The Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council’s Vapor Intrusion Team has released its first two publications. “Vapor Intrusion Pathway: A Practical Guide” is a detailed introduction to the pathway covering strategic overview, preliminary screening, site investigation, and remediation. “Vapor Intrusion Pathway: Investigative Approaches for Typical Scenarios” is a supplement to the first document detailing investigation approaches for six common site scenarios. The documents may be found at:

A live internet seminar on the first document has been scheduled by ITRC for March 15, 2007 from 11 AM to 2:15 PM EST. Registration information can be found at:

In October 2006 the New York State Department of Health finalized the document: “Guidance for Evaluating Soil Vapor Intrusion in the State of New York”. This document covers soil vapor investigations, data evaluation, mitigation, and community outreach. Decision matrices for TCE, PCE, and other volatile organics are included in Chapter 3. Appendix C is a detailed summary of background data for volatile organic chemicals. The guidance document can be found at:

On October 18, 2006 the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued the document “DER-13 – Strategy for Evaluating Soil Vapor Intrusion at Remedial Sites in New York”. This strategy states that all past, current, and future contaminated sites will be evaluated to determine if they have the potential for soil vapor intrusion. The document also includes a process to prioritize DEC lead remedial sites for this evaluation. The strategy is located at:

On November 6, 2006 the U. S. Army issued an Interim Vapor Intrusion Policy for Environmental Response Actions covering both existing and future buildings. The policy states that modeling is the first step to be taken and then a vapor intrusion study may be undertaken to decide if indoor air/background sampling is appropriate. The policy mentions a DOD technical guidance for assessing the vapor intrusion pathway under development by the Tri-Service Environmental Risk Assessment Working Group. The cover memo for the Army policy is located at:

The interim Army policy itself is found at:

On September 29, 2006 Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed Assembly Bill 2092, a proposed amendment to the California Health and Safety Code. The bill was passed by the state Senate on August 28, 2006 and would have required the Department of Toxic Substances Control to compile a list of sites with known or potential vapor intrusion, to post it on the agency’s web site, and to update it annually. The governor stated his reasons for the veto as: the bill is unnecessary and may inadvertently stigmatize a site, there are already effective measures in place to address this exposure pathway, and that the bill does not provide for removal of sites from the list after they have been cleaned up or determined not to pose a risk. The veto message can be found at:

The IMA Financial Group, Inc. will present a half day program “Vapor Intrusion, The Next Great Environmental Challenge: 2007 Update” on February 8, 2007 in Denver, CO. There are eight speakers scheduled including David Folkes, president of EnviroGroup Limited. The meeting will be held at the Lexus Club in the Pepsi Center and runs from 10:45 AM until 2:45 pm. The announcement of the program is found at:

The American Association for Environmental Health and Sciences will hold its 17th Annual West Coast Conference on Soils, Sediments, and Water on March 19-22, 2007 in San Diego, CA. The preliminary program includes a vapor intrusion session on Monday, March 19, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. The announcement of the conference is at: