Greenpoint Petroleum Remediation Project
Public Participation:
The Department will conduct a progress meeting regarding this project on:
October 16, 2007 at St. Stanislaus School Auditorium near the corner of Driggs and Newell (12 Newell St., Brooklyn, NY 11222), from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Future availability sessions with Technical and Public Health staff will be planned for 2008.
Petroleum Industry Operations History:
The northeast area of Greenpoint, between North Henry Street, Norman Avenue, and Newtown Creek, has been heavily industrialized and the site of various petroleum industries for nearly 140 years. Petroleum refining within the Greenpoint area began in approximately 1866, and by 1870 over 50 refineries were located along the banks of Newtown Creek. In 1892, the majority of the area refineries were purchased and consolidated into the Standard Oil Trust. Following the breakup of the Trust in 1911, ownership of the refinery property in Greenpoint reverted to the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY) and these operations became the SOCONY (later Mobil Oil Corporation) Brooklyn Refinery. The refinery reportedly had a capacity to refine over 33,000 barrels (1.4 million gallons) of crude oil a day and produced fuel oils, gasoline, kerosene, and refinery oil. Also stored within the former refinery were petroleum additives and miscellaneous refining by-products.
Refinery operations at the former Mobil Brooklyn Refinery ceased in 1966. The refinery was subsequently demolished and significant portions of the refinery property were sold. Several of the subdivided lots were retained by Mobil Oil Corporation, while the other lots were sold to Amoco Oil Company, United Kingsway Carpet Company (subsequently renamed Long Island Carpet Cleaners, Inc.), and others.
The lots retained by Mobil were utilized as a petroleum bulk storage terminal until 1993, when storage operations ceased at the property.
Amoco Oil Company (currently BP) constructed a bulk fuel storage terminal on its portion of the property that began operation in late 1969 and which continues in operation today. The BP Amoco terminal is 9.98 acres and has 11 aboveground and 1 underground storage tanks, with 2 loading racks. The storage capacity of the terminal is 5,902,512 gallons and has been used to store diesel fuel, #2 fuel oil, kerosene, and gasoline.
In addition to the petroleum facilities on the former Mobil site, the Paragon Oil Company occupied the property north of Bridgewater Street, between Apollo Street and Meeker Avenue. Paragon Oil was a wholly owned subsidiary of Texaco Oil, now Chevron Corporation. Paragon operated a terminal storing gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, fuel oil (numbers 2, 4, and 6) and lube oil at this location until approximately 1969 when Peerless Importers purchased the property and constructed a warehouse for its operations.
Remediation/Recovery History:
On September 2, 1978, the U. S. Coast Guard was making a routine helicopter patrol of Newtown Creek when it noticed the signs of an oil spill entering Newtown Creek from the area at the end of Meeker Avenue. A subsequent investigation concluded that the area of the spill under the Greenpoint area was in excess of 52 acres and the total spill volume, as estimated in 1979, was approximately 17 million gallons of petroleum products.
The spill area consists of large amounts of free product on the water table, beginning between Monitor Street and Kingsland Avenue (just south of Greenpoint Avenue), and extending southeast to the area of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. In addition to free product under the site, residual petroleum contamination exists in groundwater, and native soil and fill material. In the past, vapor from contamination in the area impacted sewer lines along Greenpoint Avenue between Monitor Street and Kingsland Ave. Soil contamination has been encountered in excavations in the area. Groundwater drawn from below the free product has shown dissolved petroleum constituents. Free product has impacted both a shallow aquifer and a deeper regional aquifer.
