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®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

USGS Partially Grants IQA Request for Correction
The United States Geological Service for the first time granted some changes requested under the Information Quality Act. The changes were requested by a law firm representing 10 parties who either produce or apply coal-tar based sealants. They requested corrections in the USGS report “Concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and Major and Trace Elements in Simulated Rainfall runoff from Parking Lots, Austin, Texas, 2003."

USGS responded to the parties’ Request for Correction by

  • including rainfall data and tables of laboratory quality control information;

  • correcting a typographical error in a table;

  • replacing citations from a newspaper with citations from a published report issued after the original 2004 publication date of the USGS report;

  • providing more detailed information on previously published methods on sample collection, sample processing, and USGS standards for numerical rounding; and

  • editing several statements to improve clarity

The uncorrected USGS report has been cited in scientific journals to support the conclusion that coal-tar based pavement sealer is the predominant PAH source in Austin, Texas. The petitioners hope that the USGS corrections will the first step in changing that conclusion.

  • Click here to read USGS’ press release on their response to the IQA Request for Correction
  • Click here to read the corrected USGS report