Jim Ryan and the I I N E R T Soil-Metals Action Team.

Dr. James A. Ryan helped establish the IINERT Soil-Metals Action Team on that cold, rainy week in the fall of 1995. He helped lead it for almost 10 years until early 2004. The Team was one of several that comprised the Remediation Technologies Development Forum (RTDF). Its mission was to develop and demonstrate In-place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration Technologies. (And now you know the reason for the special spelling!) The hypothesis of the Team was that the risks of soil contaminants to human health and the environment could be reduced and potentially eliminated by changing the solubility and bioavailability of the contaminant, which would eliminate the need for digging up the soil. Although the focus was Pb in surface soils as a hazard to children, the Team thought that success with Pb could serve as a guide to practice the fundamental technology of IINERT on other trace elements and organic substances.  Our goal was not only to achieve technical success, but also to achieve regulatory and public acceptance of IINERT. We held more than forty meetings and conference calls through 2002, starting with that first one in Washington, DC. The success of the team under Jim’s guidance and leadership resulted in numerous presentations at conferences and publications. The Team’s success culminated in two symposia; a 2001 symposium at the Soil Science Society of America in Charlotte and a SETAC symposium in Salt Lake City about one year later.  Highlights of the Action Team included experimental field plots in Joplin, Missouri, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Leadville, Colorado. In early January 2004, work of the Team in a publication on which Jim was a major contributor made the cover of Environmental Science & Technology. This was the unofficial end of the Team.  You can find information on the Team at http://www.rtdf.org/public/iinert/default.htm.