The Wise Report

The Wise Report
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
May 3, 2008
 
I try to be as accurate a possible, but occasionally things get reported incorrectly.  Recently I reported that the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists has come up with new guidelines for when you may be exempted from taking the ASBOG exams.  I've been corrected in that only the first exam, the Fundamentals of Geology exam, is the only one that the Board may allow an exemption on.  You'd still have to take the second exam, the Practice of Geology exam.
 
Also, it appears that I was given some bad information from one of my TCEQ sources on when the TCEQ will require a drinking water survey report (DWSR, also known as a HB3030 investigation) be performed.  According to Jo Bell, who gave a talk at the TCEQ Trade Fair this week, you don't need to perform a DWSR until after you've received confirmation that the groundwater is affected, and only if it's above the TRRP PCL.  Regulatory Guidance document RG-428, "Preparation of a Drinking Water Survey Report" is also to be updated and re-issued soon.
 
Other items of interest from the TCEQ Trade Fair are:

• TCEQ regulatory guidance document TRRP-12A: NAPL Assesssment, will be released "soon".  It will discuss NAPL physical behaviour, assessment menthods, and calculaitons.
•  TCEQ regulatory guidance document TRRP-31A: NAPL Response Action Effectiveness, will be released "soon".  It will discuss monitoring NAPL recovery, collecting NAPL recovery performance data, and confirming NAPL endpoint achieved.
• Proposed PST rules changes include extension of the reimbursement program to August 31, 2012 and chnges to certain reimbursement deadlines, update certain technical requirements for USTs, cessation of annual facility fees, and a request for public comment on whether to have LPST sites should be removed from TRRP and put back into RBCA.  The TCEQ will base any additional acitons on the issue of removing LPST sites from TRRP after review of public comments (May 2, 2008 through June 2, 2008). These rules chages and request for public comments can be found at:  http://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg/sos/PROPOSED/30.ENVIRONMENTAL%20QUALITY.html#181

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announces a 45-day public comment period for the draft report titled, U.S. Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product 1.3 “Re-analyses of historical climate data for key atmospheric features: Implications for attribution of causes of observed change.” Comments must be received by May 29, 2008. The report and details for making comments can be accessed at: http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap1-3/public-review-draft/sap1-3draft-invite.htm. Comments must be submitted to: 1.3-reanalysis@climatescience.gov [Federal Register: April 14, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 72)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announces a 45-day public comment period for the draft report titled, U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Synthesis and Assessment Product 5.2: “Best practice approaches for characterizing,  communicating, and incorporating scientific uncertainty in decision-making.”  The draft Synthesis and Assessment Product: 5.2 is posted on the CCSP Web site at: http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap5-2/default.php. Detailed instructions for making comments on this draft report are provided at the CCSP link. Comments must be prepared in accordance to these instructions and must be submitted to: 5.2-uncertainties@climatescience.gov by June 9, 2008.  [Federal Register: April 23, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 79)]

 Henry M. Wise, P.G.

The Wise Report

5/3/2008