Definitions and Acronyms

ACM: Asbestos-containing material. Any material containing more than one percent asbestos [29 CFR §1926.1101(b), and 29 CFR §1910.1001(b)].
AFS: Air Force Station
ANCSA: Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
AST: Above-ground storage tank
BIA: Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
BTEX: Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes
BuNo: Bureau of Aeronautics serial number
CERCLA: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, which created the Superfund and the National Priorities List (NPL).
CERCLIS: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System
CFR: Code of Federal Regulations
CINMS: Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
Contaminant: Any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter that has an adverse effect on air, water, soil, or tissue.
DENIX: Defense Environmental Network and Information Exchange
DoD: U.S. Department of Defense
DRO: Diesel-range organics
Ecology: Washington State Department of Ecology
Ecosystem: The biological community and its environment functioning as a system of complementary relationships, including transfer and circulation of energy and matter.
°F: Degree Fahrenheit
FAA: Federal Aviation Administration
FUDS: Formerly Used Defense Site
GATR: Ground-to-Air Transmit and Receive
GIS: Geographic information system; GIS is used to join electronic files (databases) containing environmental measurements taken at a specific location, to maps showing geographic features. This approach allows scientists to show large amounts of data from specific locations on a map showing landscape features such as wetlands and land use.
Glacier: Glacier Environmental Services, Inc.
GPS: Global positioning system; GPS is a satellite navigation system, funded by and controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). GPS provides specially coded satellite signals that can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time. This very specific information allows the user to determine location with a high degree of precision. Geographic information systems (GIS) rely heavily on the precision afforded by GPS methods.
GRO: Gasoline-range organics
Habitat: The place where a plant or animal species naturally lives and grows; or characteristics of the soil, water, and biologic community (other plants and animals) that make this possible.
HAZWOPER: Hazardous Waste and Emergency Response
IHS: Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Keres: Keres Consulting, Inc.
LBP: Lead-based paint; defined as paint that contains lead equal to or exceeding 0.5 percent by weight (24 CFR §35.86, and 40 CFR §745.103).
LRO: Lubricating oil-range organics
µg/kg: Micrograms per kilogram. A measure of concentration, equivalent to ppb in solids, such as soil and sediment.
µg/L: Micrograms per liter. A measure of concentration, equivalent to ppb in water.
MCL: Maximum Contaminant Level (USEPA National Primary Drinking Water Regulations)
mg/kg: Milligrams per kilogram. A measure of concentration, equivalent to ppm in solids, such as soil and sediment.
mg/L: Milligrams per liter. A measure of concentration, equivalent to ppm in water.
msl: Mean sea level
MTCA: Washington State's Model Toxics Control Act
NAETS: Native American Environmental Tracking System
NALEMP: Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program
NCP: National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan
NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NPL: National Priorities List. The NPL identifies locations throughout the U.S. where hazardous wastes have been found in the environment and the initial evaluation shows a significant risk of harm to human health or the environment. NPL sites are frequently called "Superfund" sites, because Superfund money can be used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to investigate and clean up these sites.
OCM: Office of Construction Management, U.S. Department of the Interior
OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
PAH: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. A group of over 100 different chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, garbage, or other organic substances. PAHs are usually found as a mixture containing two or more of these compounds, such as soot. PAHs are found in coal tar, crude oil, creosote, and roofing tar, but a few are used in medicines or to make dyes, plastics, and pesticides.
PCB: Polychlorinated biphenyl. PCBs have been used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment because they don't burn easily and are good insulators. The manufacture of PCBs ceased in the U.S. in 1977 because of evidence that PCBs build up in the environment and can cause harmful health effects.
PCS: Petroleum-contaminated soil
ppb: Part per billion
ppm: Part per million
PSL: Project screening levels
RCRA: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Remediation: Also known as clean-up, remediation is taking action to reduce, isolate, or remove contamination from an environment with the goal of preventing exposure to people or animals. Examples include excavating to remove contaminated soil, or capping to prevent contaminated soil from contacting organisms and people at the surface.
Reservation: Makah Indian Reservation
Restoration: Actions undertaken to improve or replace habitat that is injured or to return an injured resource to its baseline condition. Usually follows remediation.
Ridolfi: RIDOLFI Inc. (prior to 2003, Ridolfi Engineers Inc.)
Riparian: Beside or along the bank of a river.
SPIP: Strategic Project Implementation Plan
SVOC: Semi-volatile organic compound. SVOCs are substances composed primarily of carbon and hydrogen atoms that have boiling points greater than 200°C. Common SVOCs include PCBs, PAHs, and BTEX.
TAL: Target Analyte List, derived from the USEPA Priority Pollutant List
Tecumseh: Tecumseh Professional Associates, Inc.
Treaty: Treaty of Neah Bay (1855); negotiated by leaders and delegates of the Makah tribe with the Governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens. The leaders, representing four of the five traditional Makah villages (Neah, Wyaach, Tsooes, and Ozette), give up most of their ancestral lands, keeping only a small reservation at Cape Flattery, in return for a promised $30,000 in annuity payments and a guarantee of the right of hunting, fishing, sealing, and whaling.
Tribe: Makah Tribe of Indians
Tributary: A stream feeding a larger stream or a lake.
URS: URS Consultants, Inc.
USACE: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
USAF: U.S. Air Force
USCG: U.S. Coast Guard
USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA-RD: U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development
USEPA: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
USFWS: U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
USGS: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior
UST: Underground storage tank
UXO: Unexploded ordnance
VHF: Very High Frequency (30-300 MHz; 10-1m)
VOC: Volatile organic compound; one of a group of carbon-containing compounds that evaporate readily at room temperature. VOCs are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids; they include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products such as paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, glues and adhesives, etc.
White Shield: White Shield Environmental, Inc.