| Welcome to the Cooperstown Crier |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
12-27-2007 By JIM AUSTIN Editor In August, village officials requested Kelly explain why the DEC agreed to a request from Exxon Mobil to halt the cleanup of a spill first detected in 1987. The village's request was the recommendation of Syracuse- based lawyer Doug Zamelis, who was hired by the village to research the cleanup efforts at the site after concerns were raised this spring about contaminants at the site, which were well beyond the state's standards when the DEC closed the site in April 2006. Zamelis reviewed DEC records and reported his findings to the village board in August. According to Zamelis, Mobil's efforts to cleanup the petroleum, which spilled from the underground tanks, used seven different techniques, from excavating soil to pumping out groundwater and passing it through activated charcoal. He said that in his 20 years of working on spills, seldom does he see one as aggressively remediated as the Chestnut Street site. "Mobil spared no expense," he said. "I can't tell you how much Mobil spent, but I can tell you it's expensive." Zamelis said there was no evidence to indicate the hydrocarbon plume ever reached or will reach Willow Brook or Otsego Lake. No evidence exists to indicate the spill impacted the village's drinking water supply. In his letter to Mayor Carol Waller, Kelly agreed that the contamination did not reach Otsego Lake. "This data illustrates that Otsego Lake, which is approximately 1,300 feet from the site, is outside the defined limits of the plume and therefore not being impacted by this spill. In addition, there are no other exposures pathways to the remaining residual contamination that would result in health exposures," he wrote in his letter. According to Kelly, the agency's goal is to require the cleanup and removal of petroleum discharges to pre-release conditions or New York State Groundwater Standards. "Unfortunately, in many cases achieving pre-release conditions or state standards is not technologically feasible," he wrote. Kelly's letter stated that, based on his information, the DEC does not believe it is justified in re-opening the spill project. However, if the site conditions change, or there is new information that would support reactivating the spill project, the DEC would consider changing the project status. Waller said she plans to refer the letter to village attorney John Lambert and Dr. Theodore Peters, a consultant to the village water board. The mayor said she believes DEC should be accountable the same way the agency holds the village accountable for its actions. The cleanup involved 17 years of active soil remediation from 1988 to 2005, and 11 years of groundwater remediation from 1994 to 2005. Approximately 250 cubic yards of soil were removed from the site, and seven million gallons of groundwater were pumped and treated. Seven tons of hydrocarbons were recovered, |
Copyright 2007, Cooperstown Crier, Cooperstown, NY All rights reserved