Source: http://www.northjersey.com, October 21, 2015
By: David M.Zimmer
The local government has had to open up its checkbook once again as it works to clean up contamination on the municipal complex that dates back more than a decade.
Earlier this month, West Milford’s town council approved a $32,000 contract with G Environmental GECP of Succasunna for site remediation services after discovering remaining contamination from gasoline on town hall property.
Township Administrator Kenneth Gabbert said the contamination dates back some time between 1994 and 2004 when an underground storage tank was removed and a corresponding fuel spill was reported to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
“Some limited leakage occurred at some pipe connections and pipe intersections with the tank and was reported to the DEP,” he said in an email. “The municipal building has about 88 yards (five large trucks) of soil that needs to be removed in two limited areas on the left side of the property. This final cleanup is in two small areas but about 16 to 20 feet deep.”
The initial gasoline spill, according to township records, was addressed shortly after the leaking underground fuel storage tank was removed. However, those records add that the townfailed to file the corresponding paperwork with the DEP, which asked town hall for an update on the site contamination back in 2013.
Then Township Administrator Nancy Gage said the municipality was able to produce the records necessary to close a few similar contamination files. However, she said the initial records involving the cleanup at town hall were either lost or never existed. At that time, Township Attorney Fred Semrau advised against getting into a debate with the DEP when safety is concerned and hefty fines are looming, despite town hall’s confidence the spill was addressed. He recommended hiring a specialist to assist the township in confirming the contamination level of the site, which remains classified as a Category 2 contaminated area of concern due to known-source contamination with potential groundwater pollution.
The subsequent report from Wall-based environmental consulting services Envirotactics recommended additional soil sampling in the affected area. Those samples, Gabbert said, confirmed lingering contamination at levels above DEP standards on a limited part of the property.
According to Gabbert, the town hall remediation project is expected to start before winter but there is no firm date at this time. He said the project should take around two weeks to complete.
A similar but less intensive cleanup necessitated by failed underground storage tanks at the West Milford Museum, the former town hall annex, is due to take about three days and be executed under the supervision of Envirotactics, Gabbert said. A $15,000 contract approved during the council’s Oct. 7 meeting should see the firm consulting on services involving sampling from on-site monitoring wells, field oversight, laboratory analysis, and report preparation.