Client: Former Food Manufacturer
Project: Act 2 Voluntary Cleanup / UST Closure at Industrial Property
Location: Pennsylvania
Description: As part of a SECUR-IT® guaranteed fixed-price cleanup project at an abandoned industrial property, EWMA removed a 20,000-gallon heating oil underground storage tank (UST) and cleaned up soil and ground water contamination associated with two former 4,000-gallon diesel USTs. Plans for redevelopment of the industrial property included the subdivision of the property into a residential and a non-residential lots. The tanks were located on the proposed non-residential lot.
The heating oil UST was exempt from Pennsylvania’s UST regulations because the tank stored heating oil that was used on the site where it was located. Tank closure approval was obtained from the township. The 20,000-gallon heating oil UST was removed within two days of the commencement of UST closure activities. Inspection of the soils by an experienced EWMA technician during the tank removal indicated no physical evidence of petroleum contamination. Analytical results from soil samples collected during the tank removal supported the results of the field inspection and demonstrated attainment of Pennsylvania's non-residential statewide health standards. No soil excavation was required.
Soil sample results for the former diesel USTs were slightly above residential statewide health standards, but below the non-residential statewide health standards. Since the tanks were located in the proposed non-residential lot, the sample results demonstrated attainment of the non-residential standards and no remediation was proposed. Ground water monitoring well sampling results collected from the area in which the UST was removed were above non-residential statewide health standards. To comply with state standards for ground water remediation, further investigation was necessary to address the ground water non-residential exceedence.
To demonstrate why no further remedial action was necessary to address the ground water exceedence, fate and transport analysis was conducted by EWMA on the ground water contaminants, using a computer model of ground water sampling data. The results of the analysis indicated that, within a reasonable period of time, the contaminants would naturally degrade to levels below the state non-residential ground water cleanup standards. Because of EWMA’s fate and transport analysis of the ground water beneath the property, no active remediation plan or attainment of site-specific standards was proposed (either of which would have involved costly ground water treatment methods and delayed redevelopment) and the state approved closure. Both the residential and non-residential lots at the property are currently being redeveloped.