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LIBRARY

Articles     |     Links of Interest     |     Contacts for further information

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General
The Phosphoria Formation: A Model For Forecasting Global Selenium Sources in the Environment	Biogoechemical Cycling of Selenium in the San Joaquin Valley, California	'The Kesterson Effect' by T.S. Presser
Ch. 18: Selenium Poisoning of Fish and Wildlife in Nature: Lessons from Twelve Real-World Examples	Ch.18: Contaminants in Drainage Water and Avian Risk Thresholds, by J.P. Skorupa, U.S. Fish and ...	Ch. 10: Mass Balance Approach to Selenium Cycling Through the San Joaquin Valley: From Source...
Bioaccumulation of Selenium from Natural Geologic Sources in Western States and Its Potential consequences. T.S. Presser, M.S. Sylvester, W.H. Low.	Luoma, S.N. and Rainbow, P.S. (2005) Why is metal bioaccumulation so variable? Biodynamics as a unifying concept. Environmental Science & Technology39(7):1921-1931.	Stewart, AR, Luoma, SN, Schlekat, CE, Doblin, MA and Hieb, KA. (2004) Food web pathway determines how selenium affects aquatic ecosystems: A San Francisco Bay case study. Environmental Science & Technology 38(17):4519-4526.
Remediation and Bioremediation of Selenium Contaminated Waters...	Geologic Origin and Pathways of Selenium from the California Coast Ranges to the West-Central San Joaquin Valley	Forecasting Selenium Discharges to the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary:...
Beware Missing Data And Undernourished Statistical Models: Comment On Fairbrother et al.’s Critical Evaluation	EPA's Draft Tissue-Based Selenium Criterion: A technical Review	Selenium Pollution: in Encyclopedia of Environmental Science, edited by D.E. Alexander and R. W. Fairbridge; Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999.
Chapman PM, Adams WJ, Brooks ML, Delos CG, Luoma SN, Maher WA, Ohlendorf HM, Presser TS, and Shaw DP, eds., 2009. Ecological assessment of selenium in the aquatic environment: Summary of a SETAC Pellston Workshop. Pensacola FL (USA): Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC).
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Mining
Volume 8, Ch. 16: Selenium Loading through the Blackfoot River Watershed...	The Phosphoria Formation at the Hot Springs Mine in Southeast Idaho: A source of Selenium...	Reconnaissance Survey, Selenium, Water, Avian Eggs... Phosphate Mining Region, Soda Springs, Idaho, May-June 1999
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Western United States
Selenium Impacts on Razorback Sucker, Colorado River, Colorado. I. Adults	Selenium Impacts on razorback sucker, Colorado River, Colorado. II. Eggs	Selenium Impacts on razorback sucker, Colorado River, Colorado. III. Larve
Reduced growth and survival of larval razorback sucker fed Selenium-laden zooplankton.	Commentary: Selenium study on endangered razorback sucker is flawed.	U.S. Department of the Interior. 1998. Guidelines for interpretation of the biological effects of selected constituents in biota, water, and sediment. National Irrigation Water Quality Program Information Report No. 3. U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC, p 139-184
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Modeling
Aquatic Ecosystem-Scale Selenium Modeling for Invertebrates, Fish, and Birds	Site-specific Model Development for the Great Salt Lake; Forecasting Selenium Concentrations; Foodweb Specific Modeling	Great Salt Lake Selenium Standard: Recommendation to Steering Committee (Utah Division of Water Quality)
Aquatic Ecosystem-Scale Selenium Modeling for Invertebrates, Fish, and Birds	Presser, T.S., and Luoma, S.N., 2009, Modeling of selenium for the San Diego Creek watershed and Newport Bay, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2009-1114, 48 p.	Luoma, S.N., and Presser, T.S., Viewpoint; Emerging Opportunities in Management of Selenium Contamination: Environmental Science and Technology Publication Date (paper): Nov. 15, 2009. Also available is supporting information.	This cover was published in 2009 by ACS.
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San Joaquin Valley
Technical Analysis of In-Valley Drainage Management Strategies for the Western San Joaquin Valley, California	Letter from USGS Director Myers concerning Technical Analysis of In-Valley Drainage Management Strategies for the western San Juaquin Valley, California	Potential Effects of Selenium Contamination on Federally-Listed Species Resulting from Delivery of Federal Water to the San Luis Unit
Presser, T.S., Swain, W.C., Tidball, R.R., and Severson, R.C., 1990, Geologic sources, mobilization, and transport of selenium from the California Coast Ranges to the western San Joaquin Valley; a reconnaissance study: USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 90-4070	Fujii, Roger, and Swain, W.C., 1995, Areal distribution of selected trace elements, salinity, and major ions in shallow ground water, Tulare Basin, Southern San Joaquin Valley, California: USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4048 (text and downsampled plate)	full-sized plate for Fujii, Roger, and Swain, W.C., 1995, Areal distribution of selected trace elements, salinity, and major ions in shallow ground water, Tulare Basin, Southern San Joaquin Valley, California: USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4048
Tidball, R.R., R.C. Severson, J.M. McNeal and S.A. Wilson. 1986. Distribution of Selenium, Mercury and other Elements in the Soils of the San Joaquin Valley and Parts of the San Luis Service Area, Calif., The Bay Institute of San Francisco 1989.	R.R. Tidball, R.C. Severson, C.A. Gent, and G.O. Riddle, 1989, Element associations in soils of the San Juaquin Valley of California: SSSA Special Publication no. 23
The following Annotated Bibliography of Environmental Effects of San Luis Unit Subsurface Agricultural Drainage August 2009 is a collection of dozens of articles, papers, and letters. We have collected many of the documents to which it refers. Go to the San Luis Articles folder where the PDFs are named as in the following bibliography. Annotated Bibliography of Environmental Effects of San Luis Unit Subsurface Agricultural Drainage August 2009

