Aquifer Committee

Stakeholders Evaluation Group

Fourth Meeting Held December 1, 2000

Minutes of the Meeting

Approved electronically COB Wednesday, 10 January 2001

The fourth, regular meeting of the Aquifer Committee was called to order at 12:00PM, on December 1, 2000 at SEPCO, Bay St., Savannah, GA. The chair, Chris Schuberth, called the meeting to order, Don Ernst was present as secretary to officially record the meeting and prepare the minutes. The meeting agenda was provided to committee members present and consisted of a single item, namely to move forward the discussion addressing what studies are necessary to determine more clearly the mechanics of water movement within the Upper Floridan Aquifer in this region especially the magnitude of vertical flow through the Miocene confining unit. The agenda also had written on it the Purpose statement of the Committee which had been reduced at the Third Meeting to two bulleted items. Twenty-seven members were present whose names are listed at the end of these minutes.

Chair provided copies of Aquifer Experts Information Exchange pages from the website. Chair provided copies of Dr. McLemore's letter to David Schaller. The Chair announced the availability of copies of the approved minutes of the Third Meeting for anyone wishing such.

4.1 Chuck Watson read a prepared statement and made a motion that GPA issue a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) to evaluate The Potential Impact of the Harbor Deepening on the Floridan Aquifer, according to the plan outlined as follows: Said RFP to be issued no later than 1 January 2001, with a return deadline of noon, 26 January 2001. The RFP will contain, at a minimum, the following elements:

4.2 Fred Rich seconded the motion.

Discussion followed principally between Bill McLemore, State Geologist, and Chuck Watson of Watson Technical Consulting as to the legality of requiring the GPA to issue such an RFP. Noted was that an RFP requires a very specific Scope of Work (SOW) and requiring the GPA to issue an RFP without first determining a SOW will violate the legal bid process. Noted that we could open an RFP for an RFP to determine the different approaches from the professional firms that would respond. Noted that it was the Aquifer Committee's mission to determine the SOW. John Sawyer of The City of Savannah noted that they had a list of concerns and that this list needs to be looked at. Discussion on bid process, bid requirements, and legal requirements of an RFP ensued. In addition to these elements, GPA should include such elements to address concerns and issues raised during the proceedings of the Committee, as appropriate. The RFP should state that proposals will be submitted to GPA in electronic form to facilitate postings to the SEG website by 5PM on the closeout date. It is further moved that this Committee next meet on 2 February 2001 to consider the proposals to be recommended to GPA for implementation.

4.3 Chuck Watson amended motion to include ".., to within the law."

Discussion continued as to whether the Committee should require GPA to determine the SOW required for the project. John Cox of ATM noted that it is very difficult to respond to a RFP which was not specific enough to determine work requirements. Larry Keegan, Project Manager for Lockwood Greene Engineering, suggested that, to move the process along, he would prepare a proposed plan of study and investigations to deal with the concerns, statements, and questions raised and posted on the Experts Page website. Camille Ransom, hydrologist with SCDEHC, suggested that the proposed "plan of study" follow the three points of his Memorandum and that the different studies presented correspond to the appropriate points. Fred Rich, a geologist with GSU, suggested that micro, macro, and mega scales be looked at to determine what types of studies be approached.

4.4 Ben Brewton, President of CEO, made a motion for a resolution requesting HydroVision to attend future meetings. Chair denied motion due to open motion on the floor.

Discussion centered around concerns resulting from HydroVision officially withdrawing from further participation in a formal capacity by submitting a letter of withdrawal to the Aquifer Committee. By not participating in future sessions it is strongly felt that the valuable scientific information HydroVision has presented so far might not to be considered any further. It was pointed out that HydroVision's presentation was in a public forum, that it was in the public domain so it would be fully considered along with all the other science presented. Keegan noted that he would consider all information, including that of HydroVision when developing the proposed plan of study.

4.5 John Clarke, hydrologist with USGS, raised the question on how the Aquifer Committee reaches consensus. Discussion followed and noted that one person raising an objection would preclude reaching consensus. Discussion continued as to how to evaluate the different methodologies posted on the website and how consensus could be reached around the different methodologies suggested. In the compilation of the plan of study by Keegan, it was agreed that all methodologies would be fairly presented. It was pointed out that all views should be posted to include those considered opposing views. John Clarke objects to an official RFP being issued right now.

