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Introduction
Guidelines
Irrigation
Refining
Mining
References
Library/Links
Index
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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:...
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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 (Web): September 3, 2009 |
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San Joaquin Valley |
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Technical Analysis of In-Valley Drainage Management Strategies for the Western San Joaquin Valley, California
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Letter from USGS Director Myers concerning Technical Analysis of In-Valley Drainage Management Strategies for the western San Juaquin Valley, California
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Potential Effects of Selenium Contamination on Federally-Listed Species Resulting from Delivery of Federal Water to the San Luis Unit
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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
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| Western United States |
| 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
Robinson, J. A., J. M. Reed, J. P. Skorupa, and L. W. Oring. 1999.
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus meicanus). In The Birds of North
America, No. 449 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North
America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/account/Black-necked_Stilt/CONSERVATION_AND_MANAGEMENT.html
See for example figure 6:
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/gallery/Black-necked_Stilt_gallery.html
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San
Joaquin Valley, California |
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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
Click on Rainbow Report and then on individual chapter headings
in table of contents
http://www.owue.water.ca.gov/statedrain/index.cfm
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
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);
* 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/
Letter from USGS Director Myers concerning Technical Analysis of In-Valley Drainage Management Stratagies for the western San Juaquin Valley, California
Library_articles/feinsteinltr0001-from-Director.pdf
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Salton Sea, California |
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/
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Newport Bay, California |
San Diego Creek/Newport Bay Toxics TMDL
On June 14, 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established
the Toxics TMDL for San Diego Creek/Newport Bay. The EPA promulgated
TMDL covers 14 different constituents – chlorpyrifos and diazinon
(organophosphate pesticides); chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, PCBs, and
toxaphene (organochlorinated compounds); cadmium, copper, lead and
zinc (metals); selenium; chromium and mercury (metals,
specific to Rhine Channel only).
http://www.ocwatersheds.com/watersheds/tmdls_toxics_intro.asp
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Phosphate Mining |
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
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Coal Mining |
West Virginia Water
Science Center
Water Resources of West
Virginia
Coal Topics, Databases,
and Related Information
http://wv.usgs.gov/
http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/coal/
U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 2005-1330
Spatial Trends in Ash Yield, Sulfur, Selenium, and Other Selected
Trace Element Concentrations in Coal Beds of the Appalachian Plateau
Region, U.S.A.
Published 2005, Version 1.0, Online only
Sandra G. Neuzil, Frank T. Dulong, and C. Blaine Cecil
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1330/
National Coal Resources
Data System
US Coal Quality Database
http://energy.er.usgs.gov/coalqual.htm
West Virginia Geological
and Economic Survey.
Trace Elements in West Virginia Coals
These pages explore the geologic, environmental and economic aspects
of trace elements in West Virginia coals.
http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/datastat/te/
Mountaintop Mining
/ Valley Fills in Appalachia: Final Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement (Final PEIS)
October, 2005
In October 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Office
of Surface Mining, and West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection completed their review and evaluation of all comments
received on the Draft PEIS and jointly prepared the Final PEIS
on mountaintop coal mining and associated valley fills in Appalachia.
On October 28, 2005, the agencies announced the availability of
the Final PEIS in a Federal Register notice and in a multi-agency
press release widely distributed to local and national media.
Please use these highlighted links to view these documents and
any attachments.
http://www.epa.gov/Region3/mtntop/
June, 2003
This Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was
prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Interior’s
Office of Surface Mining (OSM) and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS),
and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP)
(“the agencies”). The purpose of this EIS is to evaluate
options for improving agency programs under the Clean Water Act
(CWA), Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and
the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that will contribute to reducing
the adverse environmental impacts of mountaintop mining operations
and excess spoil valley fills (MTM/VF) in Appalachia. Preparation
of this EIS involved substantial information gathering over the
past four years, and it describes relevant historical data, details
several possible alternative policy frameworks, and contains the
results of over 30 scientific and technical studies conducted
as a part of this effort. The agencies identified a preferred
alternative that incorporates programmatic improvements at the
state and Federal levels intended to provide enhanced environmental
protection and agency coordination during permit reviews under
SMCRA and CWA consistent with the primary goal of minimizing adverse
environmental effects.
http://www.epa.gov/Region3/mtntop/eis.htm/ |
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| Great Salt Lake, Utah |
U.S. Geological Survey
Utah Water Science Center
Information about the
Great Salt Lake: elevation change, birds, shrimp, salinity, habitats,
and publications:
http://ut.water.usgs.gov/greatsaltlake/
Working
with a stakeholder committee, Utah's Division of Water Quality
has began a process to establish numeric standards for the Great
Salt Lake. The initial focus will be on selenium. Public concern
over the potential of adding more selenium to the Lake as the
result of the South West Jordan Valley groundwater cleanup project
brought a renewed focus on the need for numeric standards. Under
the committee’s oversight, a science panel will look at
the existing selenium studies on the Lake and conduct additional
work, where necessary. The committee will consider the science
panel’s work, then make a recommendation to the Water Quality
Board. If the Board accepts the recommendation, the standard will
be sent out for public comment before the action is final.
http://www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/GSL_WQSC/
Great Salt Lake Selenium Standard, Written Recommendation to the Steering Committee, by Joseph Skorupa, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. These points are covered in the following article:
* The Great Salt Lake’s Unique Values Warrant a Highly Precautionary Approach
* Tolerably Toxic as Opposed to Nontoxic is Too Reckless an Approach for Such a High Value System With Such Substantive Remaining Uncertainties
* No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC) is not the Same as a No Effect Concentration (NEC)
* Ultimately the Standard Should Be Linked to an Estimate of the NEC for Avian Eggs
* Best Estimate of EC10 for Mallard Egg Hatchability
* Estimating the No Effects Concentration (NEC) for Avian Eggs
Library_articles/Skorupa_Recommendation_final.pdf
Site-specific Model Development for the Great Salt Lake; Forecasting Selenium Concentrations; Foodweb Specific Modeling, by Theresa S. Presser, U.S. Geological Survey, and Joseph P. Skorupa, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Presentation toScience Panel and Steering Committee, May 2, 2008
Library_articles/presser_GSLpresentation1.pdf
A related issue to that of selenium in the Great Salt Lake is
the elevated concentrations of mercury found in ducks in December,
2005. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) began a preliminary
study during the summer of 2005 to determine if ducks around Great
Salt Lake contained mercury. This concern was based upon research
findings from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and United
States Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&WS) that demonstrated
the lake had elevated levels of methyl mercury. Archived tissue
samples from three waterfowl species were taken from ducks collected
in 2004 in an unrelated study being conducted by The Great Salt
Lake Ecosystem Project at UDWR and Utah State University (USU).
Results of that analysis promulgated a more expansive collection
of seven waterfowl species for further testing. All of these data
from areas near the Great Salt Lake covering the period 2004 and
2005 were provided to the Utah Department of Health (UDOH), Environmental
Epidemiology Program (EEP) for review . The EEP completed a health
consultation recommending that a consumption advisory for waterfowl
harvested from the Great Salt Lake marshes be issued because of
elevated levels of mercury detected in Common Goldeneye and Northern
Shoveler.
The advisory issued in cooperation with the UDWR, UDOH, Utah Department
of Environmental Quality and local health departments states that
people should not consume meat from Common Goldeneye and Northern
Shoveler harvested from this region.
http://wildlife.utah.gov/news/05-09/mercury_duck.php
http://www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/Mercury/duck_advisory.htm
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General |
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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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