Presentation at 2003 University of California Salinity Drainage Program Annual Conference: Drainage Solutions, Joseph Skorupa, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

USGS Ecology and Contaminants website:
http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/tracel/data/se_model/

For an additional library of articles on research of the San Francisco-Bay Delta:
http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/tracel/bibliography.html#2004

The San Francisco Bay-Delta Selenium Verification Study data can be found at:
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/general/publications/
Click on: "S" and search for Selenium Verification Study (1988-1991)
This site also contains other reports of interest concerning selenium and drainage.

Many wetlands used by American avocets in western U.S. have been contaminated by selenium as a result of irrigation and other human activities.
Robinson, J. A., L. W. Oring, J. P. Skorupa, and R. Boettcher. 1997. American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana). In The Birds of North America, No. 275 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/account/American_Avocet/CONSERVATION_AND_MANAGEMENT.html
See for example figure 6:
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/gallery/American_Avocet_gallery.html

A Management Plan for Agricultural Subsurface Drainage and Related Problems on the Westside San Joaquin Valley Final Report to the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program, 1990.
Agricultural Drainage Treatment Technology Review Memorandum Report prepared for the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program under U.S Bureau of Reclamation Order No. 0-PG-20-01500; Hanna, G.P, Kipps, J., and Owens, L.P., 1990.
http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/Selenium/Library_articles/sjvdp_treatment_1990.pdf

A Management Plan for Agricultural Subsurface Drainage and Related Problems on the Westside San Joaquin Valley Final Report to the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program, 1990
Go to the Table of Contents on page 4 and then on individual chapter headings.
http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/a_management_plan_for_agricultural_subsurface_drainage_and_related_problems_on_the_westside_san_joaquin_valley/rainbowreportintro.pdf

50 Years of Scientific Accomplishments in Menlo Park
HISTORY OF KESTERSON
SELENIUM CONTAMINATION ASSOCIATED WITH IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Theresa S. Presser
National Research Program
Water Resources Division
http://menlocampus.wr.usgs.gov/50years/accomplishments/agriculture.html

The Bureau of Reclamation is re-evaluating options for providing drainage service to the San Luis Unit of the Central Valley Project. The EIS evaluates seven action alternatives in addition to No Action: In-Valley Disposal, In-Valley/Groundwater Quality Land Retirement, In-Valley/Water Needs Land Retirement, In-Valley/Drainage-Impaired Area Land Retirement, Ocean Disposal, Delta-Chipps Island Disposal, and Delta-Carquinez Strait Disposal. All of the alternatives would include common elements: on-farm and in-district actions, drainwater collection systems, regional reuse facilities, the Firebaugh sumps, and land retirement of at least 44,106 acres. In addition to the common elements, the action alternatives (except Ocean Disposal) involve varying levels of drainwater treatment (reverse osmosis and/or biological selenium treatment) and/or additional land retirement before disposal. http://www.usbr.gov/mp/sccao/sld/