Petroleum product recovery operations are currently being conducted within four distinct areas, including the former ExxonMobil Brooklyn Terminal, the BP Brooklyn Terminal, the commercial/industrial/residential area southwest of the BP Terminal known as the Off-Site Area, and the site of the former Paragon Oil Terminal, which is currently the location of the Peerless Importers facility. Product recovery systems have been in place on both the terminal properties and in the Off-Site Area, at the foot of Meeker Ave, since 1979. In 1990, Mobil entered into two consent orders with NYSDEC and began upgrades to its recovery systems, including the design and construction of a new and expanded system to recover free product from the Off-Site Area. Following the discovery of free product seepage through the facility's bulkhead, Mobil also began recovery activities at the Peerless Importers/former Paragon Oil site in 1990 and continued recovery activities until 2005 when Chevron took over that portion of the project.
The portion of the plume within the Off-Site Area (Off-Site Plume) consists of free product from the ExxonMobil (S224088), Chevron (S224083) and BP (S224082) sites. The plume is generally considered to be between Norman Avenue/Apollo Street on the north, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway on the south, Hausman Street on the west, and the Peerless Importers property/Newtown Creek to the east.
Note: This depiction is one representation of plume extent. Due to product recovery and continuing investigation, knowledge and conditions are changing. Involved parties have slight variations on this general depiction based on their most recent information.
Remediation Methods:
The primary technology used to recover free product from the major portions of the plume is a dual-pump free-product recovery system. In a dual-pump recovery system, recovery wells are installed with both a product pump and a groundwater pump within the same well. When activated, the groundwater pump extracts water from the aquifer, which lowers the water table and causes a cone of depression to form in the vicinity of the recovery well. This cone of depression then induces free product floating on top of the ground water to flow into the depression and towards the recovery well, where it is periodically removed by the product pump based on the amount of free product in the well.
Free product recovered from each well is conveyed to either aboveground or underground storage tanks located adjacent to each recovery well, while the extracted groundwater is conveyed through underground pipes to a centralized water treatment system. At the water treatment system, the groundwater is treated through a variety of processes to remove contaminants, including aeration and filtration to remove certain metals, such as iron and magnesium, and air stripping to remove volatile organic compound (VOC) and semi-volatile organic compound (SVOC) contaminants found in the groundwater. The treated groundwater is then discharged to Newtown Creek under NYSDEC approvals. The treated groundwater is monitored on a monthly basis to ensure compliance with the discharge limits specified by NYSDEC.Three separate free product recovery systems are currently operating in Greenpoint. These include the ExxonMobil Brooklyn Terminal Recovery and Containment System (RCS), the BP Brooklyn Terminal Recovery System, and the ExxonMobil Off-Site Free-Product Recovery System. Both ExxonMobil and BP have recently completed significant upgrades to their terminal recovery systems to increase the free product recovery capacity and water treatment capabilities of their systems. The ExxonMobil Brooklyn Terminal RCS currently includes 9 dual-pump free-product recovery wells and a water treatment system with a capacity of up to 450 gallons per minute (gpm) that treats water from both the ExxonMobil and BP terminal systems. The BP Brooklyn Terminal system includes 8 dual-pump free product recovery wells. The ExxonMobil Off-Site Free-Product Recovery System, which was completed in 1995 as part of the Consent Order with DEC, includes 6 dual-pump free-product recovery wells and a central water treatment system with a capacity of up to 430 gpm.
Through these combined efforts, a total of approximately 9.5 million gallons of product, or about 1/2 of the amount estimated to have been spilled, has been recovered from the plume areas. Since 1979, the ExxonMobil and BP terminal systems have recovered over 1.5 million gallons and 3.0 million gallons, respectively. The Meeker Avenue Task Force, operated by Mobil and Amoco from 1979 to 1989 at the foot of Meeker Avenue in the Off-Site Area, recovered an additional 0.8 million gallons of free product. The ExxonMobil Off-Site Free-Product Recovery System, which replaced the Meeker Avenue Task Force system, has recovered over 3.5 million gallons to date.
