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| Brownfields Weekly |
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March 14, 2002 THIS WEEK:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- If your organization is hosting or sponsoring an upcoming brownfields industry conference, publicize it on the Brownfields.com Conferences page. Send your conference information to: editors@brownfields.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A "Showcase" Example of Urban Revitalization At one time, downtown Burlington, Vermont seemed to have more brownfields than buildings. The historic city's seventeen contaminated commercial and industrial sites comprised 40 acres near downtown -- a major obstacle to any economic growth and land use. Only one uncontaminated site was available for development. The largest brownfield prevented highway construction needed by private developers to connect the city with the waterfront. Worse, most of the brownfields were located in or adjacent to disadvantaged neighborhoods. But the City of Burlington made excellent use of its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot, granted in 1997. First, the Burlington Pilot targeted the worst potentially contaminated commercial and industrial sites downtown. Among the city Pilot's many brownfields accomplishments to date:
Burlington hasn't rested on its laurels since completing those brownfields sites. The city was selected to receive EPA supplemental assistance for its additional brownfields in 2001. That is being used to conduct two Phase I environmental site assessments and four Phase II assessments. The Assistance Pilot will also investigate three new sites and perform Phase I assessments at the three sites if needed. Not only that, the city has many brownfields projects currently underway. In various stages of development are the assessment and cleanup of former bulk oil storage facility, the conversion of a former dairy/ice cream factory/police station into a food market, and an abandoned coal-fired power plant into a new arts center. For Burlington's remarkable success, its Pilot was selected by the EPA as a national "Showcase Community" Finalist for the second time in three years. Burlington, Vermont is a shining example of how any city can, through the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields, build a propserous foundation for the future.
EPA Orders Asarco to Continue Yacht Basin Dredging TACOMA, Washington - The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency today ordered Asarco to clean up arsenic and lead-contaminated sediments near the former Asarco smelter site and in the Yacht Basin area of Commencement Bay. EPA issued a Unilateral Order today after the EPA and Asarco failed to reach a negotiated agreement on how the company would proceed with its clean up obligations. The order compels Asarco to perform the sediment clean-up or face penalties. Remedies for the sediments include capping 18 acres of contaminated marine sediment in the Nearshore/Offshore Area and dredging 15.5 acres of contaminated sediments in the Yacht Basin. Asarco is liable for over $60 million in projected costs for cleaning up the highly contaminated smelter site and the Ruston and north Tacoma neighborhoods that are contaminated with arsenic, lead and other heavy metals from the company's smelter operations. The company has legal obligations under a consent decree for clean up of the smelter site and the Ruston and North Tacoma neighborhoods. "Before we issued this order we spent a year and a half hammering out an agreement with Asarco on the scope and schedule of the sediment clean up." said Michelle Pirzadeh of EPA's Superfund Office. "This order formally lays out the requirements to get the sediment work done. Keeping the Tacoma clean up going is a high priority for us."
Plan to Attend "Seizing Redevelopment Opportunities The first comprehensive brownfields conference since the enactment of the new federal brownfields legislation, join us to explore the implications of the recently enacted Small Business Liability Relief & Brownfields Revitalization Act. This Act made major changes in Federal environmental liability laws and authorized new grants for brownfields redevelopment - $200 million nationally per year for the next five years. Brought to you by the Environmental Business Association of New York State, Inc., The LiRo Group, and Sustainable Long Island, panel discussions will include "Overcoming Liability - Understanding the new federal liability reforms and their impact on New York" and "Funding - How to Maximize Brownfields Dollars to Achieve Sustainable Communities." For further information on
this conference,contact: Defense Dept. Saves Money, Speeds Cleanup with HRC Bioremediation PUEBLO, Colorado - An innovative groundwater remediation product, Hydrogen Release Compound(R)(HRC) is proving efficient and cost-effective in degrading a broad range of soil contaminants at two major Department of Defense (DOD) sites in Colorado. At the Army's former Pueblo Chemical Depot, a recent study verified HRC's performance and concluded that enhanced anaerobic bioremediation using HRC caused "reductions in the concentrations of all contaminants of concern at the site." The chemicals involved range from the more ubiquitous chlorinated solvents perchloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) to nitroaromatic explosives and perchlorate. Meanwhile, a 60-day bench-scale study at the former Rocky Mountain Arsenal chemical weapons site in Adams County, funded by the EPA's Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program, showed significant reduction in concentrations of explosive contaminants and nitrates -- by up to 98%-100% -- within the initial test period of 105 days. HRC, developed by Regenesis