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Site Report: Armstrong Air

Site Name: Armstrong Air
Address: Dillingham Airport; , Dillingham, AK 99576
File Number: 2540.26.001
Hazard ID: 23203
Status: Cleanup Complete
Staff: No Longer Assigned, 9074655229 dec.icunit@alaska.gov
Latitude: 59.039703
Longitude: -158.457397
Horizontal Datum:NAD27

We make every effort to ensure the data presented here is accurate based on the best available information currently on file with DEC. It is therefore subject to change as new information becomes available. We recommend contacting the assigned project staff prior to making decisions based on this information.

Problems/Comments

Richard and JoAnn Armstrong were the operators of Armstrong Air. Fred Thorrisi was an attorney working for the Armstrongs. Formerly assigned to ADEC staff John Halverson. F.K.A. L55.275 In order to install a concrete pad located next to the 4,000-gallon AvGas and the 2,000-gallon AvGas underground storage tanks, hydrocarbon contamination was encountered in 1992. Approximately 30 cubic yards of contaminated soil was excavated and transported to a bioremediation cell on Henry Shade's property. On December 3, 1992, 1,200 gallons of Avgas was spilled from a tanker truck inside the west corner of the hangar and flowed into a floor drain and into the gravel pad under the hangar. On June 16, 1993 the two underground storage tanks were removed with GRO, and BTEX soil contamination remaining in the excavation and along the hangar foundation. Approximately 634 cubic yards of contaminated soil was excavated and treated at a soil remediation facility. A bioremediaton system was installed along the foundation in order to treat the remaining in situ contamination. Updated 1-30-09 by Alyce Hughey.

