2003 MEETING MINUTES

Meeting called to order at 11:45AM

Michael Lannan (Chair), Martha O'Brien (Vice-Chair) and Mike McGinley (Secretary) were all present at the meeting.

A sign-in sheet was passed around the room. An attendance list is included with these minutes.

1. Committee Chair, Mike Lannan, called a moment of reflection for the passing of influential committee member Dave Benforado who passed away in early June of this year.

The following Obituary ran in the St. Paul, MN Pioneer Press on June 2, 2003.

David M. Benforado Benforado, David M. - Age 77 Of Woodbury, Minnesota Passed away peacefully on Sunday, June 1, 2003 at The Pillars HealthEast Hospice, with his family at his side, after a long battle with cancer. There will be a memorial service scheduled and announced at a later date. He was born in New York City, New York, on November 17, 1925, the son of Mark Joseph and Mathilde Benforado. Moving to Woodbury in 1969, he joined 3-M Company as a Senior Environmental Engineering Specialist and retired after 25 years of faithful and dedicated service. He is survived by an adoring family who will miss his loving and compassionate ways.son Mark Benforado and his wife Melanie, grandchildren Jessica, Joshua A., Joshua D. and Cassandra of Chesapeake, VA; daughter Marcia Benforado of Woodbury and grandson Bill Rushford and his wife Kelly of Woodbury; son Dean Benforado and his wife Barbara and grandchildren Elizabeth and Emily of Castaic, Calif. He was an avid member of the Mall of America Mall Walkers Club, Woodbury Lions Club (pres. 1978) and Boy Scouts of America, 1937-. He lived in La Crescent, Minn., from 1956 to 1961, where he was active in the La Crescent Apple Festival as a past committee president, and enjoyed active membership in the American Legion Post 595. His lifetime accomplishments, too numerous to list in total, were highlighted by a professional career in Air Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering that included the following: General Conference Chair National Meeting Air Pollution Control Association, 1986; EPA Sci. Advisor Board Env. Engineering Commission, 1991; apptd. Pub. Mem. Emergency Response Commn., 1991; mem. Am. Inst. Chem. Engrs., Am. Acad. Environ. Engrs. (diplomat, trustee 1981-84, pres. 1990). Memorials at this time would be preferred to the Sephardic Home, 2266 Cropsey Avenue, Brooklyn N.Y. 11214; or to the HealthEast Hospice (The Pillars), 1690 University Avenue West, Suite 250, St. Paul, Minn.

The following email was sent out to the EE-6 Committee on 6/20/03 by EE-6 member Chuck McGinley:

"I just want to emphasize Dave Benforado's contribution to the field of odor measurement and odor control. For me he was a mentor. I met Dave in the early 1970's when I was in R&D at 3M. Dave provide the R&D people with a vision of what came to be known at 3M as "pollution prevention pays" (3P's). He helped me set up the first 3M "odor squad" to track down odors in and around 3M buildings at the 3M Center. Later when I was at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Dave actually guided the agency in "how to work with companies that have odor issues".. Of course 3M did, but he was proactive beyond what you could believe, while being dedicated to 3M's needs and growth. Dave loaned me one of 3M's IITRI olfactometers in 1980, the year I started consulting. I needed it for my first project for Malcolm Pirnie with Jeff Lauria and I could not afford to buy one. Dave was a mentor to many. I will miss Dave for his friendship, his smile, and his soft leadership style." Chuck McGinley

2. The 2002 minutes from the meeting in Baltimore, MD were reviewed and approved.

3. The committee discussed the scheduling of the committee meeting over the lunch period at the conference. There is concern there are many conflicts including other luncheons and othe committee meetings. For 2004, the committee will consider a late afternoon meeting to be held at the end of a sponsored session, which will allow those present at the session to stay for the meeting. The other consideration is a meeting during the morning sessions scheduled around any session conflicts.

4. Mike Lannan asked about the University of Windsor document on the committee web site. The document was not downloading correctly. However, Mike McGinley confirmed he had fixed the problem by turning the document into an Adobe Acrobat "PDF" file with permission from the University of Windsor contact. Mike Lannan also suggested we contact the Univ. of Windsor to discuss if there is any consideration to update the document. This document can be found on this web site in the "Activities Archive" section.

