DOE EH-31 DQO/DQA Training
Course Evaluations and Commendations
Evaluation from Peter M.
Altherr, P.E., REA, State of California
Department of Transportation, District 4
March 1, 2005
Dear Ms. Bischoff:
I would like to thank you
for the opportunity to attend the class
entitled "Managing Uncertainty with Systematic Planning for Environmental
Decision Making" which was sponsored by the US Department Of Energy
and hosted by US Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, in San
Francisco on February 15-18 of this year.
I have been working as an
environmental professional for the past six
years and have a certificate in hazardous materials management from
UC
Berkeley. I have yet to meet anyone who understands, and who can clearly
explain, the environmental decision making process better than Sebastian
Tindall. Sebastian, with his "bag of beads," does an excellent
job of
demonstrating the uncertainty associated with using lab data to make
environmental decisions. These examples, together with the custom statistical
programs, provide a clear example of the weakness of historical site
assessment and are an appropriate introduction to the benefits that
are available to those who incorporate Data Quality Objectives (DQO)
and systematic planning into their environmental decision making process.
The Visual Sample Plan introduced
in this class is a phenomenal tool
that not only demonstrates the relationship between sample cost and
decision making uncertainty but also enables the user to effortlessly
produce a defensible site sampling plan. (Provided you can reasonably
estimate the
standard deviation) This program is available free of charge at the
following web site:http://www.hanford.gov/dqo/index.html
The California Department
of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible
for managing lead-contaminated soil which can be found adjacent to most
of
the freeways in the Bay Area. This lead-contaminated soil, which is
often
characterized as hazardous waste according to Title 22 of the California
Code of Regulations, must be sampled and analyzed for each highway
improvement project. I look forward to incorporating the DQO process,
and Visual Sample Plan, into Caltrans' projects to strengthen our decision
making process.
Best Regards,
Peter M. Altherr, P.E., REA
Environmental Engineer
Office: (510) 286-4668
Fax: (510) 286-5642
State of California
Department of Transportation, District 4
Office of Environmental Engineering, Mail Stop 8-C
Hazardous Waste Branch
(Alameda, San Mateo, Napa, Solano, Sonoma Counties)
111 Grand Avenue/ Mail: P.O. Box 23660
Oakland, CA 94623-0660
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