The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has entered into an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under which Argonne National Laboratory provides technical assistance for hazardous waste site characterization and remediation for the CCC/USDA. Carbon tetrachloride is the contaminant of primary concern at sites in Kansas where former CCC/USDA grain storage facilities were located. Argonne applies its QuickSite(reg sign) Expedited Site Characterization (ESC) approach to these former facilities. The QuickSite environmental site characterization methodology is Argonne's proprietary implementation of the ESC process (ASTM 1998). Argonne has used this approach at several former CCC/USDA facilities in Kansas, including Agenda, Agra, Everest, and Frankfort. The Argonne ESC approach revolves around a multidisciplinary, team-oriented approach to problem solving. The basic features and steps of the QuickSite methodology are as follows: (1) A team of scientists with diverse expertise and strong field experience is required to make the process work. The Argonne team is composed of geologists, geochemists, geophysicists, hydrogeologists, chemists, biologists, engineers, computer scientists, health and safety personnel, and regulatory staff, as well as technical support staff. Most of the staff scientists are at the Ph.D. level; each has on average, more than 15 …

This transmittal is a response to your request of January 22, 2009, for a letter work plan outlining a program of annual groundwater and surface water monitoring at Everest, Kansas. Once yearly, they propose to conduct surface water sampling at the 5 locations shown in Figure 1 and groundwater sampling in the 16 wells identified in Figure 2. The wells will be sampled according to the low-flow procedure. The next sampling event is planned for April 2009. The surface water and groundwater samples collected will be preserved, shipped, and analyzed for volatile organic compounds as in previous work at Everest. Results will be reported to the KDHE. This monitoring program will continue until identified plume conditions at the site indicate a technical justification to change the monitoring program.