of San Clemente, CA, is a passive, proprietary, in-situ bioremediation treatment that works by accelerating the natural attenuation of contaminants in the soil. When the viscous, honey-like compound is injected into the soil, contact with groundwater causes it to slowly release lactic acid. Naturally occurring anaerobic microbes metabolize the lactic acid to produce hydrogen, which in turn is used by other microbes to break down anaerobically degradable compounds. Compared with conventional soil removal or pump-and-treat methods, total costs for HRC treatment are often one-half to one-third the cost of competing technologies. HRC is also a quiet, unobtrusive remediation technology that can readily be used underneath foundations or in difficult-to-reach spaces such as between buildings or in small, confined areas. With the DOD now engaged in a massive nationwide cleanup program, contamination from explosives and their derivatives has become a focal point for this effort. One DOD study recently noted over 1,200 sites impacted with explosives, of which 87% had groundwater contamination. Because conventional cleanup technologies are costly and invasive, the DOD has been actively seeking out more innovative, preferably on-site and in-situ technologies, including bioremediation technologies, which hold the promise of better performance and increased economic benefits. The Pueblo Chemical Depot (PCD) and Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) sites presented an ideal application opportunity for HRC and accelerated anaerobic dechlorination activities. The PCD site had been used for more than three decades for large-scale munitions storage and reprocessing operations, resulting in the release of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and TNT breakdown products. The 27-square-mile RMA facility, slated to become a National Wildlife Refuge, was established during World War II as a chemical weapons manufacturing site. It was later used for the manufacture of nerve agents, pesticides, and herbicides. Liquid wastes were disposed of in numerous unlined waste-disposal basins and trenches. Since conventional remediation methods such as pump-and-treat or excavation would have been prohibitively more expensive and time-consuming, preliminary bench-scale and pilot tests were performed at both sites before using HRC. The PCD site has already completed a successful pilot-scale test and is awaiting further direction for full-scale implementation. RMA has completed a laboratory bench-scale test and is currently in the field pilot phase of the program.
Hanford Plutonium Waste Cleanup Plan Accelerated OLYMPIA, Washington (ENS) - The highly radioactive nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on the Columbia River in southcentral Washington state could be cleaned up at least 35 years faster than originally estimated, due to an agreement reached between two federal agencies and the state of Washington. The waste is the legacy of 45 years of nuclear weapons production. It amounts to about 60 percent of all the high-level nuclear waste in the United States. Washington Governor Gary Locke announced Wednesday an agreement reached with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that reverses a $300 million cut from Hanford cleanup funds that was part of the Bush administration's proposed FY 2003 budget. A Letter of Intent was signed on Wednesday by the State of Washington, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which modifies their existing Tri-Party Agreement restoring funding and setting an accelerated schedule for Hanford cleanup. The letter states, "This represents a transformation in Hanford Site cleanup, with the objective of accelerating completion from a 2070 timeframe to 2035, and possibly as soon as 2025. It establishes a bias for action and continuous improvement throughout cleanup." DOE managers have assured the governor and other state officials that they will create a budgetary approach that ensures full funding through fiscal year 2006. Hanford produced plutonium for nuclear weapons from 1943 through 1989. The Tri-Party Agreement of 1989 governs the handling and cleanup of the radioactive and hazardous wastes from the plutonium production. The Department of Energy has made a commitment to restore $300 million to fully fund Hanford's cleanup budget and provide an additional $150 million in fiscal year 2003 to pay for accelerated cleanup activities this year. "This is the best news for Hanford since the signing of the original cleanup agreement," said Governor Locke, who met Energy Secretary Abraham in Washington, DC late in February to negotiate a reverse of the budget cut. "At the time, I could not divulge the framework of the agreement, but it is clear that the trip paid off," he said Wednesday. There are 177 large scale underground nuclear waste tanks at Hanford containing 54 million gallons of high-level wastes. An estimated 440 billion gallons of contaminated liquids were discharged to the soil since 1944. There are over 1,500 areas of contaminated soil at Hanford. The funding cut would have jeopardized construction of a vitrification plant for immobilization of the nuclear waste in glass. The vitrification plant is also expected to serve in the cleanup of other areas of the Hanford site which may then be converted into industrial parks, brownfields or conservation sites. As a first step, Energy Department experts will develop a set of specific goals for physical progress by 2007 and 2012 that will represent "a major acceleration from current plans," the agency said. DOE will produce a draft work plan showing how these goals can be met by May 1, and the Tri-Parties hope to produce a mutually agreed to work plan by August 1.
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