recent scientific developments in natural resource injury ......recent scientific developments in...

Recent Scientific

Developments in Natural

Resource Injury Assessment

and Quantification

Prepared for: Conference of Western

Attorneys General

San Francisco, CA

July 31, 2017

Connie Travers, MS

Abt Associates

1881 Ninth St.

Suite 201

Boulder, CO 80302

[email protected]

Abt Associates | pg 2

Role of Science in NRDA

Who is responsible for the release? (liability)

What was released (e.g., hazardous substances, oil)?

Where did the contamination go? (pathway)

When did the release(s) occur? (timing)

What was exposed? (confirmation of exposure)

What injuries occurred? What natural resource services were lost and what is the value of those losses? (injury and damage assessment)

How can the injuries and service losses be restored? (restoration planning)


Role of Science in NRDA

Recent Scientific Developments in

Natural Resource Injury Assessment and

Quantification

Emerging Contaminants

Emerging Effects

Evolving Methods


Emerging Contaminants


Example: Perfluorochemicals

(PFCs) (aka PFASs)

Human-made persistent organic compounds

Used to make products that resist heat, stains, oil, and water (i.e., “non-stick”, “stain-resistant” and “waterproof”)

Used in textiles and leather products, metal plating, the photographic industry, semi-conductors, paper and packaging, coating additives, cleaning products, and pesticides (U.S. EPA 2014)

Fire-fighting foam (for petroleum-based fuels) used at oil refineries, airfields


PFCs

PFCs present in blood of people and animals

world-wide.

Increasing awareness of PFC persistence

and mobility

Increasing data from toxicity studies,

particularly for widely-produced PFOA

(Perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS

(Perfluorooctyl sulfonate)

Less known about toxicity of other PFCs.


PFCs

Lack of scientific agreement on health effects. Information from studies of laboratory animals and epidemiological studies of humans exposed.

Studies finding potential links to bladder and kidney cancer, immunotoxicity in children, risks to developing fetuses and infants

Manufacturers (e.g., 3M) argue PFCs have never been proven to cause harm to humans at environmental concentrations.

Some researchers concerned by risks to sensitive populations at very low concentrations (parts per trillion levels, less than a drop of food dye in a 1000 Olympic size swimming pools)

Increasing litigation over human health effects and natural resource damages from PFC releases


Source: Northeastern University Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute data, map by EWGhttp://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/2017_pfa/index.php#.WX6i8U27rIV

PFCs

PFC water contamination sites and public water supplies with PFC detections.


PFCs

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

EPA 2009 MN 2009/2011 EPA 2016 MN 2017

Drinking water advisories/Health risk limits

PFOA [ng/L] PFOS [ng/L]

Proposed MCL NJ= 14 ng/L for PFOA; DW advisories VT = 20 ng/L for PFOA and PFOS


PFCs

Potential effect of criteria on extent of injured groundwater and affected wells

PFOA > 400 ng/L

PFOA > 35 ng/L


PFCs

Fish Consumption Advisories for PFOS

Accumulates in fish

Biological resource injury definition [43 CFR

11.62(f)(1)(ii) and (iii)]

Meal advice categories based on levels of PFOS in fish

Level of PFOS in fish

[ng/g, or parts per billion (ppb)] Meal frequency

≤ 40 Unrestricted

> 40 to 200 1 meal/week

> 200 to 800 1 meal/month

> 800 Do not eatSource: Minnesota Department of Health, 2008.


PFCs

NRDA issues

Baseline (i.e., “absent the release”) issues:

– Background concentration in environment (water, biota)?

– Multiple sources?

PFCs not on CERCLA Hazardous Substances List (state

law may allow definition as hazardous substance/waste)

EPA has not set enforceable drinking water MCLs under

SDWA

Scientific research ongoing to understand effects on

human health and environment.


PFCs

Potential injury assessment consequences of

states/feds lowering guidelines for PFOA and PFOS

– New or additional concerns about specific drinking

water sources

– Increased spatial/temporal extent of

exposed/injured resources

– Increased concerns about pathways to other

resources

– Impact on FCAs


PFCs

The future for injury assessment for PFC contamination?

Minnesota’s NRDA litigation against 3M at Cottage

Grove for injuries to groundwater, surface water,

sediment and aquatic life.

Identification of new locations with PFC

concentrations creating public, state, and federal

concerns

Increasing class action and NRDA litigation


Emerging Effects


Deepwater Horizon NRDA Toxicity Testing


Photo-Induced Toxicity of

Oil to Aquatic Organisms

Abt AssociatesUniversity of North TexasCSIRO (Australia)