Action Information

Action Date Action Description DEC Staff
9/21/1992 Update or Other Action NOR; Notice of Release letter sent. Former Staff
9/22/1992 Leaking Underground Storage Tank Release Confirmed - Petroleum LUST Site created in CSP for source area ID 77708 ADD; Former Staff
9/22/1992 Site Added to Database Former Staff
9/23/1992 Leaking Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Initiated - Petroleum LCAU; :LCAU Date changed DB conversion Former Staff
11/2/1992 Leaking Underground Storage Tank Corrective Action Underway CAPR; Randy Bayliss submitted a plan for stockpiling soil off-site in accordance with the long term soil storage guidelines. Approval was granted on the condition that the guidance be followed, a detailed soil treatment plan be submitted by 2/15/93, treatment of the soil be initiated by not later than June 15, 93, and the owner of the proposed storage site grant approval for the storage. Former Staff
11/6/1992 Underground Storage Tank Site Characterization or Assessment SA1R; Randy Bayliss conducted a Prliminary Site Assessment which entailed collection of three soil samples from a test pit adjacent to the USTs. Soil contamination was confirmed. The assessment did not meet the requirements of 18 AAC 78. Report states a corrective action plan will be submitted by Feb. 15, 1993. Former Staff
12/30/1992 Update or Other Action CORR; Review letter sent to Armstrongs noting deficiencies in the report and requesting submittal of a CAP by Feb. 15, 1993. Former Staff
10/29/1993 Update or Other Action CAPR; Conditional approval letter sent for stockpiling and remediating 720 cubic yards of soil. Former Staff
12/8/1993 Update or Other Action CAPR; Former Staff
12/1/1994 Update or Other Action Action transferred from CS DB, action by Dronenburg. (Old R:Base Action Code = RAPR - Remedial Action Plan Review (CS)). Remediate in Spring l995. These are soils contaminated when fuels from an UST were transferred to above ground tank and leaked into the ground. Alyce Hughey
4/5/1995 Update or Other Action UPD; Changed COM action code to COMR action code after reviewing COM action status field. Former Staff
10/16/1995 Update or Other Action Action transferred from CS DB, action by Wright. Site status inactive because it's gone to long-term GW monitoring. Alyce Hughey
1/30/1996 Update or Other Action Action transferred from CS DB, action by Wright. This site will be receiving ID upon closure because contaminated soils still remains in ground beneath foundation. They were not removed because of jeopardy to foundation integrity. Alyce Hughey
6/5/1997 Update or Other Action Action transferred from CS DB, action by Jim Frechione. DEC is contacted by a consultant (Roger Stam of UC-40) that indicates they wish to treat the soil at the Armstrong hangar site. DEC requested a work plan on the proposal. Alyce Hughey
6/23/1997 Update or Other Action Action transferred from CS DB, action by Jim Frechione. DEC is contacted by Mike Lester (EPMI) and indicated they would be doing the cleanup work. However, there was no followup action. Alyce Hughey
11/20/1997 Update or Other Action ADEC sends Notification of Intent to Cost Recover Letter to Current Owner: ARMSTRONG AIR SERVICE INC. Former Staff
12/5/1997 Update or Other Action Letter dated 12/5/97 sent from Marshall Coryell. Says all action to clean and remediate the subject property has been taken. Need to follow up with him.; Marshall Coryell; 907-277-7679 Former Staff
3/4/1998 Update or Other Action Ltr requested Corrective Action Work Plan. Due April 24, 1998. Former Staff
10/27/2000 Update or Other Action Sent 2nd Ltr requesting Corrective Action Plan Due Dec. 4, 2000. Former Staff
4/25/2001 Update or Other Action File Review. Draft letter stating No NFA until CAP done. Mike Mooney
5/8/2001 Update or Other Action Sent ltr req. R.I. & Cleanup. Told them no NFA until cleaned up. Mike Mooney
12/27/2001 Update or Other Action Site transferred Bush to Sundet Lynne Bush
3/7/2005 Update or Other Action Reviewed and organized file Donald Seagren
3/31/2005 Update or Other Action Sent letter to the Armstrongs requesting the CAP and completion report required in 2001 for assessment and cleanup of the former UST location adjacent to hangar. If not done, submit plan so work can be completed in 2005. Donald Seagren
3/8/2007 Exposure Tracking Model Ranking Former Staff
1/30/2008 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other Received and reviewed the Area-Wide Groundwater Assessment ADOT&PF Dillingham Airport, dated June 2006, from Shannon & Wilson, Inc. During the area-wide groundwater assessment conducted at the ADOT&PF Dillingham Airport between May 23 and May 26, 2006, eleven soil borings were advanced and developed into eleven monitoring wells. The soil samples taken detected benzene at 0.0203 mg/kg from 0 to 5 feet below ground surface within the boring taken east of the Starflite, Inc. building. The groundwater samples taken detected DRO at 4.23 mg/L in the monitoring well located east of the Alaska Airline and PenAir building (former Armstrong Air), and GRO at 1.33 mg/L and Benzene at 0.189 mg/L in the monitoring well located west of the Lynden Air (Former Yute Air) building. Five drinking water wells were sampled, with Di(2-Ethylhexyl)phthalate at 4.4, ug/L, which is less than the drinking water standards and Di-n-Butylphthalate at 1.7 ug/L, for no drinking water standard has been established. This report is filed in the Soldotna office site file Armstrong Air, ADEC file number 2540.26.001. Alyce Hughey
6/13/2008 Update or Other Action Site transferred from Don Seagren to Paul Horwath per Linda Nuechterlein. Alyce Hughey
1/30/2009 Update or Other Action Alyce Hughey updated the Problem Statement in this data base. Paul Horwath
3/15/2011 Update or Other Action Reviewed file with Alyce Hughey to determine site status. No work has been performed at this site since prior to 2005. In 2006, State lead work was performed at the Dillingham airport to study area-wide groundwater quality conditions. MW3 was install near the former Armstrong Air hanger detected DRO above GW cleanup levels. The spill at this site was AvGas. The DRO contamination could therefore be from some other source. It is estimated that only a limited quantity of contaminated soil GRO - AvGas) remained under the Armstrong Air hanger in 1993, following the excavation and removal of ~700 cubic yards of impacted soils from this site. This site may qualify for a closure decision, with the note that some residual soil contamination remains under the hanger building. Some additional file review to determine the location and quality of groundwater use for drinking water is required. There are water wells on this site and adjacent sites and their depth of completion will need to be determined. Paul Horwath
3/16/2011 Cleanup Complete Determination Issued ADEC staff Alyce Hughey and Paul Horwath performed a comprehensive review of ADEC's administrative file for this site. Based on an evaluation of the file information, a decision was reached by Paul Horwath to close this site, without ICs. The only residual contamination remaining at the site 18 years ago was soil contamination adjacent to the hanger building that could not be excavated with the rest of the impacted soil that was excavated and removed from the site. This remaining impacted soil was too close to, or beneath, the hanger building. The soil concentrations remaining in 1993 did not exceed current ADEC direct health cleanup levels. The ~650 cubic yards of contaminated soil that was excavated was properly treated offsite. There was residual AvGas contaminated soil immediately adjacent to the SE side of the hanger building in 1993, as documented by Randy Bayliss/consultant. Those soils are not considered to constitute any current day risk to any human exposure pathway. No formal Corrective Action Complete decisioin letter was drafted in association with this Cleanup Complete Determination. The UST owners/operators at the time of the release have not held the lease on this Airport Lot for more than 8 years. The husband has passed away and the lease has passed on to new lessees. This data base action and these comments will act to inform future parties of the current site status, and the basis for this Cleanup Complete Determination. Additional soil & GW data was available in the near vicinity of this site from an ADEC funded area-wide groundwater quality investigation at the Dillingham Airport in 2006. See ADEC action entry dated 1/30/08, by Alyce Hughey. Five drinking water wells were located and sampled. Petroleum contamination was not detected in any of the drinking water wells. Eleven GW monitoring wells were installed and sampled. Only one of these MWs resulted in the detection of GW exceeding ADEC GW cleanup levels. This MW was located several hundred feet from this Armstrong Air site. This soil and GW data was also reviewed and considered prior to reaching this Cleanup Complete Determination for this site [the former Armstrong Air UST system release(s)]. Paul Horwath
3/16/2011 Institutional Control Record Removed Institutional Controls have been removed. Paul Horwath
3/16/2011 Exposure Tracking Model Ranking A new updated ranking with ETM has been completed for source area 77708 USt removals. Paul Horwath
3/17/2011 Institutional Control Record Removed Institutional Controls have been removed. Paul Horwath
3/17/2011 Institutional Control Record Established Institutional Controls established and entered into the database. Paul Horwath
4/1/2011 Institutional Control Record Removed Institutional Controls have been removed. Paul Horwath

Contaminant Information

Name Level Description Media Comments
GRO Between Method 2 Migration to Groundwater and Human Health/Ingestion/Inhalation Soil
BTEX Between Method 2 Migration to Groundwater and Human Health/Ingestion/Inhalation Soil

Control Type

Type Details
No ICs Required

Requirements

Description Details
Advance approval required to transport soil or groundwater off-site.

There are no documents for this site report.

No associated sites were found.

Missing Location Data

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