Project Status

Total Volume of Product Recovered

2011 Year to Date: 369,659 gallons
Life of Project: 11,762,016 gallons
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 14, 2011

status status

 

2010 Milestones/Activities

As of January 1, 2011 approximately 11.4 million gallons of petroleum product has been recovered, and over 3.8 billion gallons of groundwater has been recovered and treated from the sites comprising the Greenpoint Petroleum Remediation Project. In 2010, the project recovered a total of approximately 740,000 gallons of product.

 

Former ExxonMobil Terminal (S224088) and Mobil off-site Plume (S224087)
As of August 31, 2010, ExxonMobil completed the expansion and installation of new process equipment for the on-site treatment system.  The changes included building an addition on the east side of the building that houses a new blower and a third air-stripper.  The changes were made to accommodate the increases in groundwater flow from 5 of the new recovery wells that online in 2009.

ExxonMobil is currently in the process of adding a new dual-pump recovery well (RW-26) to the Off-site plume area in the driveway of the Empire Merchants Bridgewater Street entrance.  Based on evaluation of the 10 additional dual-pump recovery wells that went on line in September 2009, ExxonMobil decided to add the additional product recovery well to provide a more thorough coverage of the off-site plume so they can continue to meet expectations for maintaining the remedial schedule.  

In August 2010, ExxonMobil began the second round of their Waterflooding/Pulse pilot studies to evaluate new technologies to enhance free-product recovery. The first pilot study involved wave pulsing, a method primarily used to modify oil field recovery.  This three month study had five wells outfitted with pulsing tools (four with Sidewinder tools and one with the original Hornet tool) on the Terminal and Monitor Yard properties.  Although the Sidewinder was slightly more efficient, in general there really was no increase in product recovery observed during the testing.

The second pilot study is a vibration pilot study started in September at recovery wells RW-19 and RW-25. The idea for the study was developed when ExxonMobil noticed an increase in product recovery at RW-25 that coincided with the sonic drilling of RW-26.  Electric vibration probes were placed in RW-19 and RW-25 to see whether vibration will loosen product from the surrounding formation and lead to additional recovery. The initial activation of the vibrator caused a significant increase in free-product recovery at RW-25, but this increased rate has not been maintained.  ExxonMobil is still experimenting with vibration patterns and frequencies, but this correlation demonstrates that an increase in vibrator speed can potentially increase free-product recovery.

In response to discharge of turbid effluent from the ExxonMobil Off-site treatment system outfall reported to the NYSDEC on August 12, 2010, ExxonMobil prepared a corrective action plan (CAP) in an effort to reduce the possibility of potentially discharging turbid effluent to the outfall.  Some of the CAP actions included:

  1. The installing of two 1,000 gallon storage tanks and conveyance piping within the RW-G well house at the end of Meeker Avenue.  For Off-site system shutdowns lasting 1-hour or more, the initial surge of effluent water following a system start-up will be retained and allowed to settle for an extended period of time before being discharged to the Creek;
  2. The installation of piping to allow for the recirculation of the System effluent back to the treatment building;
  3. Pilot testing of the filtration units to allow for the direct discharge of effluent water immediately following System start-up; and
  4. Cleaning of the effluent force main in an effort to reduce the amount of precipitate present within the piping. 

In August, ExxonMobil performed CPT boring advancement to determine the location of product beneath the RCI storage yard on the corner of Meeker Avenue and Gardner Avenue.  Ten CPT borings were advanced 15-feet below petroleum impacted soil to develop a better understanding of the presence and impact of product in the area.  The probe work included resistivity, cone pressure, sleeve pressure, pore pressure, and ultra-violet induced fluorescence.

In August 2010, ExxonMobil began removing and disposing of abandoned piping from beneath the Monitor Yard property. The work began on the Greenpoint Avenue end of the yard and is progress towards the Norman Avenue.  As of December 31, 2010, approximately 65% of the task has been completed with about 7,500 linear feet of pipe removed.  Once the pipe removal work is complete, asphalt millings will be reused for grading the property.

In June 2010, ExxonMobil completed and began operation of a soil vapor extraction (SVE) system at 38 Varick Street designed to treat methane and other VOCs in the shallow soil vapor issues in the Bridgewater Street area.  While the new building and treatment system were under construction, a temporary internal combustion engine (ICE) was run on the property.

 

BP Terminal (S224082)

At the request of the NYSDEC, BP evaluated their existing product recovery system to increase the amount of product being recovered.  As part of this process, BP conducted an investigation on the Terminal site to identify areas of significant vertical and horizontal NAPL extent where additional recovery wells could be added to enhance product recovery and meet expectations for maintaining the remedial schedule.  In order to locate these areas, a Geoprobe® was used to advance an ultra-violet optical screening tool (UVOST) system, which sends UV light through fiber optic cables in the subsurface.  As the soil is exposed to the UV light, if fluorescent compounds are present (i.e. NAPL) longer wavelength light is emitted this “signal” light is transmitted through a fiber, back up the hole to be analyzed. The results of the UVOST investigation showed NAPL presence between 5 ft and 49.5 ft bgs in various sections of the site.

