He co-chairs the RTDF Action Team on Phytoremediation, and has three subgroups researching the phytoremediation issues of petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, and vegetative covers for waste containment. He participates in EPA in-house research, and provides technical assistance to EPA regional staff on questions of phytoremediation.

Notes from conversation with Steve Rock
Summary: we could submit a proposal to the SITE program. We need to do the planting, or get a partner to do the planting. They will do all the monitoring and analysis, scientific evaluation and write up (cost over two years $50-100K). We'd need to get (1) Camp Pendleton approval (and thru CP, the approval of our regional regulatory agencies: EPA Region 9, DTSC, OSHA), (2) a technology matched to a problem, and (3) a feasible site.

Contacts given to me by Steve Rock
ApGen, David Glass; Researchers in Denmark, Conference held at University of Washington, Stuart Strand; and the EPA Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV) Homeland Security--possible contact for biomarkers.

They give contracts to Batelle, SAIC, Tetratec and EQMI. He heard of Parsons.com (the group on Camp Pendleton). Says a tribal focus would be good

Applied PhytoGenetics, Inc. ApGen,
(possible collaborator with us in a UCSD-CampPendleton proposal; I sent a note to David Glass, CEO, Edenspace also a possibility)

http://www.appliedphytogenetics.com/apgen/index.htm

Applied PhytoGenetics, Inc. (APGEN) is a new company pursuing a promising, new remediation technology -- phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is the use of plants, trees and grasses to remove hazardous materials from the environment. APGEN can apply phytoremediation to a variety of remediation scenarios involving both organic chemical contaminants and heavy metals.

Company Headquarters:
Applied PhytoGenetics, Inc.
Room 169, 110 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA 30602
Tel (706) 543-8083

For more information, please contact:

David J. Glass, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer
c/o 124 Bird Street
Needham, MA 02492
Tel (617) 653-9945
Fax (781) 449-8045
DGlassAssc@aol.com

David J. Glass, Chief Executive Officer, has twenty years’ experience in management positions in biotechnology, and for the past ten years has been widely recognized as one of the leading business analysts of remediation markets and technologies. As an independent consultant, Dr. Glass has advised companies in North America, Europe and Australia on the structure of remediation markets, and has assisted firms in North America, South America and Europe locate potential partners or customers for remediation technologies. Dr. Glass is the author of several market reports and articles on bioremediation and phytoremediation, including "U.S. and International Markets for Phytoremediation, 1999-2000" (July 1999), "The 1998 United States Market for Phytoremediation" (April 1998), "Bioremediation in Germany" (co-authored with Thomas Raphael, June 1994), and "The Promising Worldwide Bioremediation Market", published by Decision Resources, Inc. in December 1993. Dr. Glass has been a featured speaker at several major remediation conferences on U.S. and international markets for site remediation, phytoremediation, and bioremediation, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Phytoremediation.

Dr. Glass holds a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in biochemical sciences from Princeton University. From 1981 to 1990, Dr. Glass served in a succession of management roles at BioTechnica International, culminating as Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs for the company’s agricultural subsidiary. At BioTechnica, he focused on the commercial uses and government regulation of microorganisms in the environment, and he obtained federal and state government approvals for some of the earliest field tests of genetically modified microorganisms and plants in the U.S. From 1991 to 2001, concurrently with carrying out his consulting activities, Dr. Glass was associate director of the technology transfer office at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he was responsible for managing and providing strategic direction to the hospital’s large portfolio of patent applications arising from biomedical research, and for drafting and negotiating license, option and research agreements with biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and agbiotech companies.

From: DGlassAssc@aol.com
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 21:57:19 EST
Subject: Re: SITE Demonstration Program
To: kpezzoli@ucsd.edu

-- APGEN is the exclusive licensee of Richard Meagher's work out of the Univ.
of Georgia on transgenic plants for mercury remediation. We're focusing on
mercury in the short term, but our longer term goal would be to go after other
heavy metals, whether with transgenic plants or native plants.

-- In 2003, APGEN obtained three permits from the USDA for field testing
transgenic plants, at a total of 5 potential field sites. We began field tests of
transgenic cottonwood for mercury remediation at two of these sites in 2003
(in Connecticut and Alabama) and we'll likely begin a third trial in 2004 at a
third site. These are the first commercial phytoremediation projects using
transgenic plants done in the US (one of which is client-funded), and we are by
far the commercial entity that is the farthest progressed towards testing and
using commercially transgenic plants in phytoremediation.