5. Guidance Document: Martha O'Brien discussed how the EE-6 Committee Guidance Document titled, "Guidelines for Odor Sampling and Measurement by Dynamic Dilution Olfactometry" was finalized in August of 2002. The document was forwarded to the ASTM E18 Sensory Evaluation Committee for consideration to revise the current odor testing standard, E679-91, which is up for periodic review. The guideance document is available for download and printing on this web site in the "Current Activities" section.

6. ASTM International: Mike McGinley currently is a member of the ASTM International E18 Sensory Evaluation committee. ASTM is currently reviewing standard E679 as part of its scheduled required 5 year review. McGinley noted that the E18 committee has no intentions of changing or adding to the E679 triangular forced-choice threshold standard. The committee wants to keep this general standard in its current form. There is not enough interest in environmental odors amongst E18 members, therefore, there is no plan in E18 to develope an environmental odor threshold standard. Martha O'Brien recommended that we consider other ASTM committees that may be interested in publishing the guideance document as a standard. Martha is going to check the ASTM web site for potential supporting committees.

7. WEF/AWMA 2004 Odor specialty conference. Dick Pope and Mike Lannan provided an update on the specialty conference. 124 abstracts were submitted through the call for papers, which is more than 40 more than the 2002 conference! There will be slots for 70 papers to be presented across two tracks over 2.5 days. This high number of abstracts creates optimism in the attendance of this conference. Be sure to register and participate in this conference!

There was further discussion about session planning for the conference and how to help make the "AWMA-type" papers have an impact. Phyllis Diosey expressed concern to prevent having only wastewater sessions and separate sessions for all other industries. Mike Lannan stated that they plan to have some sessions based on topic areas rather than based on industry,

8. IWA International Odour Conference in Singapore. Martha O'Brien reported that the Singapore conference in September 2003 is still on schedule even with recent SARS medical scares. No cases of SARS have been reported in Singapore in several months and the organizing committee has decided to move forward with the conference. More than 100 abstracts were submitted for the conference. See the link on the committee main page for further information.

9. Session Proposal Forms. Two sessions were proposed for the 2004 annual conference in Indianapolis.

a. Highlights of AWMA/WEF Odor Specialty Conference. Session Chairs: Dick Pope, Malcolm Pirnie & Michael Lannan, Tech. Environmental. This will be a panel session of selected, invited speakers from top papers at the AWMA/WEF Odor conference in Seattle in April 2004.

b. Odor Quantification and Control. Session Chairs: Mike McGinley, St. Croix Sensory & Martha O'Brien, Odor Science & Engineering. This session will be a regular paper presentation session. This session was requested by the Indianapolis local section and the EPA Region V.

10. AWMA Update. Stan Heys, the outgoing EM Division Chair and Jim Morrow, incoming EM Division Chair were present for a portion of the meeting. They reported that AWMA annual meeting attendence is up from previous years, however, exhibitor participation is down. Overall, AWMA is in "the black" and improving financially. The on-line abstract management system had severe problems again this year. The contract expired with the previous contractor, so a NEW system will be in place next year for the abstract and paper management. This system, called OASIS, has already been used with success for a couple specialty conferences. There is concern amongst members regarding Technical Committee participation. Several committees are concerned about how to bring people to the committee meetings and the annual conference. AWMA Technical Council is attempting to address this issue.

11. Future AWMA Conferences: Future AWMA annual conferences include: 2004 in Indianapolis, 2005 in Minneapolis, 2006 in New Orleans, and 2007 in Pittsburgh for celebration of the 100th Annual Conference. Note that EE-6's own, Mike McGinley, is the Technical Program Vice-Chair for the 2005 conference in Minneapolis. This will give EE-6 an opportunity to put together some extra strong sessions for June of 2005. Please contact Mike with any thoughts or suggestions.

The meeting adjourned at 1:40 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Michael McGinley

2003
EE-6 Odor Committee
Meeting Attendee List
San Diego, CA

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