Former Paragon Oil Facility Containment Boom Improvements, Investigation and Remediation
On May 23, 2005, the NYSDEC approved a work plan for near-term improvements to the Newtown Creek boom along the bulkhead of the Peerless Importers property, the site of the former Paragon Oil terminal. Chevron Corporation, through their consultant, SAIC, has made upgrades to the existing boom and is recovering additional product from monitoring wells along the Newtown Creek bulkhead.
installation behind the
Peerless Importers Bulkhead
The major elements of the Boom Improvements and Site Investigation plan include:
- Vacuum/Pumping Extraction behind Bulkhead: Product in monitoring wells behind the Peerless Importers bulkhead will be monitored, with removal by vacuum extraction to occur at least once per week.
- Geotechnical/Hydrogeology Data: Existing and new data will be collected on site conditions to allow for a Conceptual Site Model to be developed.
- Site Characterization: A more complete site investigation including monitoring wells will be conducted with the intent of identifying the nature and extent of contamination.
- Grout Wall Assessment: The effectiveness of the February 2005 pilot grout project will be considered by examining the continuity, thickness, depth of the grout wall, as well as subsurface conditions.
- Seep Prevention Assessment: A complete grout wall with product collection and other long term management options, including cutoff trenches and groundwater extraction, will be studied.
- New Interim Boom: A new boom with greater buoyancy was placed just off the existing bulkhead to reduce splashing and surface area for product collection.
- Containment Barrier and Recovery System: Based on the seep prevention assessment, a long-term seep barrier termed a great curtain wall was selected, designed and installed. A series of recovery points behind the wall use a pump to recover a combined groundwater and product mix which is separated during treatment. Product is then recycled, while groundwater is treated and discharged to the combined sewer system.
On August 14, 2006, NYSDEC approved a modification to the work plan for the former Paragon Oil Terminal. Under the modifications, Chevron submitted a final design report for a Phase 1 remedy at the former Paragon Oil Terminal in September 2006. The remedy will include additional product recovery points along the Peerless Importers bulkhead, and expand a pilot grout wall. Phase 1 construction was completed in November 2006 and the operation of the additional recovery points and modified system is in startup. Due to discharge modifications allowing groundwater disposal via the city combined sewer system, full start-up will not be complete until October 2007. The grout wall with expanded recovery is intended to significantly slow seepage into Newtown Creek.
The work plan also includes milestones for further reporting on site investigations, an evaluation of the Phase 1 remedy, and a design and implementation of a Phase 2 remedy. Enhancements to the Phase 1 remedy, and the implementation of the Phase 2 system during 2008 have the goal of stopping seepage into Newtown Creek from the former Paragon Oil Terminal.
Recent Project Developments:
ExxonMobil Off-site Plume Area (S224087): To further progress in recovery of the petroleum product in the subsurface, ExxonMobil is installing ten (10) additional recovery wells in the Off-site Plume Area. The wells will recover ground water for treatment at the two existing ExxonMobil treatment plants and recover product for recycling. The addition of these recovery points is anticipated to occur throughout 2007 with completion of the additional points in 2008. The wells provide a more thorough coverage of a greater around the off-site plume which will increase product recovery in the short term and meet expections for maintaining the remedial schedule.
Former Mobil Terminal (S224088): In June 2007, ExxonMobil initiated a supplemental site assessment for the former Terminal and refinery properties along Kingsland Avenue. The site assessment will include additional sampling of soil, ground water, and soil gas. In addition, the assessment includes work to identify remaining subsurface piping and structures and continue the removal process of former refinery and distribution facilities.
Apollo Street Creek Properties (S224122): Based on identification of potential seepage into Newtown Creek near the end of Apollo Street and the lack of a clear historical responsible party for the area, DEC has added another site to track under the Greenpoint Petroleum Remedial Project. The site includes the Apollo Street section between Bridgewater and Newtown Creek as well as two parcels consisting of one building between Apollo Street and the current Peerless Importers Building. In May 2007, DEC initiated field work for a Remedial Investigation to further identify the nature and extent of contamination in this area and select a long-term remedy for this location if necessary. The work is being conducted by DEC utilizing New York State Oil Spill Funds and is expected to select the long-term remedy in early 2008. The goal of the investigation is to determine if petroleum is seeping into Newtown Creek at this location, define land side contamination, and select an appropriate remedy(s) to stop seepage and remediate the site.
