Wednesday, February 24, 2010

ENVIRONMENTAL FORENSICS:
A Practical Introduction

Environmental forensics involves identifying the type of contamination, tracing it back to its source, and occasionally fingerprinting to identify a specific source. It is useful in both remediation and litigation. It involves all aspects of site characterization and it requires an accurate conceptual site model.

This 60-minutes webinar will discuss methods of analyzing for and identifying given suites of chemicals that give clues regarding the origin of contamination in the subsurface. In any forensic or investigative technique, however, a single stand-alone analysis seldom provides the desired answers.

Gain an understanding about identifying contamination sources for both remediation and litigation purposes.

In most cases involving petroleum or petrochemicals we usually start with a basic GC/FID chromatogram as a screening tool for characterization. From there, an investigation may involve chemical ratios, GC/MS precision identification and quantification, or stable isotope analysis. As with any fingerprinting there must be a comparison fingerprint or suite of chemicals to evaluate against. We will discuss some sources of information for obtaining these comparisons and identify some key compounds and ratios that will guide the effort.

Pay one site (one computer) registration fee and an unlimited number of participants from your organization can attend at that site.

Participants will receive a handout referencing the webinar topics and discussion.

1.0 Professional Development Hour (1.0 PDH) for each verified attendee will be available as a Course Completion Certificate from Northern Illinois University.

Attendees will be invited to actively participate during this live and interactive on-line web seminar. Discussion is planned following the webinar for those who want to continue the session. Bring your questions to the webinar and present them to the instructor and other participants for exploring the best solution.

Instructor Bio
Dr. Lyle G. Bruce has over 35 years of geologic experience. For the last twenty years he has worked for BP (Amoco) focusing on investigating petroleum and petrochemical contamination in soil and groundwater, identifying and fingerprinting products, and providing solutions for remediation and cleanup. Prior to entering the fields of hydrogeology and environmental geology, Dr. Bruce was an exploration geologist for 15 years. He has an M.S. from The Ohio State University and a Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. After 20 years in remediation management, Dr. Bruce retired from BP in August, 2009 and founded L. G. Bruce Consulting.