Recovery Act Projects
January 2010
Alaska has received $999,000 to assess and clean up underground storage tank petroleum leaks. The funding comes through a cooperative agreement between Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is part of $200 million appropriated nationwide under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to address leaking underground storage tanks.
The greatest potential hazard from a leaking underground storage tank is that the petroleum or other hazardous substances contaminate groundwater, the source of drinking water for nearly half of all Americans and many Alaskans.
DEC will use the funds to oversee assessment and cleanup of leaks from underground storage tanks or directly pay for assessment and cleanup of leaks from federally regulated tanks where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling, unable, or the cleanup is an emergency response.
In order to spend Recovery Act Funds in an expeditious manner, the work will be performed by private environmental services firms retained by DEC as "term contractors.” These firms were procured through the state’s competitive procurement process to perform environmental assessment and cleanup activities at sites throughout the state. These firms may hire subcontractors to perform the various tasks associated with the site corrective action work.
Site Selection/Prioritization Criteria- High relative risk of harm through exposure to contaminants
- "Orphan" Site Status - where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling, or unable to do cleanup
- Site access is unhindered by legal entanglements
| Site Name | City |
|---|---|
| Mountain View Liquor and Grocery | Healy |
| Badger Service | North Pole |
| Tok Tesoro | Tok |
| Zipmart Store | Sterling |
Mountain View Liquor and Grocery, Healy
A site assessment report given to DEC in 1997 after removal of three 3,000-gallon fuel tanks noted extensive petroleum contamination. The report recommended additional assessment. The responsible party is deceased.
Shannon and Wilson oversaw installation of sixteen soil borings, performed soil field screening, and conducted soil and groundwater sampling between October 12-16, 2009. The firm subcontracted drilling services to Discovery Drilling, an Anchorage-based drilling company. Results of the sampling around the former fuel storage and dispensing system indicate hydrocarbon contamination is present in two areas.
Based on the results of the 2009 investigation, ADEC determined that the remaining contamination at the site did not pose a risk to human health or the environment and this site was granted a Cleanup Complete with Institutional Controls Determination by ADEC in February 2010.
For more information, see our database.
Badger Service, North Pole
The site currently operates as a Tesoro retail fuel sales and service station. The station once had six underground storage tanks, some of which leaked over an unknown amount of time. The tanks were removed in the early 1990s, and tests then revealed extensive petroleum contamination in soil and groundwater, which remains to this day. Chlorinated solvents from an unknown source also contaminate the groundwater. A soil vapor extraction system was installed to reduce pollution, but it has not operated for some time. Financial issues have plagued consistent treatment of remaining contamination. The responsible party has performed some groundwater monitoring in agreement with current owner of the gasoline station, however a contaminant source remains under the station after a prior excavation. Contaminant levels in the groundwater remain quite high.
Residents in the area depend on private drinking water wells. These wells have been tested and so far are not affected. Work to be done this year includes additional site characterization, replacement of some monitoring wells, evaluation of the current soil vapor extraction system, and evaluation of remediation alternatives.
Between October and December 2009, Shannon and Wilson installed and sampled seven temporary well points on and downgradient of the site in an effort to delineate the extent of groundwater contamination. They installed two new upgradient monitoring wells and replaced three existing monitoring wells. Shannon and Wilson sub-contracted direct-push drilling services to Hammer Environmental. Samples were collected from all wells. Three soil borings were drilled and soil was sampled in the vicinity of monitoring well MW-5. Soil samples were collected from each new monitoring well installation boring. The existing air sparging/soil vapor extraction system, which has been inactive for several years, was expanded to include five new air sparging wells and restarted. An air sample was collected from the treatment system exhaust.
The remediation system ran until September 2010 when the system was shut down pending resolution of funding issues. As of January 2011, the system remains shut off and no additional groundwater sampling has been performed.
For more information, see our database.
Tok Tesoro, Tok
Three 10,000 gallon underground fuel storage tanks were removed in 1991. The firm closing out the tanks documented contamination but no followup investigation has been done to determine the extent of contamination. A current responsible party cannot be identified, and the landowner is willing to grant access. Work planned for this year included characterization of soil and groundwater.
Between October and December 2009, Shannon and Wilson oversaw installation of nine soil borings from about 20 feet to 65 feet deep. Shannon and Wilson subcontracted drilling services to Homestead Drilling of Fairbanks. Twenty-seven soil samples were collected for chemical analysis and two boring were completed as monitoring wells. Sampling results indicate that petroleum contamination remains in the soil at depths greater than 17 feet and groundwater contamination is present in both of the monitoring wells.
For more information, see our database.
Zipmart Store - Sterling
The Sterling Zipmart gas station initially opened in 1985. In December 2001, a closure assessment encountered gasoline contaminated soil as well as 13 inches of fuel product in groundwater monitoring wells. The exact quantity of fuel spilled is unknown; but the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) estimates the quantity exceeds 50,000 gallons, based on a review of fuel records.
Residents in the area depend upon private water wells for their drinking water. The dissolved-phase groundwater plume is estimated to be 3,000 feet long and up to 500 feet wide. To characterize, remediate and monitor the fuel release, 75 groundwater monitoring wells, 17 product recovery wells, 7 well points and 7 soil gas points were installed on the former gas station property; and on adjacent and down-gradient properties in the vicinity. To date remedial efforts have included source removal of approximately 774 tons of petroleum impacted soil; operation of a product recovery system and a soil vapor extraction system (SVES); augmentation of the down-gradient portion of the plume with an oxygen source to enhance natural attenuation; and installation of a passive soil ventilation system in the former UST area. Operation of the existing SVE is on-going; and DEC continues to monitor water quality in both groundwater and drinking water wells in the area.
Zipmart has been identified as an "Orphan" site, and as such, was selected to receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding. Under the ARRA program, the existing remediation system was expanded to include air injection wells and additional vapor extraction wells. Trenching was placed to connect piping and a new environmental shed for the upgraded system. Future ARRA work will include installation of additional groundwater monitoring wells for further characterization and treatment of the down-gradient plume front, as well as further source removal in the area of the former USTs.
For more information, see our database.