Eastern Seaboard Superfund Sites Spread Worries in Wake of Sandy

By: Duane Craig
Wherever Hurricane Sandy traveled over land and along waterfronts, the risks of all types of contamination increased. From every minor little spill to major stockpiles of contaminated land waiting for shipment to disposal facilities, the possibility increased dramatically for their contaminated payloads to be dislodged and spread around. But perhaps the potential largest threats came from Superfund sites in New Jersey and New York.

Residents in Brooklyn, N.Y. with properties near Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal take great precautions as they clean up their properties, wearing masks and gloves, according to this article. That’s because the nearby Superfund sites, in the process of cleanup, still harbor a rich array of heavy metals and other serious environmental contaminants. The Environmental Protection Agency has so far given the sites passing grades in terms of potential effects on the health and lives of neighbors, however a disturbing trend of sewage contamination has no doubt added to the cleanup complexities. That sewage came from sewage treatment plants that were damaged or that lost power during the storm.

In New Jersey, with 111 Superfund sites - the most of any state, according to this EPA list - residents and cleanup crews may face bigger challenges. For example, the Rarity Bay Slag Superfund site released large enough quantities of lead onto the surrounding ground to warrant warnings being placed at a nearby playground. But even modern facilities, especially those handling petrochemicals, were damaged by the storm.

New Jersey has a concentration of petroleum industries and facilities. In one case, the storm tipped a fuel storage tank, causing it to spill more than 350,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the navigation channel between New Jersey and Staten Island. At a Kinder Morgan terminal, flooding water caused an empty tank to collide with one filled with biodiesel. The spill entered a nearby waterway, according to this report. Sampling and testing continue throughout the area affected by the storm surge.

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.

Asheville's Superfund Site Seeks Millions From PRPs

By: Duane Craig

The Environmental Protection Agency has billed two potentially responsible parties $6.5 million to cover the agency's costs to date in remediating the CTS of Asheville National Priorities Superfund site at 235 Mills Gap Road in Asheville N.C., according to an article in the Citizen-Times.

The site is widely contaminated with solvents such as trichloroethylene, or TCE, and residents have linked the contamination to cases of cancer in children. The EPA is currently monitoring 105 private water wells in the area, and in the past the agency paid to connect residents to municipal water when a spring and five private water wells turned out to be contaminated with not only TCE but also petroleum compounds, according to the EPA's report on the site.

Ashville Superfund site still contaminated with trichloroethylene

Residents are tired of the time it has taken to get cleanup actions started, and they welcomed the news of the EPA's latest efforts to get the two companies involved to pay up. Contamination is expected to lie below a 79,000-square-foot deteriorating building that is used by gangs, drug dealers and their users. The EPA has also been conducting vapor intrusion assessments and has been pressuring the responsible parties to plan and implement remediation tactics. A soil vapor extraction operation has so far removed 6,000 pounds of solvents from soils just above the water table.

Contamination Leaves RI Residents Feeling Blue

August 13, 2010 - Residents of the Bay Street neighborhood in Tiverton have been living a nightmare for nearly a decade, since sewer work uncovered soil so contaminated, much of it was blue in color. Since that time, the long-suffering residents have encountered delay after delay and roadblock after roadblock in their quest to get the neighborhood cleaned up and return to a normal life.

They thought they had finally turned the corner this year when the cleanup began. But they have been dealt another frustrating setback. Now the town and the state must step in and take control. It is way past time for those in power to work for their constituents.

The saga began in 2002 when the contaminated soil was first discovered. The former Fall River Gas Co. is accused of using the neighborhood as a dumping ground, callously and illegally discarding such dangerous substances as petroleum, arsenic, cyanide and lead. Since the discovery, the residents have been trapped on poisoned land they had no chance of selling.

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Soil contamination cleanup in Springerville AZ.

April 27, 2010- Residents have noticed a large green fence surrounding the lot where the old Maverik gas station used to be at 606 E. Main Street in Springerville.

Work is being done to clean up soil and groundwater petroleum contamination on the site. The existing structure and old tanks were removed and samples were collected and analyzed by an on-site mobile lab. MACTEC and KES Environmental are the contractors on the job.

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State will help with WA. residents well woes

April 13, 2010- State help is on the way for rural Lower Yakima Valley residents dealing with long-standing contamination in private drinking water wells. The funding includes $400,000 to treat water from contaminated wells, such as filtration systems, and $100,000 to develop a local plan to improve water quality and reduce nitrate contamination.

The money comes from the state toxics control account, funded by a tax on petroleum products, pesticides and certain chemicals. The $100,000 appropriation is generally interpreted as help for Yakima County government to create a groundwater management area in the Lower Valley.

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Waste Makes Way for Affordable CA. Housing Complex

April 13, 2010- National City was awarded a $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up a hazardous waste site, it was announced Tuesday.

