Remediation Site Descriptions

Former ExxonMobil Terminal | ExxonMobil Off-Site Plume | BP Terminal
Former Paragon Oil Terminal (Texaco) | Apollo Street Creek Parcels

Former ExxonMobil Terminal

The former ExxonMobil terminal is located at 400 Kingsland Avenue. The property is bordered by Newtown Creek to the east, various Norman and Kingsland Avenue businesses to the south, Kingsland Avenue to the west and the 460 Greenpoint Avenue property to the north. Two additional properties are also associated with the former ExxonMobil terminal property, the Monitor yard (located west of the terminal property between Kingsland Avenue and Monitor Street) and the North Henry Yard (located west of the Monitor yard between Monitor and North Henry Streets).

By 1892, five of the petroleum refineries in the Greenpoint area (Central Refining, Washington Oil Company, Kings Company Oil Refining, Empire Refining Company, and The Deove Manufacturing Brooklyn Oil Works) were purchased and became known as the Standard Oil Trust. In 1911, the Standard Oil Trust was dissolved and these properties became the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY) and by 1929, had expanded to over 79 acres along Newtown Creek, including the property currently owned by BP. In 1931, SOCONY merged with the Vacuum Oil Company, which later became Mobil, and now is known as ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil ceased its refining operations in 1966 and in 1968, sold a portion of their property to Amoco Oil Company (Amoco) and other entities. Following the discovery of petroleum products seeping into Newtown Creek in 1978, ExxonMobil began to investigate and remediate the plume, and by 1993, had discontinued all fuel operations on the terminal property. In 2007, ExxonMobil removed the empty above ground storage tanks associated with its former refinery operations and is currently in the process of excavating and removing all underground piping from the former terminal property.

The current ExxonMobil Terminal product recovery system includes 5 dual phase recovery wells located on or near the Terminal property. Groundwater from these 5 wells, as well as 5 of the new off-site recovery wells, is pumped to a treatment system located on the former ExxonMobil Terminal property. The effluent is discharged to Newtown Creek through an outfall located off the terminal property.

In 2010, a total of approximately 22,400 gallons of product was recovered from beneath the former terminal property.

ExxonMobil Off-Site Plume

According to the consent agreement ExxonMobil made with the NYSDEC in 1990, ExxonMobil is responsible to delineate and remediate the portion of the free product plume not underlying the BP, or the former ExxonMobil terminal properties. This area is known as the ExxonMobil Off-Site Plume and generally consists of the areas south of Norman Avenue and west of Bridgewater Street. Free product beneath this area is the result of petroleum products spilled from the former refinery properties and other unknown releases and that flowed southward due to the cones of depression caused by municipal wells pumping near the center of Brooklyn prior to 1950. This area is largely commercial, but does include a portion of the residential area south of Nassau Avenue.

The product recovery system for the ExxonMobil Off-site Plume includes 15 dual phase recovery wells located throughout the Off-site area. Groundwater from the 10 of the off site recovery wells is pumped to the ExxonMobil Off-site groundwater treatment system located at the corner of Bridgewater Street and Meeker Avenue. The effluent is discharged from an outfall located at the end of Meeker Avenue into Newtown Creek.

In 2010, a total of approximately 694,000 gallons of product was recovered from beneath the off-site area.

View of off-site treatment system building

BP Terminal

The BP Terminal property, located at 125 Apollo Street, is bordered by Newtown Creek to the north, Apollo Street to the east, Norman Avenue to the south, and Long Island Carpet Cleaners and various other industrial/commercial businesses to the west. The property was purchased by the Amoco Oil Company in 1968 from ExxonMobil. Amoco constructed and began operating a fuel bulk storage facility in 1970 that still operates today. The BP terminal property is 9.98 acres and has 11 aboveground and 1 underground storage tanks, with 2 loading racks. The storage capacity of the terminal is 5,902,512 gallons and has been used to store diesel fuel, #2 fuel oil, kerosene, gasoline, and ethanol. Amoco Oil Company was renamed BP Amoco in 2000, and in 2008 became known as BP.

The current BP Terminal product recovery system includes 8 dual phase recovery wells located throughout the Terminal property. Of these 8 wells, six are active, and two are contingency wells. Groundwater is pumped to the former ExxonMobil Terminal On-site treatment system for treatment and disposal. In addition to storing the product removed by the BP recovery wells, BP also collects the entire amount of product recovered by ExxonMobil’s On-site and Off-site recovery wells on a weekly basis and stores the product in a large aboveground storage tank. All recovered product is barged off the BP Terminal site for disposal approximately twice per year.

In 2010, a total of approximately 20,700 gallons of product was recovered from beneath the BP Terminal property.