-- APGEN also has commercial operations using native plants for
phytoremediation of other contaminants, mostly organic chemicals, and this part of our
business gives us a lot of practical field experience in carrying out
phytoremediation projects.

--USDA APHIS Biotechnology Regulatory Services office, and their policies and
procedures for regulating transgenic field tests. Note that, within the past year,
USDA has decided that all phytoremediation applications using transgenic
plants must be done under the more extensive permit system rather than the easy,
straightforward notification system. This imposes an extra burden on applicants,
but it is one that is manageable with appropriate planning.

David J. Glass, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer

Applied PhytoGenetics, Inc.
110 Riverbend Road, Room 169
Athens, GA 30602
www.appliedphytogenetics.com
contact information for David Glass
124 Bird Street
Needham, MA 02492
Tel (617) 653-9945
Fax (781) 449-8045
DGlassAssc@aol.com or dglass@appliedphytogenetics.com

More notes from Steve Rock:

Mercury accumulatin via poplar trees
Arsenic Cadmium easy to bioaccumulate naturally, natural hyperaccumulators
Use of a ferns in Florida

Researchers in Denmark are preparing to test a modified thale cress plant that they say will turn red when planted near a landmine. The scientists hope to use this technology to help locate and remove the estimated 100 million unexploded landmines in 75 countries around the world.

The Workshop on Tools for Environmental Cleanup: Engineered Plants for Phytoremediation
January 26 - 28, 2003
http://www.cfr.washington.edu/outreach/phyto2003/agenda.htm
Stuart E. Strand
College of Forest Resources, Box 352100, University of Washington, Seattle WA 98195-2100
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
Voice/Fax: 206-543-5350
Alt Fax: 206-543-3254
Email sstrand@u.washington.edu

Risk Assessment Issues Associated with Transgenic Plants
Philip Sayre, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW (Mail code 7403M), Washington, D.C. 20460
sayre.phil@epa.gov

Currently, there are few applications using transgenic plants for phytoremediation which have been pursued in field tests. Risk assessment issues for such transgenics are addressed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Other risk assessment information can be gleaned from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s review of plants with pesticidal properties, and from the current acceptability of phytoremediation mediated by naturally-occurring plants. Recent policy and regulatory developments in FDA, the White House, and the National Academy of Sciences have sought to clarify risk assessment issues associated with crops for food use. Further, issues surrounding transgenic plants intended for pharmaceutical use, and research on risk issues associated with transgenics, may improve the understanding of plants intended for phytoremediation.

Genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) have been under development for more than 20 years while GE crops have been grown commercially during the last decade. During this time, a number of questions have cropped up concerning the potential consequences that certain GEOs might have on natural or managed ecosystems and human health. Interest in developing methods to confine some GEOs and their transgenes to specifically designated release settings has increased and the success of these efforts could facilitate the continued growth and development of this technology.

Biological Confinement of Genetically Engineered Organisms examines biological methods that may be used with genetically engineered plants, animals, microbes, and fungi. Bioconfinement methods have been applied successfully to a few non-engineered organisms, but many promising techniques remain in the conceptual and experimental stages of development. This book reviews and evaluates these methods, discusses when and why to consider their use, and assesses how effectively they offer a significant reduction of the risks engineered organisms can present to the environment.

Interdisciplinary research to develop new confinement methods could find ways to minimize the potential for unintended effects on human health and the environment. Need for this type of research is clear and successful methods could prove helpful in promoting regulatory approval for commercialization of future genetically engineered organisms.

Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now engaged in identifying and filling data and informational gaps by partnering with other agencies, departments and the Office of Homeland Security. As part of EPA's effort, the Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV) has been tapped to verify the performance of technologies that can be used to monitor and ensure the quality of the Nation's drinking water supplies, technologies for use in monitoring indoor environments in buildings, and technologies for cleaning up contamination from intentional acts.

Under a funding agreement with EPA's Office of Water, three ETV centers are being enlisted to develop protocols and test technologies related to ensuring the safety and security of the Nation's water supplies:

The Advanced Monitoring Systems Center in cooperation with Battelle will develop protocols and test technologies for detecting chemical and biological warfare agents in drinking water;
The ETV Drinking Water Systems Center, operated by NSF, International, will develop protocols and test technologies for point of use treatment of biological and chemical contaminants; and
The new ETV Water Quality Protection Center, also with NSF, International, will develop protocols and test technologies for treating wastewater resulting from decontamination of buildings that have been intentionally contaminated.


Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 11:29:13 -0500
From: Gallardo.Vincente@epamail.epa.gov
Subject: SITE Demonstration Program
To: kpezzoli@ucsd.edu, Rock.Steven@epamail.epa.gov

Keith,

I am forwarding your E-mail to Steve Rock who has done a lot of work in
phytoremediation.

As to your question about how to go about getting your technology tested
by the EPA' s SITE program: We normally don't accept technologies into
the program but specific sites. Our approach has been to solicit and
work with specific hazardous waste sites in need of innovative
technologies for environmental remediation. Once specific sites have
been accepted into the SITE program, we determine the most promising
technologies that would likely be effective at the specific site and
then conduct a field demonstration of those technologies at that site.
It is envisioned that the result of a SITE demonstration will be three
fold: 1) the site owner or other decision maker will be able to make a
more informed choice on the clean up technology to use for larger scale
work, 2) technology vendors and/or developers will have gained credible
data and much needed exposure for their process and 3) the environmental
community at large will gain a better understanding of the capabilities
and costs of new and promising technologies.

What we normally tell technology vendors is to work with a specific site
and together apply to the SITE program. Currently we do not have a
solicitation open, but if you are able to forge an arrangement with a
specific site to apply to have your technology evaluated by the SITE
program, then please contact us. The best person to contact is Randy
Parker at 513/569-7271 or parker.randy@epa.gov

Also, although you did not ask this specifically, we are often asked
what the SITE program pays for; thus I thought it would be useful to let
you know what we do and don't pay for. The SITE program does not
subsidize the technology vendors for expenses occurred during a SITE
demonstration. No funding is awarded to the technology vendor. However
we do pay for the planning, sampling, analysis and for the writing,
publishing and deistribution of the final report of the demonstration.

Vince Gallardo
513-569-7176

EDEN Space
http://www.edenspace.com/overview.html
15100 Enterprise Court, Suite 100
Dulles, VA 20151-1217
Tel.: +1 703-961-8700
Fax: +1 703-961-8939

Dr. Michael J. Blaylock [e-mail]
Director, Research and Development
Dr. Blaylock leads the Company’s research, analysis and development team. Dr. Blaylock was Laboratory Head at Phytotech from 1997 to 1999, where he supervised a 14 -member research team of laboratory, greenhouse and field personnel developing phytoremediation services. He joined Phytotech as a Research Scientist in 1996, having completed postdoctoral studies at Rutgers University and at the University of Wyoming from 1992-1996. He received his Ph.D. in Soil Chemistry from the University of Maryland in 1992, and his M.S. and B.S. in Agronomy from Brigham Young University in 1988 and 1987.

Edenspace is a systems technology company that uses living plants to improve environmental quality and human health. With more than two dozen field projects completed or underway, Edenspace is the commercial leader in the use of plants as solar-powered pumps and filters to remove minerals from water and the ground. This exciting new approach, called phytoextraction, literally grows a clean environment, offering substantially lower costs than alternative methods as well as important environmental and aesthetic benefits. Headquartered in northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the company acquired Phytotech, Inc., a pioneer in metal phytoextraction, in 1999.

Current contracts call for removing lead from residential sites; extracting arsenic from soil at military and natural gas facilities; and reclaiming tungsten from abandoned mines. With a partner, Edenspace is developing ways of reaching deeper into the earth with electrokinetic techniques. Future applications of the technology include removing arsenic from drinking water, water desalination, increasing the mineral content of fruits and vegetables, and reduction of atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide.

Industry Background:

The EPA estimates that there are more than 30,000 sites throughout the U.S that require environmental treatment. Heavy metals comprise a particularly difficult component of this problem, because many metal compounds resist chemical breakdown and because soil excavation and removal is expensive. Depending on site conditions and metal concentrations, solar-powered phytoremediation can cost as little as 5% of alternative treatment methods.
Candidate sites for phytoremediation include homes contaminated with lead paint or leaded gasoline, thousands of government and private firing ranges, as well as industrial facilities used by primary and secondary metal manufacturers, scrap metal recyclers, paint manufacturers, battery recycling and production companies, chemical and petrochemical manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, utility companies, transportation companies, mining companies, and landfill operators.

Edenspace also uses phytoremediation to treat soil and water contaminated with arsenic, an element used in pesticides and wood treatment, and with radioactive elements, a problem at former weapon production and fuel rod assembly sites estimated by the Department of Energy at over $200 billion.

Technology Background

After several years of careful screening and selection, Edenspace scientists have identified superior metal-accumulating plant lines from known, well-characterized crop species such as Indian mustard and sunflowers. Company researchers have shown that such plants can accumulate lead, mercury, arsenic, chromium, uranium, cesium, strontium, gold, zinc, selenium, manganese, calcium, iron, magnesium and other metals from soils into harvestable leaves and shoots. When combined with proprietary techniques involving soil amendments and hyperaccumulation inducing agents, the plants can take up more than 3.5% of their dry weight in heavy metals.

Rhizofiltration is the use of plant roots to accumulate metals from water. Hydroponically cultivated plants rapidly remove heavy metals from water and concentrate them in the roots and shoots. Harvested plants containing heavy metals can be disposed of or treated to recycle the metal. Edenspace scientists have identified select species of plants demonstrating high biomass production and metal removal capacity for a wide variety of metals. Rhizofiltration has many of the benefits of other phytoextraction techniques, including low cost and minimal environmental disruption. A continuous flow system circulates the contaminated water through specially designed plant containment units. Periodically, older plants are harvested and replaced.

Patents

Edenspace owns, or has exclusive license to, eleven patents relating to phytoextraction, hyperaccumulation, and rhizofiltration, and numerous pending applications. The substantial investment in proprietary technology reflected in its patents and licenses reflects Edenspace's commitment to provide its customers with top-quality service based on cutting-edge research.

Discuss Your Needs

Should you be interested in the applicability of phytoremediation techniques to a particular manufacturing process or site, please contact us by e-mail at Info@edenspace.com, by fax, or at the mailing address above.

Phytoremediation Articles

February 17, 2004, I spoke with Mark Elless

Some collaboration between Edenspace and ApGen (Mark and David Glass on transgenic tobacco plants).

Say one needs four month lead time to get regulatory approval for use of transgenics.

Mark Elless (1984) is Senior Geochemist at Edenspace Systems Corporation, a biosystems technology company located in Dulles, VA, that specializes in phytoremediation --- that is the use of plants to hyperaccumulate heavy metals and/or radionuclides from contaminated soils and waters.
Mark received his M.S. (Soil Science, 1987) at NDSU and his Ph.D. (Soil Science, 1992) at the University of Maryland. Following his Ph.D., he held a DOE-sponsored postdoctoral position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory until November, 1995, when he then became a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Tennessee. He began working at Edenspace in June, 1999, after working the previous three years at Phytotech, Inc. At Edenspace, Mark is responsible for optimizing the availability of a contaminant for plant uptake and removal from the soil.
Mark's work number is (703) 961-8700, cell: 703-505-2798

Dr. Mark P. Elless [e-mail]
Senior Soil Scientist elless@edenspace.com
Dr. Elless heads the soil science effort at Edenspace. He was Environmental Research Scientist and Project Manager at Phytotech from 1996 to 1999, where he specialized in the phytoremediation of radionuclides. He was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee from 1995 to 1996 and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1992 to 1995. He received his Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Maryland in 1992, and his M.S. and B.S. from North Dakota State University in 1987 and 1984.

Transgenic Citrate-Producing Plants for Lead Phytoremediation
http://cfpub2.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/6104

EPA Contract Number: 68D03043
Title: Transgenic Citrate-Producing Plants for Lead Phytoremediation
Investigators: Elless, Mark P.
Small Business: Edenspace Systems Corporation
EPA Contact: Manager, SBIR Program
Phase: II
Project Period: May 1, 2003 through April 30, 2003
Project Amount: $225,000
RFA: SBIR - Phase II (2002)
Research Category: SBIR - Hazardous and Solid Waste

Description:
In 1991, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services called lead "the number one environmental threat to the health of children in the United States." Lead exposure can cause premature birth and impair a child's mental and physical development. In adults, lead exposure can cause kidney damage, high blood pressure, and other problems. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 12,000,000 homes exceed the new 400 ppm standard for soil lead in play areas. Soil lead at small arms firing ranges, manufacturing plants, and other government and industrial sites poses similar challenges.

