ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS
US Environmental Protection Agency
Located within the Study Area Boundary for the adjacent
Pine Street Canal Superfund site: CERCLIS #VTD980523062

EPA Remedial Project Manager:
Karen Lumino
1 Congress St., Suite 1100 (HBT)
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 918-1348
lumino.karen@epa.gov

VT Department of Environmental Conservation
Closed Hazardous Waste Site #: 87-0097 (Former Ultramar Property)
Former Hazardous Waste Generator #: (no number provided) (Ultramar Petroleum, Inc.),

Property #9 is a former VT Active Hazardous Waste Site (#87-0097) associated with the past release of petroleum from bulk above-ground storage tanks that were present on the site from the mid 1960s to the mid-1990s. Limited information is contained in the VTDEC closed site file. Available data consist of a series of VTDEC memorandums referencing the following:

• A 4,200-gallon spill of No. 2 fuel oil occurring on or about 18 October 1986 [1]
• Pending transfer of impacted soil stockpile to Whitcomb’s asphalt plant in New Hampshire [1, 2]
• Excavation of approximately 400 cubic yards of contaminated soils and storage on plastic [1, 2]
• Recovery of approximately 11,000 gallons of liquid (likely oil and water) [2]; and
• Impacts to water in the adjacent barge slip and turning basin in the form of sheens which were being addressed with sorbant pads and booms [2].

During the Summer and Fall of 1986, product was recovered from the slip and from the bermed area around the ASTs through frequent replacement of absorbent pads and booms [3]. The final correspondence available in the file was dated March, 1988 and noted that the boom in the turning basin had been removed, and no free product was detected in five site-related monitoring wells [4].

An additional document in the VTDEC closed site file pre-dates the 18 October 1986 spill and provides a work plan for site assessment for a potential buyer of the property [5]. This work plan notes a soil boring to be installed to assess “Summer, 1986 cleanup activities”, perhaps associated with a surface spill.

Adjacent Hazardous Waste Site to the North (Property #8)
Impacts to Property #9 have been identified associated with surface spills from a former waste oil AST along the southern exterior wall of the former City Public Works Department building along the north border of the subject property. Site remediation and monitoring are ongoing, and are being carried out by the responsible party under oversight of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. (See Environmental Status of Property #8).

Proximity to Superfund Site
Property #9 is adjacent to the Pine Street Canal Superfund site (CERCLIS #VTD980523062). The western portion of the lot (as presently configured) was formerly bisected by a barge slip which extended northward off the turning basin of the barge canal [6]. The slip was reportedly contructed in the years prior to 1879, following initial dredging of the canal and turning basin in 1868 [7]. The north barge slip was preferentially filled following the decline in the barge industry, and filling appears to have been completed by 1977 [7]. Historic fill materials may have included: “sawdust and discharged lumber from the milling operations; municipal and commercial solid waste; manufacturing waste; construction waste; debris from on-site building fires; and ash from local power plants and incinerators” [8, p.146].

In general, highest concentrations of contaminants, and those posing greatest risk of impact to human health and the environment, associated with the neighboring Superfund site, are located farther to the south and southwest of Property #9 near the former coal gasification plant (Property #19). However, PAHs and BTEX are reportedly present in groundwater near the northern barge slip in the area of Property #9 [7]. Superfund documents cite the former bulk petroleum plant on the subject property as a potential contributor of the PAH contamination noted within the Superfund site study area [8, 7]. Superfund documents [8] note “at least one undocumented discharge of approximately 20,000 gallons of oil from [Property #9].” The location and timing of this spill are not provided. In addition, a former Auto Junk Yard and oil tanks present along the western side of the barge slip circa 1942 (see History) were cited in Superfund documents as potential contributors of PAH and BTEX and metals contamination to groundwater and soils in the vicinity of the north slip [8]. Superfund site remediation and monitoring are ongoing and are being carried out by the responsible parties under oversight of EPA Region 1 and the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.