The Grassland Bypass Project (GBP) is based upon an agreement between the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority (Authority) to use a 28-mile segment
of the San Luis Drain. The Authority uses the Drain to convey agricultural subsurface drainage water
from the Grassland Drainage Area (GDA) to the San Joaquin River via a 6-mile segment of Mud Slough
(North). The first Use Agreement was signed November 3, 1995, and drainage water was conveyed though
the Drain from September 27, 1996 to September 30, 2001. The Second Use Agreement, executed
September 27, 2001, allows the Authority to continue to use the San Luis Drain through December 31,
2009. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region (Regional Board),
issued revised Waste Discharge Requirements for the Project on September 7, 2001 that specified the
conditions for discharging drainage water into Mud Slough (North).
http://www.sfei.org/grassland/reports/gbppdfs.htm.
NEPA documents associated with the renewal of the Grassland Bypass Project 2010-2019: http://www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/nepa_projdetails.cfm?Project_ID=3513.

The western San Joaquin Valley is one of the most productive farming areas in the United States, but salt-buildup in soils and shallow groundwater aquifers threatens this area’s productivity. Elevated selenium concentrations in soils and groundwater complicate drainage management and salt disposal. In this document, we evaluate constraints on drainage management and implications of various approaches to management considered in:
* the San Luis Drainage Feature Re-Evaluation (SLDFRE) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (about 5,000 pages of documentation, including supporting technical reports and appendices) http://www.usbr.gov/mp/sccao/sld/docs/index.html;
* recent conceptual plans put forward by the San Luis Unit (SLU) contractors (i.e., the SLU Plans) (about 6 pages of documentation);
* approaches recommended by the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program (SJVDP) (1990a); and
* other U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) models and analysis relevant to the western San Joaquin Valley.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1210/

The Pacific Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Salton Sea Science Office convened a workshop in November 2004 to evaluate a proposal to rehabilitate the Salton Sea. The associated report, compiled and edited by the Pacific Institute under contract to the Bureau of Reclamation, presents the conclusions generated by the workshop. The report states that, in general, the presence of selenium is a concern because of:
1) its ability to bioaccumulate in the food web;
2) the narrow range between the concentration that is nutritionally beneficial and that which is toxic;
3) its effect on fish and bird reproduction and embryonic development;
4) its role in causing immune deficiency; and
5) its effect on human health from consumption of contaminated fish and birds.
The majority of participants stated that the threats of selenium toxicity posed by SSA's proposed rehabilitation plan, especially in the constructed wetlands and by the use of river and drainage water in the shallow habitat in the southern basin, approached the level of a fatal flaw. A minority of participants stated that potential losses due to selenium toxicity should be weighed in relation to alternatives, such as losing all marine wetland habitats if no action is taken.
http://www.pacinst.org/reports/salton_sea_iwmp/

HAZARD: The Future of the Salton Sea with No Restoration Project.
Michael J. Cohen and Karen H Hyun, Pacific Institute, 654 13th Street, Preservation Park, Oakland, CA 94612
May, 2006
The Salton Sea lies on the brink of catastrophic change. The amount of water flowing into the Salton Sea in the next twenty years will decrease by more than 40%, causing its surface elevation to drop by more than 20 feet, rapidly shrinking its volume by more than 60%, tripling its salinity, and exposing more than 100 square miles of dusty lakebed to the desert's blowing winds. Many, if not most, of the hundreds of thousands of birds that currently use the Sea will lose their roosting and breeding habitats and their source of food. The Sea's fish will be almost entirely gone within a dozen years. Those birds that remain will suffer from disease and the reproductive deformities and failures that plagued the Kesterson Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge twenty years ago. Some of the endangered and threaten species that use the Sea may be able to find other habitats, but others could suffer significant population losses.
http://www.pacinst.org/reports/saltonsea/

Real-time stream gaging data for the Blackfoot River above the Blackfoot Reservoir (USGS station 13063000) is available:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/id/nwis/uv?site_no=13063000

For a complete description of the book entitled Life Cycle of the Phosphoria Formation: From Deposition to the Post-Mining Environment published by Elsevier, New York, containing USGS research on the Phosphoria Formation go to:
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/681037/description#description.