A promising alternative to excavation and replacement of lead-contaminated soil is phytoremediation, whereby living plants remove lead from firing ranges, industrial sites, and residences. Phytoremediation relies on crop species and chelators that facilitate higher plant uptake rates. The annual cost of chelators can range up to $20,000 per acre. Furthermore, sites with sandy, well-drained soil may need a water-impermeable liner to prevent slowly degrading chelators such as ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid from leaching metals into groundwater. Costs of a liner can double the total cost of phytoextraction, rendering phytoremediation impractical for certain sites.

In this Phase II project, Edenspace Systems Corporation seeks to demonstrate the use of transgenic plants that exude significant amounts of a rapidly biodegradable chelator-citric acid-from their roots, enabling a cost savings of more than 70 percent in lead phytoextraction. A citrate synthase (CS) transgene was placed under the control of different plant promoters to overexpress the gene in roots. In Phase I, 100 lines of CS-transgenic tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum, were created and tested. Preliminary results with five hemizygous strains are promising, suggesting that higher-performing homozygous strains created at the end of Phase I may hyperaccumulate lead from soil (bioconcentration factor >1). Significantly, little soluble lead remained in the soil, indicating that the plants may successfully address leaching concerns. In Phase II, the highest performing transgenic lines will be demonstrated at a small arms firing range in Maryland and a residential site in Massachusetts. Phase II objectives also include concentrating lead in harvested plants to facilitate disposal or recycling, and mating transgenic lines of a proven lead-accumulating plant species, Brassica juncea.

At many sites, applying rapidly biodegradable citric acid precisely at the root/soil interface where metal uptake occurs may eliminate the need for expensive chelating agents and liners. Attainment of the project's goals therefore may reduce the substantial public health hazard of soil lead by realizing phytoremediation's low-cost potential.

Supplemental Keywords:

small business, SBIR, lead, soil, phytoremediation, phytoextraction, chelator, transgenic plants, Brassica juncea, Nicotiana tabacum, citrate synthase transgene, citric acid, ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, EPA. , INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, RFA, Scientific Discipline, TREATMENT/CONTROL, Waste, Water, Analytical Chemistry, Bioremediation, Contaminated Sediments, Environmental Microbiology, Hazardous, Hazardous Waste, Microbiology, Molecular Biology/Genetics, Treatment Technologies, Brassica juncea, bioavailability, biochemistry, biodegradation, bioremediation of soils, chlorinated organics, citric acid, contaminants in soil, contaminated sediment, contaminated soil, contaminated soils, degradation, lead, natural recovery, phytoremediation

Small Business Innovation Research Grant
In-Situ Application of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy to Soils
Phytoremediation of Arsenic-Contaminated Soil
Dr. Mark P. Elless
Edenspace Systems Corporation
15100 Enterprise Court, Suite 100
Chantilly, VA 20151-1217
$80,000/6 Months

Recent Advances in Arsenic Phytoremediation, click here to go to site

Charissa Y. Poynton, Mark P. Elless and Michael J. Blaylock, Edenspace Systems Corporation, 15100 Enterprise Court, Suite 100, Dulles, VA 20151, Tel: 703 961 8700, Fax: 703 961 8939

The health risks of arsenic (As) are now well documented, causing problems such as various cancers and adversely affecting the immune system. Arsenic occurs naturally in certain rocks, soils and the water in contact with them, but it has also been elevated anthropogenically, in particular from mining activities and from extensive application of As containing herbicides and insecticides in the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The recent discovery of a fern, Pteris vittata, which hyperaccumulates As raises the possibility of in-situ phytoremediation of contaminated soils, rather than the costly alternative of excavation and disposal of topsoil. This fern can accumulate As in its fronds up to 21 g / kg after 6 weeks in soil contaminated with 0.5 g / kg As. Phytoextraction of As from various soils and the effect of altering the soil pH by liming and different plant spacings have been examined, using several species within the Pteris genus in both laboratory and field studies. The national standard for As in drinking water has recently been lowered from 50 to 10 µg / L, focusing attention on this health issue. Pteris ferns may also be used to remove As from water by phytofiltration. During the optimization of this technology, the effect of source water quality (pH, dissolved ions, As oxidation state), Pteris species, as well as growth and operating conditions on efficiency of As uptake have been investigated. The results of recent technology advances will be presented, including methods to treat the biomass produced to allow low-cost disposal as non-hazardous material.