In June, BP began full operation of new recovery well RW-9, located near the Corner of Apollo Street and Norman Avenue.  However, based on the results of the study discussed above, BP decided to add 4 additional dual-pump recovery wells on the northern portion of the BP Terminal property (RW-10 through RW-13).  During construction, some of the new recovery wells (RW-11 and RW-13) were temporarily operated with Zytech pumps to remove observed product until all 4 new wells were brought online the first week of January 2011.  These 5 new wells will provide a more thorough coverage of the plume beneath the BP Terminal site and should significantly increase BP's overall product recovery.

BP is also in process of evaluating and upgrading other parts of their treatment system.  One example is the new dewatering transfer pump installed in January 2011 to accommodate the additional groundwater recovery that is being sent to the ExxonMobil on-site facility with the 5 new recovery wells now online.

 

Former Paragon Oil Terminal (S224083)

Texaco deployed pressure transducers in 14 wells along the bulkhead over a 5-day period in winter 2010 and a 10-day period in summer 2010 to determine the effectiveness of their total fluids recovery (TFR) treatment system in preventing product and sheens from seeping into Newtown Creek.  These transducers collected automated water level data on a frequent basis and verified the treatment system maintains reversed gradients at both low and high tides on Newtown Creek.  To further limit the potential impacts of infrequent occurrence of sheens to Newtown Creek, Texaco continues to maintain the globe and fence booms along the Newtown Creek bulkhead.

Several treatment system improvements also took place in 2010 including: replacement of 450 feet of combined treated effluent and sanitary sewer piping; monitoring well CMW-17R was modified into a recovery well; existing coated steel groundwater treatment vessels were replaced with more corrosion resistant fiberglass models; five of the recovery well pumps were replaced or upgraded; successful biocide pilot testing was performed that appeared to inhibit bacterial growth and reduce foam in the oil/water separator during warmer months; a limited pilot test was performed to determine whether sediment loading to the treatment system can be reduced while maintaining groundwater capture; and various odor control measures were implemented across the site to reduce nuisance odors from the daily operations and maintenance of the treatment system.

In 2010, Texaco installed a voluntary sub-slab depressurization (SSD) system under the 50 Bridgewater Street rear office space.  The purpose of the SDD system is to induce a vacuum underneath the concrete slab in order to mitigate the potential migration of volatile petroleum compounds to the indoor space.  The system was originally brought online in April 2010, but after 12 days of operation, the system was shut down for improvements.  The SSD system was restarted in August and was performing above BP’s design expectations.

In 2010, Texaco finished designing and began to install a vapor phase recovery (VPR) system designed to collect and remediate contaminated vapors collected in existing recovery wells through a granular activated carbon (GAC) unit.  The VPR will be a component of the existing treatment system where petroleum vapors will be extracted from the subsurface through 9 existing recovery wells along the bulkhead.  As of January 2011, VPR subsurface trenching and some of the piping installation was completed.  Remaining installation (additional VPR piping, the treatment system, and the blower) and startup of the VPR system is expected occur in 2011.

In 2010, all indoor monitoring wells were inspected monthly to ensure the structural integrity and individual components were replaced as necessary to prevent the possibility of vapor intrusion.  The indoor air quality continues to be monitored on a semiannual basis and the most recently submitted report does not indicates that there are any hazards associated with indoor or outdoor air quality at this property.

 

Apollo Street Creek Parcels (S224122)

In 2010, Texaco completed a supplemental site characterization report for the activities performed at both the former Paragon Oil Terminal property (former Paragon Site) and the adjacent 100-120 Apollo Street property (Apollo Street Site). Groundwater and free product contamination underlying both sites occur approximately 5 feet below ground surface at the bulkhead and deepens to approximately 25 feet at Bridgewater Street beneath hard barriers (such as concrete warehouse floors, concrete sidewalks, or asphalt parking areas).  The pumping condition controlled by the Texaco total fluids recovery system and the ExxonMobil off-site recovery system, as well as the reverse gradient created by the high tide condition, inhibits free product and impacted groundwater from seeping into Newtown Creek.  The laboratory data from the semiannual ambient air sampling and analysis program in 2010 continue to indicate that the indoor and outdoor ambient air on both sites is safe for site workers.

Also in 2010, ExxonMobil installed a three-compartment containment boom system (SE1, SE2, and SE3) to capture the occasional product and sheen leaving the Apollo property into Newtown Creek.  These containment booms are being maintained by Texaco.