Background:
The following examples highlight how the State of Nebraska's Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is using its participation in the ITRC to promote the use of innovative technologies in their state. NDEQ has been and continues to be actively involved with the ITRC and has acquired many benefits from that involvement. As a result of both the internal management support and the experience gained from participation in the ITRC, NDEQ has instituted the following projects intended to promote the use of innovative technologies in their state.

• In-Situ Bioremediation - Treatability Study: The NDEQ, based upon the In-Situ-Bio and RTDF workgroup information, was successful in designing a project to demonstrate the application of the enhanced anaerobic degradation process at the EPA National Priority List site in Ogallala, Nebraska. The NDEQ will perform a treatability study to develop an innovative alternative to conventional treatment of TCE contaminated groundwater, under a cooperative agreement with EPA Region VII.

  The Benefit: As a result of the actions taken by the NDEQ, both the NDEQ and EPA Region VII have decided to expand the treatability study and substitute it in place of the conventional technology as the remedial action for the NPL Site at Ogallala. It is estimated that as a result of the use of this innovative technology over the conventional technology, that a 50%-75% cost savings will be realized at this NPL Site. These savings include $150,000 to $280,000 in State funds, and $1.35 million to $2.5 million in federal funds., depending on which of the conventional alternatives is used for comparison.. This outcome would likely not be possible without the information exchange that occurred through the ITRC.

• Program Support of Innovative Technology at NDEQ: To facilitate the consideration of innovative technology beyond the direct participation with ITRC, NDEQ has included innovative technology as a specific work task in the Superfund cooperative agreements with EPA Region VII. This addition to the general core Superfund and management assistance cooperative agreements allows the Department to assist EPA in considering innovative technology at Superfund sites.

  The Benefit: It is anticipated that the State will only charge a small number of hours under this newly allowable expense. However, without this clause, state staff would not be able to spend time to pursue the use of innovative technologies. One example of the benefit of this clause is the ability of state staff to manage the treatability study such as the work that occurred at the NPL Site at Ogallala. In turn, this has lead to the selection of an innovative technology as the remedial action and will result in significant cost savings.

• Innovation in Contracting: The NDEQ has issued a procurement request for contractors to provide for field investigation support for the Superfund investigations. The use of innovative characterization technologies was specifically included as part of the new contract scope of work and evaluation criteria. By including these criteria in the procurement, the NDEQ will be able to stimulate the use of innovative technologies in state-lead investigations and by using innovative technology as an evaluation criterion, stimulate the use in the private contract industry.

  The Benefit: Procurement has been issued for two contractors to provide technical support to the state. It is estimated that these two contractors will evaluate over 20 sites over the three year duration of their contract. The NDEQ inclusion of the use of innovative technologies as part of the evaluation criteria created a financial incentive for the private sector and will in turn not only affect the two contractors to be selected but also the more than 20 sites which they will evaluate.

• NDEQ Innovative Technology Forum: To extend the benefits of ITRC participation and use of innovative technology into all of the sections of the Department, the NDEQ has initiated an innovative technology forum. The innovative technology forum is being developed as a team effort by staff from each section, under the leadership of the ITRC participants from the Superfund Section. In addition to providing technical information, the upper management support for the forum and the forum team demonstrates and encourages staff and managers in each section to incorporate innovative technology into the day-to-day processes of the Department.

  The Benefit: The Innovative Technology Forum incorporates the type of informational exchange that occurs on an external basis through the ITRC into the internal processes of NDEQ.

Who can I contact to learn more about this Example?
Rich Schlenker
Department of Environmental Quality
1200 N Street, Suite 400
Lincoln, NE 68509-8922
Phone: 402-471-3388
Fax: 402-471-2909
e-mail: deq200@mail.deq.state.ne.us

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