Over the last several years the industry has grappled with how to deal with vapor contamination on and around properties. Vapor intrusion—and then vapor encroachment—have increasingly played a role in Phase I ESAs as ASTM developed standards to guide screening for vapor conditions. 

Regulations and standards that deal with what happens from screening, through analysis and finally the cleanup and closure of sites impacted by vapor contamination are currently under review.  Here is a quick review on what's been happening at ASTM, EPA and one state.

Last week we resurrected the weekly poll to start gauging the community on business, political, regulatory and some just-for-fun topics. Our first questions was about the current revisions to the ASTM E1527-05 standard. Below are the results. 

While most of the community was aware that the standard was currently  being revised, it looks like there are a lot of questions about what could be changing. 

Some of you may be asking: why is this standard being revised when EPA has already required it in a Federal rule? According to ASTM policy, standards must be updated or reapproved as-is by the members of the committee every 8 years or they sunset and become unusable. Since the task group had to go through the voting process anyway, they decided to make some clarifications that wouldn't impact EPA's requirement that the standard is "at least as stringent" as the AAI Rule. 

I sit on the ASTM E50 committee and have tried to take part in as many of the task group meetings and calls that have been happening over the past few years as the E1527 task group debates what-if anything- should change. 

Here is a list of the topics that have received the most attention and will likely change a big in 2012. 

• Changes to the HREC and REC definition 
• Clarification re: the file review requirement
• Clarification re:  vapor enchroachment's relationship to E1527
• Clarification that the requirements of E1527 are for those seeking LLPs or grants (directed at "users" of the standard--especially lenders)
• New Table of Contents
• Changes to the legal appendix
• Fixing some "should" versus "shall" language throughout the standard
• requirements on database providers to update records more frequently

Did I miss any? Now this list is just what is being brought to the table, and I don't expect all of the components are going to change in the version of the standard that will go to ballot in the coming weeks. After the E50 committee sends out the ballot (I think we are shooting for sometime in late Feb or early Mar), the task group will have to deal with all of the negative comments to build consensus around the new standard. So, we will likely have a new version of E1527 in late spring or early summer. 

If you want more details on the revisions, read Tina Huff's blog. She's also a task group member and has written some good stuff on the debates we've been having.

Oh, and don't forget to weigh in on this week's poll on the homepage. It's a bound to start some debate!  

I don’t want to bring back any teenage angst or social anxiety issues that you spent years working out with your therapist, but as it turns out, no, the popularity contest never ends. Especially in a down economy, doing your job well isn’t always enough. Yep, I’m going to do it: you can’t just be good enough and smart enough, your clients, boss and coworkers have to like you, too. Luckily, though, your highschool-self can rest assured that the popularity contest has changed a bit and you will no longer be judged based on the merrits of designer jeans or the car you drive into the senior parking lot.

Last month I attended an event that featured Guy Kawasaki as a keynote speaker. I’ve heard Guy talk before but I was especially enamored by him after this event. He was there to talk about Enchantment, his new book which has been a best seller since it came out in March and is listed as one of Amazon’s best books of 2011. There is no rocket science to this book or Guy’s message, but both are incredibly powerful.  Here’s the once sentence summary: by enchanting people, you not only get them to do what you want them to do, you fill them with great delight at the same time.  

Much of the book deals with enchanting people with your company and products, and I encourage you to read it for those reasons. For this quick post, though, I am going to focus on some tips he gives for being a more likable, enchanting person.

• Smile. Not a fake smile, but a real smile that makes your eyes squint a bit is the first step in winning people over, even in business.
• Default to “Yes”. When your boss asks you to do something when you’re busy, the natural thing to do is to explain why you cannot help. You probably have a totally legitimate reason and saying yes may even be irresponsible. However if you do this too often, you risk being labeled as an anti-team player. Here’s an alternative-  Boss: Can you help me with Project A? You: Yes, I can. Let me see my schedule. It looks like I can help with Project A, but I’ll have to let Clients B and C know that the work I’m doing for them will be a day or two late. Is that ok? Chances are your boss will probably find a solution that works for clients A, B and C and you won’t have to work till 11pm.
• Find something to agree on. From time to time, you’ll probably have to work with someone you really do not like. This is challenging, but finding commonalities can help, even if it is something small and unrelated to work. Some examples:  your kids play soccer, you both grew up in the south, or you like the same TV show. This will humanize the person and make their flaws less central to how you perceive them.
• Allow people to pay you back. Especially in professional services and consulting, we always want to do, do, do for our clients.  If the relationship is always a one-way street, the other person may feel indebted to you and guilty. This is straining. The same is true of your boss and your colleagues. If you try to do everything and never take help, you may get labeled as an over achiever or know-it-all; which are equally bad labels today as they were in high school. Allowing people to reciprocate a favor will help build your relationship.
• Deliver bad news early. The project is over budget, late, or a complete flop. These are painful things to admit and you will be tempted to sweep news like this under the rug. But being upfront with your client or boss is much less bad than trying to cover things up, failing, and then having to admit to covering it up in addition to delivering bad news. You can often work out a solution by owning up to mistakes as soon as they’ve happened.
• Suck it up. No matter what your role is at your company, being willing to do the dirty work shows you understand what your employees and colleagues are going through and are committed to the common mission.  This also extends to asking people to do things for you. If you wouldn’t miss Thanksgiving to complete a project, don’t ask your employees to.

Easy, right? Yes. But the easiest things to do are the easiest to forget. How important do you think likability is to business success? What small things have you done to enchant people?

Oh, and if you need a daily affirmation, Stuart Smalley has one for you.  It's the Halloween edition. How timely? 

Whether it be your neighborhood, your kids’ school or you workplace, there are several things we can all do to help build a strong community:

• Respect other members;
• Offer support to those who need it;
• Share resources and knowledge;
• And have a little bit of fun!

…road traffic that is. If you have a smart phone with GPS in it, you probably already realize the benefits of social media and Web 2.0 to your daily commute. Apps like Traffic.com, Google maps with traffic overlays, and status updates from fellow commuters allow us to avoid grid lock...or at least plan for it. While this use of social media is nothing new, I recently came across something that made me think a real change is occurring. 

While working your “day job” may already be taking up too much of your time, getting involved in industry organizations may be just the thing you need to advance your career. Here are my top five reasons why. 

Last week I attended the EBI's Environmental Industry Summit in San Diego. It was a fantastic event in a fantastic local—and I’m not just saying that because commonground was awarded a second EBI Award, this year for Business Achievement in IT. (Yay!) The agenda covered a wide variety of topics from clean energy to hydraulic fracking, a comprehensive industry summary to sustainable cities. The panelists were top notch and had resumes that made this environmental-industry geek giddy. There were even autographs in order…