STATEMENT OF WORK: For an Interagency Agreement (IAG) Between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
PROJECT TITLE: Near Road Ambient Air Concentration Monitoring for Studying Concentrations of MSATs
BACKGROUND: The EPA and the FHWA will collaborate to assess the impacts of traffic emissions on near road air quality. This issue has been identified as a priority research area for both agencies. In addition, the FHWA has a legal settlement agreement with the Sierra Club (SC) to conduct research to characterize concentration levels in the ambient air adjacent to major highway facilities that are attributable to motor vehicle emissions of PM2.5 and the 6 priority mobile source air toxics: diesel particulate matter plus diesel exhaust organic gases; benzene; 1,3 butadiene; acetaldehyde; formaldehyde; and acrolein. Both agencies agree that a research program addressing the near road air quality issue, and specifically the settlement agreement requirements, would optimize the use of federal funds if conducted collaboratively. The research study will be conducted under the direct management of the EPA; however, FHWA has the sole responsibility in meeting the legal requirements of the settlement agreement. Implementation of this IAG and any such changes must conform to the FHWA settlement agreement, as determined by FHWA.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this EPA-FHWA collaboration is to determine mobile source air toxics (MSAT) concentrations and variations in concentrations as a function of distance from the highway and to establish relationships between MSAT concentrations as related to highway traffic flows including traffic count, vehicle types and speeds; and meteorological conditions such as wind speed and wind direction. As such, the Near Road MSAT Project would be expected to provide data detailing concentrations and distributions of motor vehicle emitted pollutants including regulated gases, air toxics, and particulate matter. Specifically, the data will be used to address the following goals:
To meet this objective, the research program will be conducted sequentially at two sites, with a possible third site to be studied, contingent upon the availability of funds and concurrence of appropriate State and local officials. The location and order of the three sites to be studied will be as follows:
FUNDING: Partial funding in the amount of $1.7M will be provided by the FHWA (note: $700K of the funding provided by FHWA will be from the State of Nevada per the settlement agreement). The EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) will provide $1.3M in funding. The combined funding will be utilized by EPA to 1) acquire the services of one or more contractors to conduct the required field monitoring, analyze samples, and provide data and summary reports and 2) acquire the equipment necessary to complete the studies. In addition to funding, both agencies will provide in-kind support through the involvement of staff in various support activities such as project planning, project oversight and quality assurance. If there is a need for additional funding to complete three sites and funding is available from the FHWA, or another source, such as a participating state agency, this IAG may be amended to increase the total contributions towards this effort.
TASKS: The following tasks shall be completed. These tasks have been written assuming that up to three sites will studied as part of the Near Road MSAT program. However, the number of sites studied will ultimately depend upon the actual cost per site and the available funding.
DELIVERABLES:
QUALITY ASSURANCE: The EPA Project Officer and other EPA technical representatives shall develop a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) as required by the needs of this study. This QAPP is a "living document" and as such may require modifications as required by the needs of this study. The contractor shall maintain and revise the QAPP as required by the needs of this study. The QAPP that results from this task will be included as an Appendix to the final report.
The contractor shall comply with all requirements as delineated on the "Quality Assurance Planning Requirements Form" and the NRMRL QA Requirements/Definitions List included with this effort (Attachment C). The work to be performed falls under the QA requirements for "Sampling and Analysis" projects, Category II (See Attachment C for outline of requirements). See EPA Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans, EPA QA/R-5, EPA/240/B-01/003, March 2001, http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/r5-final.pdf (121 KB). Additional guidance with regards to sampling and analysis QAPP requirements may be found in Chapter 2 of the Guidance for Quality Assurance Project Plans (QA/G-5), EPA /240/R-02/009, December 2002, http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/g5-final.pdf (402 KB).
Work involving environmental data shall not commence until the quality assurance documentation has received official approval from the EPA Quality Assurance Staff.