The money, through the EPA's Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund, will be used to cleanup a 14-acre site in National City contaminated with petroleum and hazardous substances. An an affordable housing project and San Diego Trolley station will be built, open space will be set aside, and a tidal creek will be cleaned up at the site, near the city's marina, the agency said.

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Kalamazoo MI Cleanup Delayed After Lyondell Bankruptcy

April 9, 2010- Environmentalist Jeff Spoelstra says an 80-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River that runs through toxin-laced land in southwestern Michigan was on its way to becoming safe again. The area, once home to Potawatomi Indians and Dutch celery farmers, was finally on the verge of getting cleaned up.

Then, in January 2009, Lyondell Chemical Co. filed for bankruptcy protection. The Houston-based petrochemical giant argued in court that as it reorganized, it could avoid what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said were about $2.5 billion in cleanup costs for the river, which flows into Lake Michigan, and another $2.5 billion in liabilities at 10 other polluted spots across the country.

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Parents Worried Over Contamination At NJ School

April 9, 2010- With police escort, students from the Wilson Avenue Elementary School had to walk from the high school they've been at temporarily to their own building, which was closed after environmental crews found high levels of benzine and petroleum inside.

Asked what the walk was like, 5th grader Carmen Pagan answered "Really hot and exhausting." Her mother isn't so upset about the five-block walk. She, along with other parents were worried about the chemicals discovered inside their kids' school in Ironbound Section of Newark. "It's scary. There's a lot of rumors going on that it's very hazardous," said mother Melissa Lopes.

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Petroleum Leak Contaminated Drinking Water in Tennessee Community

June 16, 2009 - The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) is investigating whether underground storage tanks are leaking petroleum into this community’s supply. A complaint from a resident has prompted the investigation. Resident Karen Fortner said that since a June 14 water main break her tap water smells of gasoline.

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Contaminated water in East Parker County Texas

June 11, 2009 - Water is becoming a volatile issue in the East Parker County community of Bourland Field Estates.

Residents of the luxury, fly-in community of about 25 homes have complained for years their water has an unpleasant taste and smell. Now, compounds consistent with petroleum and natural gas have been found in the well which supplies the entire system.

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Colorado residents are fearing gassed up well water

March 28, 2009 - The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Friday failed to calm angered residents who complained they were never informed that their well water might be tainted with natural gas.

Residents recently learned their neighbor, Fort Lupton resident Amee Ellsworth, could literally set her water on fire because her well is contaminated with natural gas.

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Exxon faces environmental contamination lawsuit in Maryland

March 23, 2009 - Ninety-one families who sued Exxon Mobile for environmental contamination have been awarded $150 million in their lawsuit. The lawsuit followed a gasoline leak that contaminated wells and forced people to buy bottled water.

The leak occurred in 2006, when an underground storage tank leaked approximately 26,000 gallons of gasoline. The leak went on for 37 days before it was discovered. Families were awarded approximately $1 million each for emotional distress plus the value of their homes and medical monitoring.

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Gasoline leak contaminates groundwater at Utah hotel

March 25, 2009 - Salt Lake City issued a cease and desist order against the downtown Red Lion Hotel to prevent them from pumping any more contaminated water into the city sewer system.

Guests and employees noticed a strong petroleum smell at the Red Lion Hotel on 600 South. State investigators found a leak in an underground storage tank at the Sinclair gas station next door. “It was a gasoline smell that the people in the hotel noticed and called the fire department,” said Utah Department of Environmental Quality Program Manager John Menatti.

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Mysterious odor plagues PA neighborhood

March 11, 2009

Kerosene contamination creates vapor condition. News Chanel 6 reports: Watch Video

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Contaminated Water in Letcher County Kentucky

February 17, 2009 - Nearly 4,000 people in Letcher County are under a non-consumption water advisory tonight after Division of Water officials confirm petroleum contamination.

“When you turn your water on it smells like gas, and you can see the, you know, see it in the water,” said Tonya Holbrook of Whitesburg.

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Tainted water found in nine Henrico Virginia homes

January 24, 2009 - Residents of nine houses in a western Henrico County cul-de-sac have been told not to drink their tap water, likely through the weekend, after a petroleum smell was detected in the water.

The source of the contamination has not been pinpointed, Mawyer said. But the county is looking at the possibility that kerosene or diesel got into the water line when the county was doing work in the area this week or that someone such as a private irrigation contractor made an improper connection to the line.

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Water tainted by petroleum in Whitesburg, Kentucky

November 4, 2008 - Petroleum has temporarily tainted the water supply of an Eastern Kentucky town, throwing residents into "absolute pandemonium," according to the mayor.

Whitesburg officials notified state authorities after receiving several calls Saturday from people who said they smelled gasoline in their water, Whitesburg Mayor James Craft said.

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