4.6 Mallory Pearce, Tybee Island City Council, stated that it is the position of the Tybee Island community that the studies should be based upon sound science and if there is any question surrounding the risk of damaging the Upper Floridan Aquifer, then the project should be halted. Mallory Pearce agreed with Camille Ransom's proposal that a good starting point should spring from Camille Ransom's "Three Questions." Everyone participating on the Committee has a hard copy of the "Three Questions."

4.7 Chair reads Camille Ransom's "Three Question memorandum," a document prepared as early as mid-September. Chair also announced and referenced the availability of pages 37-40 photocopied from a 1989 publication of the South Carolina Water Resources Commission (Report Number 158) titled, Hydrogeology and Saltwater Contamination of the Floridan Aquifer in Beaufort and Jasper Counties, South Carolina under the subheading "Downward Movement of Saltwater through the Confining Unit" in the publication made available by Camille Ransom. Larry Keegan suggested an alternative to the RFP option, which has specific connotations. Following some discussion, it was agreed that "plan of study" would be an appropriate alternate to both Scope of Work and RFP wordage. Further, Keegan agreed for all members of the Aquifer Committee to assist in developing the "plan of study."

4.8 Chuck Watson, having to leave the meeting before it ended, asks Fred Rich to continue debating Chuck's proposal in his absence.

4.9 Fred Rich withdraws Chuck's motion agreeing to take the Scientific Proposals and move forward outlining the SOW. Proposals to be included are: (1) USACE 1998 report; (2) HydroVision's proposal to the City of Savannah critiquing the 1998 USACE report; (3) Camille Ransom's Three Question Memorandum; (4) Golder Associates Proposal posted on the Experts Page; (5) Jim Reichard's posting on the Experts Page; (6) and the Five Signatory Scientists Memorandum. It was noted that all information, both mainstream and conflicting, is to be properly evaluated.

Chair put to the floor for any member to write a task statement. Agreed upon statement is as follows:

4.10 It was requested by Larry Keegan and representatives of GPA to change SOW to "plan of study," which was agreed upon.

4.11 Clark Alexander, SKIO, proposed that GPA should develop the plan of study slowly and to first create a list of concerns and questions to be brought before the Aquifer Committee at its next meeting that are based on the "raw materials" available. "Raw materials" are defined as the large body of technical information that already has been cited both in print, such as the HydroVision Proposal and that stated on the Experts Page of the SEG web page. This resulted in a two-point understanding, namely that:

Further to these two points, Alexander proposed the following long-term strategy for consideration:

It was noted that work developed by the Aquifer Committee would be a work in progress (portion) toward an official RFP. Larry Keegan is concerned with RFP verbiage.

4.12 Motion was made and approved to send a letter to Mr. Rick Krause and to HydroVision welcoming their continued participation as long it did not sound "begging" in tone.

4.13 Larry Keegan will develop a second Experts website or restructure the Experts Page to accept, categorize, and organize the methodologies and new round of commentaries from the experts.

4.14 New comments from the experts will be placed on the website up to 10 days prior to the next meeting, that is, until COB 23 January 2001 which is the targeted closing date. This is a target date with the intent to provide an acceptable time for the experts to generate and submit their comments.

4.15 Next meeting is scheduled for 2 February 2001 at 12PM, SEPCO, Bay St., Savannah, GA.

4.16 Lunch for this meeting was provided through the generosity of Jim Baker, Colonial oil; Michelle Nooney, International Paper; and Julian Pafford, SEPCO. A warm "thank you" is extended by the participants of the Aquifer Committee.

Meeting adjourned at 2:20 p.m.

Attendance Roster

Clark Alexander Ben Brewton John Cox John Clarke Don Ernst Jim Henry Chris Hemmingway Judy Jennings Larry Keegan Gail Krueger Bill McLemore Anne Monahan Robert O'Kelley Julian Pafford Mallory Pearce Jack Phillips Jim Reichard Fred Rich J.R Roseberry John Sawyer Chris Schuberth Card Smith Chuck Watson Michelle Nooney Bill Farmer Tony Foyle