BP above ground storage tanks as viewed from Newtown Creek

Former Paragon Oil Terminal (Texaco)

The former Paragon Oil Terminal property is bordered by Newtown Creek to the north, Meeker Avenue to the east, Bridgewater Street to the south, and the Apollo Street Creek parcels to the west. Beginning in 1886, two companies operated on this property; the Locust Hill Refining Company and Greenpoint Oil Refining. Both of these companies ended operation by 1905. From 1905 to 1921, a portion of the property operated as a cement works company. By 1929, a portion of the property was being operated as a petroleum storage terminal by Supreme Oil, which later became known as the Petroleum Terminal Corporation. The other portion of the property was privately owned until 1928 when it became the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company. In 1934, all operations throughout the entire property were either run by or affiliated with the Paragon Oil Company, which operated the site as petroleum storage terminal. Paragon Oil was purchased by Texaco Oil, now is known as the Chevron/Texaco Corporation, in 1960. The property was sold to Peerless Importers (now known as Empire Merchants) in 1968, which now operates the property as a liquor distribution warehouse. According to a 2005 consent agreement made with the NYSDEC, Texaco is responsible to delineate and remediate the portion of the free product plume underlying the Former Paragon Oil Terminal and control seepage of petroleum into Newtown Creek at this location.

The current Texaco product recovery system includes 11 total fluid recovery wells located along the bulkhead on the 50 Bridgewater Street portion of the property. The total fluid pumps bring both product and water from the subsurface to an oil-water separator, where the product is stored in an above ground storage tank (AST), while groundwater is pumped though a treatment system and discharged to the combined sanitary sewer system via a NYCDEP discharge permit. The collected product is removed offsite and properly disposed of on a monthly basis.

In 2010, a total of approximately 3,300 gallons of product was recovered from beneath the property.

In 2004, the site owner replaced over 400 feet of the concrete bulkhead along the northern portion of the former Paragon Oil Terminal property with a steel bulkhead, while a grout wall was added in 2006. In 2008, Texaco applied a sealant to the seams of the existing steel bulkhead in the area of product recovery to minimize product seepage into the creek. In addition to the bulkhead upgrades, Texaco also maintains five “globe” boom containment cells located inside a secondary “fence” boom along the Newtown Creek bulkhead. These five globe booms contain any product that may escape from landside.

In addition to the upgraded bulkhead, Texaco also maintains containment booms along a portion of the Former Paragon Terminal bulkhead in an effort to contain any product seepage into Newtown Creek. The Texaco maintained containment boom system consists of five “globe” boom cells located inside a secondary “fence” boom containment cell. The five globe boom cells are each approximately 100 feet long, with 1 foot of the boom above the water and 1 foot of the boom below the water. The fence boom containment cell extends approximately 5 feet beyond the ends of the globe boom, with 2 feet of the boom above the water and 2 feet of the boom below the water. The 5 "globe" boom cells contain absorbent material inside each of the cells that initially was changed on a regular basis (typically every 2-4 weeks). However, the amount of product observed inside the containment booms has significantly decreased over time due to the bulkhead upgrades and now the absorbent material is only changed when needed (typically every few months).

Apollo Street Creek Parcels

The Apollo Street Creek Parcels are located at 100-120 Apollo Street and are bordered by Newtown Creek to the north, the former Paragon Oil terminal to the east, Bridgewater Street to the south, and the BP Terminal to the west. Unlike the surrounding properties, the Apollo Street site was never used for refinery or terminal operations. Various private citizens owned the property until it was purchased in 1926 by the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company. In 1933, New York City acquired the property and operated a trash incinerator until 1965 when operations ceased likely the result of public complaints against dust and odor, as evidenced by newspaper articles at the time. In 1968, the Bridge-Apollo Company purchased the property, but by the mid-1980’s, the two lots comprising the Apollo Street property were under separate ownership. In 2000, Apollo Steel, LLC (Steel Equities) purchased both lots, both of which are currently occupied by Empire Merchants (who currently owns the former Paragon Oil terminal property immediately to the east).

In 2007, the NYSDEC conducted a Remedial Investigation (RI) and Remedy Selection (RS) on the Apollo Street Creek Parcels. The purpose of the RI/RS was to assess the distribution of contamination at the site and develop a proposed remedial method for the free-product beneath the site.

While the selected RS alternative is not yet in place, ExxonMobil and Texaco are working with the NYSDEC to implement a product recovery plan on this site. On May 15, 2009, NYSDEC and Texaco entered into a new administrative order which expands the efforts to address contamination at both the former Paragon Terminal and Apollo Street Creek parcels. Under the new administrative order , Texaco agreed to address contamination beneath the Apollo Street Creek Parcels site, even though Texaco never owned or maintained operations at this property. The work under this plan will result in remedies to address product, soil, and ground water contamination at this site.

In 2008, Texaco installed one recovery well with a total fluids recovery pump near the northwest corner of the property, adjacent to Newtown Creek. The recovered product and water are piped to the existing former Paragon Oil Terminal property recovery system for treatment. Additionally in 2008, Texaco rehabilitated the Apollo Street Creek Parcel bulkhead by re-sealing the concrete component and installing an impermeable barrier to seal the wooden component. Texaco maintains primary and secondary containment booms along the eastern bulkhead, while ExxonMobil installed and maintains containment booms along the remainder of the Apollo Street Creek Parcel’s bulkhead.

In 2008, in an attempt to contain petroleum seepage into Newtown Creek at the site, Texaco rehabilitated a portion of the Apollo Street concrete bulkhead and installed a liner curtain along the southern 80 feet of the bulkhead to prevent petroleum from seeping into creek. ExxonMobil then installed three containment booms along the remainder of the Apollo Street Parcels bulkhead.