State Coalition For the Remediation of Drycleaners May 2004 St. Paul, Minnesota

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1 State Coalition For the Remediation of Drycleaners May 2004 St. Paul, Minnesota Developing Dilemma North Carolina Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act (DSCA) Program Mary Siedlecki and John Powers DSCA Program NC Division of Waste Management

2 Early DSCA Policy Excavate and treat PCE-contaminated soils when the opportunity arose due to redevelopment of properties (i.e., redevelopment plans include building demolition) Justification Significant step in site remediation process Major cost savings to DSCA Trust Fund Positive community relations (facilitating economic development

3 Problems DSCA Program saw the potential for quickly becoming overwhelmed by developers wanting to use the program to serve their own interests The goals of the DSCA Program were in danger of being compromised by the Developer s interests

4 The following three case studies illustrate the Developing Dilemma Brothers Cleaners Kidds Hill Redevelopment Abra Costumes

5 Brothers Cleaners

6 Dry-Cleaning Contamination PCE contamination discovered onsite as part of a Phase II EA in November 2000 Only groundwater was analyzed for PCE Maximum PCE concentration: 518 ug/l Groundwater standard for PCE: 0.7 ug/l

7 Dry-Cleaning Contamination PCE was documented in offsite downgradient monitoring wells (MWs) beginning in August 2000 PCE in MW: 330 ug/l PCE was also detected in a stream beginning in September 2001 Max. PCE conc. in stream: 5 ug/l

8 North Hills Mall (Before) Drycleaner Site PCE Plume from Drycleaner Surface Water Impact

9 Brothers Cleaners Priority Status: NONE Work Plans - all approved simultaneously Prioritization Assessment Contaminated Soil Excavation and Treatment Sample residential wells

10 Brothers Cleaners Soil Contamination Exploratory drilling was conducted prior to site prioritization to provide data for excavation Soil samples were collected from two soil borings advanced in the most likely source areas: former dry-cleaning machine area and disposal area PCE in former machine area: 5,600 ug/kg PCE in former waste disposal area: 21 ug/kg

11 Final Outcome The building was razed in late 2002, exposing PCE-contaminated soils and posing a potential health hazard to construction workers Highly contaminated soils were excavated and treated onsite. Area was made into a parking lot

12 Future North Hills Mall Development Mixed Residential/Retail Use

13 Kidds Hill Development Vacant shopping center Shopping center scheduled for demolition to make way for a mixed-use project with: 208,000 square feet of stores 56,000 square feet of offices 660 apartments 4-story underground parking lot

14 Kidds Hill Development

15 HEY!!! Wait a minute!!! Can we really do these interim removal actions whenever a developer says JUMP? DSCA Statute

16 Kidds Hill Site Priority Status: LOW DSCA requires that sites with higher priority be addressed prior to sites of lower priority The Kidds Hill Site was not eligible for Trust Fund reimbursement at this time because it was a Low Priority Site

17 Kidds Hill Developing Dilemma Conflict developed due to the low site priority versus developer s insistence that DSCA authorize work No policy existed for dealing with a site that proposes to excavate contaminated soils without DSCA supervision

18 Our Concern Developers demolishing part of a building just to get the DSCA fund to come in and clean up their site. Regardless of the priority ranking

19 Kidds Hill Final Outcome Denied Trust Fund compensation

20 Results of Compensation Denial No DENR oversight of excavation activities No knowledge of how soils were managed No input to confirmation soil sampling No summary report of site activities

21 Abra Costumes Residential home converted into business Surrounding area zoned residential Owner needs to sell for health reasons Owner under constant sell-by deadlines

22 Abra Costumes Multiple buyers have been interested, but scared off by contamination

23 Abra Costumes Priority Status: HIGH High Priority based on the presence of exposed PCE-contaminated soils (800 mg/kg) in a residential area Groundwater was sampled in three temporary wells [maximum PCE: 9,300 ug/l] DSCA can address sites that are considered imminent hazards based on immediate threat to human health and the environment

24 Solution!!! DSCA approved a work plan to eliminate the imminent hazard (i.e., excavation and treatment of exposed contaminated soils) After removing imminent hazard, site would be reduced to a Lower Priority Ranking

25 BIG Problem for Buyer Bankers refused to lend money for the sale of the property unless DSCA guaranteed the following: Site would be re-developed to residential standards Monitoring wells would not be required A No Further Action letter would be issued

26 DSCA Deliberation... The bankers request was passed to DSCA legal staff Legal staff defined abatement of an imminent hazard as completely different than site remediation If over-excavation excavation was allowed for a lower priority site, how could the Program turn down future development-driven driven remediation requests?

27 DSCA Response Buyer was notified that DSCA could make no guarantees regarding future actions at the site and could only authorize abatement of imminent hazard Buyer wanted DSCA to remediate the entire site and informed seller that he is no longer interested in the property

28 Solutions being considered to address this Developing Dilemma Attempt to re-direct potential developers into Brownfields Program Amend DSCA Statute such that staff would be granted the flexibility to approve soil excavation and treatment when cost benefit to DSCA Trust Fund can be demonstrated

29 Solutions (continued) Regardless, major program priority: Development of risk-based rules to properly determine if soil excavation and treatment are even warranted ASAP! ASAP! ASAP!

30 CONTACT INFORMATION DSCA Program Website: DSCA Staff: ncmail.net ncmail.net ncmail.net Scott.Stupak ncmail.net