The work will include soil and ground water sampling, an assessment of bulkhead condition, a bi-weekly seepage inspection from the Creek, study of ground water conditions including tidal influence, ground water flow direction, and some sampling of petroleum in the area to attempt to distinguish sources. In addition, ExxonMobil is installing an additional boom in Newtown Creek to provide another containment structure for possible petroleum seepage to the Creek and link booms at the BP Terminal to those at the former Paragon Terminal property.
Investigation of Soil Vapor and Residential Indoor Air Continues
On September 16, 2005, NYSDEC approved a work plan from ExxonMobil to sample soil gas at approximately 16 additional points in the Greenpoint Area around the off-site product plume. The goal of the sampling was to determine if vapors from the product plume are attenuated before impacting indoor air as believed from previous investigations. ExxonMobil started the investigation on September 19, 2005. A report on sampling was finalized in March 2006 and is available at the document links above.
The soil vapor investigation conducted by Exxon-Mobil in 2005 concluded that the free-product plume is not contributing to concentration of contaminants in residential indoor air. The depth of the contamination allowing for biodegradation and presence of a clay/silt layer to prevent migration are factors in the their conclusion. The Department has reviewed the data and agree that it supports their conclusion however, in order to prove (or refute) this hypothesis, the Department conducted a residential indoor air investigation to collect the data necessary to verify this conceptual model.
Staff from various New York State agencies and offices developed the scope and method of implementation of the residential indoor air investigation. This investigation began during the winter heating season of 2006-07. A report of results is available at the links above. As a result of this effort, the State believes it is unlikely that vapor intrusion from spills at these sites is occurring.
In addition to plans for sampling residential indoor air, assessment of soil vapors in the commercial/industrial area above the contamination has continued. Elevated levels of methane, benzene, and other petroleum related compounds are known to exist in commercial and industrial areas around past petroleum storage and distribution operations. Notifications regarding these results have been sent to businesses in areas with potential impacts. In addition, the Department has required ExxonMobil to conduct indoor air sampling within some locations in this area to assess any potential impact. Finally, a Mitigation System for a portion of the commercial zone which is currently in design.
Further information on recent soil vapor sampling in residential and commercial areas is posted above.
Additional Information
Should you have questions regarding the status of the investigation and cleanup of the petroleum release, you may contact:
Edward Hampston
Project Engineer
Remedial Bureau D
Division of Environmental Remediation
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-7017
(888) 459-8667
exhampst@gw.dec.state.ny.us
For health related questions you may contact:
Dawn Hettrick
New York State Department of Health
Flanigan Square
547 River Street
Troy, NY 12180-2216
(800) 458-1158 x27880
deh02@health.state.ny.us
For questions on legal aspects associated with New York State activities at this site you may contact:
Alan Michaels
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-5500
(518)402-9521
Document Repository Location:
Brooklyn Collection
Brooklyn Public Library
Grand Army Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Attn: Elizabeth Harvey
(718) 230-2101
Electronic Record:
- Community Board No. 1
- Greenpoint Public Library
- Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee
- NYSDEC Region 2 Office
- Brooklyn Public Library
More about Greenpoint Petroleum Remediation Project:
- Typical Dual-Pump Recovery Well - Larger image of diagram showing a Typical Dual-Pump Recovery Well at Greenpoint Terminal Remediation Area.
- Greenpoint Areas of Remediation - Greenpoint Terminal Remediation Area; including ExxonMobil Brooklyn Terminal - S224088, ExxonMobil Off-Site Plume - S224087, Former Paragon Oil (Chevron) - S224083, BP Terminal - S224082
