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
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)
Abt Associates | pg 3
Role of Science in NRDA
Recent Scientific Developments in
Natural Resource Injury Assessment and
Quantification
Emerging Contaminants
Emerging Effects
Evolving Methods
Abt Associates | pg 4
Emerging Contaminants
Abt Associates | pg 5
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
Abt Associates | pg 6
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.
Abt Associates | pg 7
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
Abt Associates | pg 8
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.
Abt Associates | pg 9
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
Abt Associates | pg 10
PFCs
Potential effect of criteria on extent of injured groundwater and affected wells
PFOA > 400 ng/L
PFOA > 35 ng/L
Abt Associates | pg 11
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.
Abt Associates | pg 12
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.
Abt Associates | pg 13
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
Abt Associates | pg 14
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
Abt Associates | pg 15
Emerging Effects
Abt Associates | pg 16
Deepwater Horizon NRDA Toxicity Testing
Abt Associates | pg 17
Photo-Induced Toxicity of
Oil to Aquatic Organisms
Abt AssociatesUniversity of North TexasCSIRO (Australia)
Photo-Induced Toxicity of Oil to Aquatic Organisms
Abt Associates | pg 18
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
Abt Associates | pg 19
Photo-Induced Toxicity
PAHs in Oil
Photo-Sensitization Photo-Modification
PAHs in Oil
Abt Associates | pg 20
Photo-Sensitization
• Toxicity increases
with average daily
UV exposure
> 100-fold
increase in toxicity
at average daily
UV in field
Abt Associates | pg 21
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
Abt Associates | pg 22
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
Abt Associates | pg 23
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Surface oiling ~100,000 km2
Potential influence of UV enhanced toxicity on organisms near surface and in shallow water.
Abt Associates | pg 24
Modeling Toxicity
Find LCx at environmental UV using slope of line
Adjust equation of dose-response curve using adjusted LC50
Abt Associates | pg 25
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
Abt Associates | pg 26
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
Abt Associates | pg 27
Evolving Methods
Abt Associates | pg 28
NRDA ephemeral data collection
Ephemeral data – time-sensitive data
collected to study the environmental
impacts of a spill/release
Abt Associates | pg 29
NRDA ephemeral data collection
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
Abt Associates | pg 30
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
Abt Associates | pg 31
NRDA ephemeral data collection
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
Abt Associates | pg 32
NRDA ephemeral data collection
NRDA Lessons
Learned/Post-Audit
– Evaluate data quality
and use to improve
collection in future
spills/releases
– Improve training and
guidance documents
Abt Associates | pg 33
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?
Abt Associates | pg 35
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