Gas Station Contamination Leads to Demolition

By: Duane Craig

More than a dozen homes near Loch Raven Village, Md., are slated for demolition in the wake of petroleum contamination that first came to light back in 1987, according to the Essex-Middle River Patch. Apparently, a Hess gas station leaked gasoline that drained downhill, collected in the ground water and beneath homes where it caused vapor intrusion problems. The company settled with 17 of the property owners, however the details of the settlement weren’t released to the public.

One resident, however, who did not receive a buyout settlement, claims he still deals with an oil-covered sump pump in his basement and fumes down there that make it impossible to use the space for washing clothes. He said his property was excluded from the settlement because it was five feet outside the borders of the settlement area.

Previously, Hess had installed a system that removed the gasoline, and that treated the ground water beneath the homes. A separate system was also put into operation to deal with the soil vapors. Apparently though, those systems were either ineffective or more costly when compared with simply buying out the owners and demolishing the buildings. The system removing the gasoline and treating the ground water had been shut down in 2010.

A Superfund Site by Any Other Name, Is Still a Superfund Site

By: Duane Craig

It is no doubt a dubious honor to have a Superfund site named after you. This usually happens to corporations, but not so in the case of Dewey Loeffel, who was once associated with the Loeffel Waste Oil Removal and Service Company.

According to a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Record of Decision, the current contamination at the Dewey Loeffel Landfill site is largely the work of General Electric, Bendix Corporation and Schenectady Chemicals (SI Group Inc.). Still, the site bears Dewey’s name.

GE and SI Group recently agreed to collect and properly dispose of contaminated groundwater and liquid leaching from the landfill to try to prevent some nearby drinking water wells from being contaminated with waste oils, polychlorinated biphenyls, scrap materials, sludge and solids. This site was added to the Superfund list in May 2011, after numerous state investigations and cleanups, according to a press release from the Environmental Protection Agency. In late 2011, the EPA started operating the groundwater and leachate collection systems the state had installed.

Loeffel Waste Oil Removal and Service Company disposed of waste at the site from 1952 to 1968. The process was pretty simple. The company collected hazardous materials in 55-gallon drums and brought them to the landfill, where they were either dumped into an oil pit or one of two lagoons. One lagoon covered about an acre, and another one covered five acres. Drums that came in full, but couldn’t be reused, were either dropped into the lagoon or buried in the soil. The company separated recyclable oily wastes in the pit and then pumped the non-recyclables into the lagoon. Sometimes, waste materials were simply burned.

Needless to say, this caused quite a mess, according to the EPA’s narrative about the site. PCBs migrated into aquifers and downstream waterways and are now concentrated in groundwater, surface water, sediments and species of fish. Two fisheries had to be closed, and there were documented cases of fish and cattle kills.

The NYSDEC figured there were 37,530 tons of waste brought in from GE. Other sources contributed another 8,790 tons. A judgement against Loeffel Waste Oil Removal and Service Company in 1968 required it to stop operating the way it was and to take some remedial action, which it did. After that, the company operated as a waste transfer operation until 1980. During this time, a number of industrial companies brought their own waste to the site, where it was stored in above-ground storage tanks.

Eventually, GE signed an agreement with New York state, called the Seven Sites Agreement, that included the Dewey Loeffel Landfill site as one where it would investigate and undertake remedial actions. And somewhere along the way, perhaps unknown to Dewey at the time, his name was donated.

City Eyes Loop Oil Pollution in Gloucester, MA

June 17, 2010 - Testing to determine the full extent of oil and chemical contamination, the inheritance of a century of gas production on the Gloucester waterfront, is beginning this summer on Harbor Loop.

Oil was detected on Harbor Loop in 2005, when the planned rehabilitation of the city harbormaster's wharf was halted after drilling there spread an oily sheen across the surface of the harbor.

It was not unexpected.

Harbor Loop had been the home of the former Gloucester Gas Light Co. manufactured gas plant in the 19th century, a major source of energy before the days of natural gas pipelines or liquefied natural gas container ships.

But precisely what is down there and how far it has spread beneath the surface is still unclear.

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Connecticut Investigates Possible Oil Contamination in Bethel

March 12, 2010 - Possible home heating oil contamination on a Wooster Street industrial site has prompted state officials to take soil samples from the property.

The possible contamination came to the forefront during an investigation into the owner of EnviroTech, Roger Passaro Jr., who was arrested last year on larceny charges. Passaro, according to court documents, is accused of scamming several customers of the environmental company by conducting soil remediation work after removing oil tanks when the remediation wasn't necessary.

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Kentucky Oil Company Faces Criminal Investigation

May 26, 2009- A Kentucky oil company faces a criminal investigation and possible $25,000-per-day fines for multiple environmental violations that have marred the local community, according to a report by Convenience Store News Online. Childers Oil Co., a petroleum vendor and operator of 45 convenience stores, is responsible for a serious oil sludge leak in November of last year and a diesel fuel leak February. According to government records, Childers Oil, which is based in the eastern Kentucky city of Whitesburg, has also been cited for at least 10 other violations since 1995.

The November incident occurred when oil waste from a Childers Oil facility permeated the Kentucky River just one mile upstream from the city’s water plant. Then, in February, massive amounts of diesel fuel were released from numerous storage tanks belonging to Childers. The diesel leak exposed area residents to contaminated water for a 10-day period, during which time the city could only warn them not to cook, drink, or bathe in the water.

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Oil Tank Spill Contaminates Wyoming Neighborhood

March 11, 2009 - An above-ground tank outside a home in the Oakwood Village mobile home park tipped over during the night, dumping more than 100 gallons. The oil washed down the street, flowed under some homes and made its way into a nearby pond.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and EMA plan to do air quality testing periodically over the next few days to ensure there is no health hazard. The state Fish and Boat Commission was also called in to monitor the spill and potential affects on wildlife.

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Couple sues Chevron over property oil contamination in San Luis Obispo California

April 11, 2008 - A pipeline under the land had leaked years ago, unbeknownst to the new landowners.

The suit alleges that Voisinet’s two lots on the northeastern end of San Luis Drive were tainted more than 25 years ago when a construction worker broke a Union Oil Co. of California pipeline.

According to the lawsuit, the company never adequately cleaned up the pollution and then allowed the lots to be sold for residential development without disclosing that the land was still contaminated.

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Soil, oil spell trouble for home sellers

April 7, 2008 - In December soil contaminated with gasoline products was discovered in the neighborhood that's adjacent the huge ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery - although not on Nixon's property.

Still, the proximity to a potentially major environmental problem was enough to further dissuade already jittery lenders and would-be buyers from consummating any deal for the property in a declining market.

"I've had seven offers in the past three months and they've fallen out of escrow because of this one thing," said Cynthia Kortcamp, the Re/Max Beach Cities agent with the listing.

"This property should have been sold, but it's not sold because of the issues, so poor Julie reduces, reduces, reduces," she added. "We're down to $386,000. - You cannot buy a property on a lot anywhere in Torrance for this price. It's just frustrating. I told Julie I want to take my (for sale) sign off (the property). There's pretty much nothing I can do."

"This is a nightmare," she said. "It's a tragedy for everybody on that street. I'm lucky. I have another place to live. Those people don't."

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