Photo-Induced Toxicity of Oil to Aquatic Organisms


Unweathered Louisiana Sweet Crude

PAH Analytes

N0

N1

N2

N3

N4 B

DF

AY

AE

F0

F1

F2

F3

A0

P0

PA

1

PA

2

PA

3

PA

4

DB

T0

DB

T1

DB

T2

DB

T3

DB

T4

BF

FL

0

PY

0

FP

1

FP

2

FP

3

FP

4

NB

T0

NB

T1

NB

T2

NB

T3

NB

T4

BA

0

C0

BC

1

BC

2

BC

3

BC

4

BB

F

BJK

F

BA

F

BE

P

BA

P

IND

DA

GH

I

% c

om

po

sit

ion

of

tota

l P

AH

s

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18 Photo-Active PAH

Photo-Active PAHs in Oil


Photo-Induced Toxicity

PAHs in Oil

Photo-Sensitization Photo-Modification

PAHs in Oil


Photo-Sensitization

• Toxicity increases

with average daily

UV exposure

> 100-fold

increase in toxicity

at average daily

UV in field


Photo-Modification: Chemistry

0.000.200.400.600.801.001.201.401.60

Ph

enan

thre

ne

OH

-Ph

enan

thre

ne

Ph

en/O

H-P

hen

Ph

enan

thre

ne

OH

-Ph

enan

thre

ne

Ph

en/O

H-P

hen

Ph

enan

thre

ne

OH

-Ph

enan

thre

ne

Ph

en/O

H-P

hen

0.1% 1% 10%

Co

nce

ntr

atio

n (

ng

/L)

Irradiated WAF

Non-Irradiated WAF

Measured production of oxy-phenanthrene

Apparent increase in anthraquinones


Photo-Modification: Black Bream

Concentrated WAF exposed to UV

for 4 hours (no organisms)

Bream embryos exposed to diluted,

irradiated WAF for 24 hours (no

UV)

LC50 Values

Non-irradiated WAF = 72 µg/L TPAH50 (nominal)

Irradiated WAF = 11 µg/L TPAH50 (nominal)

Toxicity of the exposure solution increases by ~6.5 fold after only 4 hours of

UV exposure


Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Surface oiling ~100,000 km2

Potential influence of UV enhanced toxicity on organisms near surface and in shallow water.


Modeling Toxicity

Find LCx at environmental UV using slope of line

Adjust equation of dose-response curve using adjusted LC50


Estimating Injuries

Deepwater Horizon - UV models generated for several species

Table 4.3-4. LC50 values for fish and invertebrates showing adjustment for phototoxicity. Toxicity

increased (i.e., lower LC50s) with exposure to UV (Lay et al. 2015b).

Species Oil

Duration

(hours)

LC50 µg/L TPAH50

No UV UV-Adjusted

Ichthyoplankton

Bay anchovy B 48 1.4 0.1

Speckled sea trout B 72 24.7 0.2

Red drum A 72 27.1 0.2

Bay anchovy A 48 3.9 0.2

Speckled sea trout A 72 30.3 0.2

Red drum B 60 30.9 0.2

Mahi-mahi A 96 8.8 0.6

Zooplankton

Copepod A 96 64.4 2.4

Blue crab B 48 79.0 2.9

www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulf-plan/

Daily Integrated UV-A (380 nm, mW-s/cm2)

0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000

De

pth

(m

)

-20

-18

-16

-14

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

TPAH50 g/L

0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000

De

pth

(m

)

-20

-18

-16

-14

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

Water samples

LC20

Oil concentrations that causegreater than 20% mortality

http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulf-plan/


Photo-induced Toxicity Conclusions

We observed direct photo-sensitization of oil in all

invertebrate and vertebrate species tested

We observed increased oil toxicity in UV-irradiated

oil-water mixtures suggesting photo-modification

UV-enhanced oil toxicity has important implications

when evaluating environmental exposures and

quantifying injuries to PAHs


Evolving Methods


NRDA ephemeral data collection

Ephemeral data – time-sensitive data

collected to study the environmental

impacts of a spill/release



considerations

Data collection

opportunities and needed

evidence may be lost if

response slow or

unprepared

Response teams don’t

have same goals as

teams collecting NRDA

data Yellowstone River Oil Spill; Source: NY Times, 7/2/2011


NRDA ephemeral data collection-

State Needs

Collect “high-priority” litigation-quality data to assess exposure, quantify injury for state resources. Don’t rely entirely on federal agencies

Previously-prepared guidance documents and SOPs for collection of litigation-quality ephemeral data in state-relevant habitats and natural resources

Methods to allow field staff to target exposed areas

Sufficient trained staff (state and/or contractor) who can respond quickly and competently



Remote Sensing Tools

– Satellite images, aerial overflights,

drones

– Better target sampling of areas

exposed to oil/contaminant releases

– Collect images/data that can be used

to qualitatively or quantitatively support

injury assessment



NRDA Lessons

Learned/Post-Audit

– Evaluate data quality

and use to improve

collection in future

spills/releases

– Improve training and

guidance documents


Summary

Future NRDA injury assessments may want to

consider emerging contaminants,

include new information on toxic effects, and

work to improve ephemeral data collection

methods

Questions?


DWH NRDA

The findings and conclusions in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the view of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or any other natural resource Trustee for the BP/Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). Some of the information being presented was used in the development of the DWH Oil Spill Draft Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan/Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.

More information on the DWH NRDA, including data, results, and lists of our collaborators, can be found at: www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulf-plan.

All toxicity testing data now available online: https://www.diver.orr.noaa.gov/web/guest/dwh-toxicity-studies

http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulf-plan

https://www.diver.orr.noaa.gov/web/guest/dwh-toxicity-studies

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