Every spring, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst welcomes all ''Soils Conference"e; Scientific Advisory Board members with open arms as we begin the planning process responsible for bringing you quality conferences year after year. With this "e;homecoming"e; of sorts comes the promise of reaching across the table and interacting with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, each of them bringing their unique perspective in support of a successful Conference in the fall. This year marks the 20^^ anniversary of what started as a couple of thoughtful scientists interested in developing partnerships that together could fuel the environmental cleanup dialogue. Since the passage of the Superfund Law, regulators, academia and industry have come to realize that models that depend exclusively on ''command and control"e; mandates as the operative underpinning limit our collective ability to bring hazardous waste sites to productive re-use. It is with this concern in mind that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection privatized its cleanup program in 1993, spurring the close-out of over 20,000 sites and spills across the Commonwealth to date, in a manner that is both protective of human health and the environment while also flexible and responsive to varied site uses and redevelopment goals. So we gather together again, this year, to hear our collective stories and share success and challenges just as we share stories at a family gathering. Take a read through the stories contained in these proceedings.

Every spring, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst welcomes all ''Soils Conference" Scientific Advisory Board members with open arms as we begin the planning process responsible for bringing you quality conferences year after year. With this "homecoming" of sorts comes the promise of reaching across the table and interacting with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, each of them bringing their unique perspective in support of a successful Conference in the fall. This year marks the 20^^ anniversary of what started as a couple of thoughtful scientists interested in developing partnerships that together could fuel the environmental cleanup dialogue. Since the passage of the Superfund Law, regulators, academia and industry have come to realize that models that depend exclusively on ''command and control" mandates as the operative underpinning limit our collective ability to bring hazardous waste sites to productive re-use. It is with this concern in mind that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection privatized its cleanup program in 1993, spurring the close-out of over 20,000 sites and spills across the Commonwealth to date, in a manner that is both protective of human health and the environment while also flexible and responsive to varied site uses and redevelopment goals. So we gather together again, this year, to hear our collective stories and share success and challenges just as we share stories at a family gathering. Take a read through the stories contained in these proceedings.

Environmental Fate.- Slow Desorption of Phenanthrene from Silica Particles: Influence of Pore Size, Pore Water, and Aging Time.- Heavy Metals.- Understanding the Causes of and the Permanent Solutions for Groundwater Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh.- Evaluation of Heavy Metal Availability in the Mining Areas of Bulgaria.- Average Particle Size Ratios and Chemical Speciation of Copper and Zinc in Road-Dust Samples.- Modeling.- Contaminant Fate and Transport in the Courtroom.- A New Method of Delineating Three-Dimensional Capture Zones with Models.- Comparing Air Measurements and Air Modeling at a Residential Site Overlying a TCE Groundwater Plume.- Development and Application of a Multimedia Model to Assess Fate and Transport of Organic Chemicals in a South Texas Lake.- MtBE and Oxygenates.- The MtBE Removal Effectiveness of Air Sparging, Tested on an Intermediate Scale Laboratory Apparatus.- Maine’s Experiment with Gasoline Policy to Manage Mtbe in Groundwater.- Radionuclides.- Development of Radon Enrichment in Soil Gas over Quartz-Mica Schist in Virginia.- Influence of Home Size on the Risk from Soil-Gas and Waterborne Indoor Radon.- Regulatory.- How Interstate Collaboration Can Improve Site Cleanups: Triad and the ITRC.- Remediation.- Organoclay/Carbon Systems at Military Installations.- Remediation of Petroleum-Containing Soil and Groundwater at a Former Rail Yard Locomotive Fueling Area.- Phyto-Extraction of Field-Weathered DDE by Subspecies of Cucurbita and Exudation of Citric Acid from Roots.- Phytoremediation of Lead-Contaminated Soil in the Urban Residential Environment Using Seed Mustard.- CVOC Source Identification Through in situ Chemical Oxidation in Fractured Bedrock.- ISCO Technology Overview: Do You Really Understand the Chemistry?.- Brownfield SiteAssessment and Remediation.- Treatment of PCP-Contaminated Soil Using an Engineered ex situ Biopile Process on a Former Wood Treatment Superfund Site.- Risk Assessment and Remedial Approaches Towards Restoration and Management of Contaminated Rivers.- Exploring Innovative and Cost-Effective Solutions to Contaminated Sediments to Achieve Ecological Restoration of the Lower Neponset River.- Restoring an Urban River.- A Framework for River Cleanup Decision Making.- Neponset River Workshop.- Options for the Neponset.- Sorbent-Amended “Active” Sediment Caps for in-Place Management of PCB-Contaminated Sediments.- River Restoration: A View from Wisconsin.- Characterization of Contaminated Sediments for Remediation Projects in Hamilton Harbour.- Site Assessment.- Evaluation of Solvent Plume Discharge to a Wetland Stream Using an Innovative Passive Diffusion Sampling Methodology.- A Preliminary Environmental Site Investigation for a Bridge over the Mississippi River at Moline, Illinois.- Targeted Brownfields Assessment of a Former Power Plant Using the Triad Approach.- Case Study of TCE Attenuation from Groundwater to Indoor Air and the Effects of Ventilation on Entry Routes.

Every spring, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst welcomes all ''Soils Conference" Scientific Advisory Board members with open arms as we begin the planning process responsible for bringing you quality conferences year after year. With this "homecoming" of sorts comes the promise of reaching across the table and interacting with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, each of them bringing their unique perspective in support of a successful Conference in the fall. This year marks the 20^^ anniversary of what started as a couple of thoughtful scientists interested in developing partnerships that together could fuel the environmental cleanup dialogue. Since the passage of the Superfund Law, regulators, academia and industry have come to realize that models that depend exclusively on ''command and control" mandates as the operative underpinning limit our collective ability to bring hazardous waste sites to productive re-use. It is with this concern in mind that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection privatized its cleanup program in 1993, spurring the close-out of over 20,000 sites and spills across the Commonwealth to date, in a manner that is both protective of human health and the environment while also flexible and responsive to varied site uses and redevelopment goals. So we gather together again, this year, to hear our collective stories and share success and challenges just as we share stories at a family gathering. Take a read through the stories contained in these proceedings.