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition recently completed a study of selenium levels in stream ecosystems in the vicinity of phosphate mines near Soda Springs, Idaho. Water quality, insects in water, plants living in the water, and fish were all tested for selenium concentrations. Go to: http://greateryellowstone.org/issues/issue.php?threatID=14
Scroll down to: VIEW THE SELENIUM CONCENTRATION REPORT HERE

Chemical Composition of Samples Collected from Waste Rock Dumps and Other Mining-Related Features at Selected Phosphate Mines in Southeastern Idaho, Western Wyoming, and Northern Utah
By: Phillip R. Moyle1 and J. Douglas Causey1
Western U.S. Phosphate Project2
Open-File Report 01-41, 2001
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of01-411/OF01-411.pdf

Digital database of mining-related features at selected historic and active phosphate mines, Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, and Caribou Counties, Idaho
B y: J. Douglas Causey1 and Phillip R. Moyle1
Western U.S. Phosphate Project2
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-142
Digital Database, Online version 1.0, 2001
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of01-142/of01-142.pdf

Smoky Canyon Mine Draft Environmental Impact Statement Panels F and G
The J.R. Simplot Company (Simplot), Smoky Canyon Mine has proposed an extension of its
current open pit phosphate mining operations south into two federal phosphate leases (Manning
Creek No. I-27512 – referred to as the Panel F lease area and Deer Creek No. I-01441 –
referred to as the Panel G lease area). The leases are administered by the Pocatello Field
Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the surface of the leases is managed by
the United States Forest Service (USFS), Caribou-Targhee National Forest (CTNF) .
These two federal agencies, plus the Idaho Department of Environmental
Quality (IDEQ), have prepared this EIS to review the environmental impacts of the proposed
operations and a range of reasonable alternatives.
http://www.id.blm.gov/planning/scmdeis/

An upwelling model for the Phosphoria sea: A Permian, ocean-margin sea in the northwest United States
David Z. Piper and Paul Karl Link
AAPG Bulletin, v. 86, no. 7 (July 2002), pp. 1217–1235
http://search.datapages.com/data/bulletns/2002/07jul/1217/images/02_1217.pdf

Geochemistry of Permian Rocks from the Margins of the Phosphoria Basin: Lakeridge Core, Western Wyoming
By Robert B. Perkins, Brandie McIntyre, James R. Hein, and David Z. Piper
USGS Open-File Report 03.21
http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of03-21/of03-21.pdf

Environmental Protection Agency, December, 17, 2004
Notice of Draft Aquatic Life Criteria for Selenium and Request for Scientific Information, Data and Views:
Go to: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main
Click to search ALL DOCUMENTS
Under agency, click on Environmental Protection Agency
Under document type, click on NOTICES
Under keyword, type: SELENIUM
Click on DOCUMENT ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2004-0019-0001, for DOCKET DETAIL

In addition, USEPA's Environmental Impact Statement Database provides information about EISs filed with EPA. This new application allows a search for EIS submissions back through 2004. You can search by title, date published, state, close of comment date and agency.
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/eisdata.html

SELENIUM HAZARDS TO FISH, WILDLIFE, AND INVERTEBRATES:
A SYNOPTIC REVIEW, 1985, Ronald Eisler, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Laurel, MD 20708, 41 pages.
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/infobase/eisler/CHR_5_Selenium.PDF

Selenium World Atlas, Updated Edition 2002, James Oldfield, Oregon State University, Corvalis Oregon
http://www.369.com.cn/hcvenglish/Se%20Atlas%202002.pdf

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Toxicological Profile for Selenium
September 2003
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp92.html

This website provides an overview of health and environmental concerns resulting from increasing exposure to selenium from industrial processes.
http://www.seleniumwatch.org/

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For further information, contact:
Theresa S. Presser tpresser@usgs.gov National Research Program U.S. Geological Survey, MS 435 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 650-329-4512	Joseph P. Skorupa joseph_skorupa@fws.gov Division of Environmental Quality U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203 703-358-2402