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Site Report: Skagway Tank Farm

Site Name: Skagway Tank Farm
Address: 1 Mile Klondike Highway, Skagway, AK 99840
File Number: 1526.38.011
Hazard ID: 2541
Status: Cleanup Complete - Institutional Controls
Staff: IC Unit, 9074655229 dec.icunit@alaska.gov
Latitude: 59.471000
Longitude: -135.303300
Horizontal Datum:NAD83

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

World War II tank farm acquired by White Pass includes 22 tanks along the Klondike highway and two near the harbor. In the course of decommissioning assessment work, contamination in soils and groundwater detected for GRO and DRO. Also some lead detected. Hazard evaluation survey submitted in August 1996.

Action Information

Action Date Action Description DEC Staff
10/11/1996 Site Added to Database Tank farm decommissioning underway. Limited site investigation report submitted. Sally Schlichting
10/11/1996 Site Ranked Using the AHRM Score elevated due to proximity to municipal water system and presence of GW contamination. Sally Schlichting
12/20/1996 Site Characterization Workplan Approved Site Characterization Workplan Approved this date. Sally Schlichting
9/8/1997 Update or Other Action (Old R:Base Action Code = SA2A - Phase II SA Approval / Release Investigation). Response and comment letter sent to Golder Associates regarding site assessment activities. Sally Schlichting
12/9/1997 Interim Removal Action Approved Source removal at Tank 3. Sally Schlichting
9/22/1998 Cleanup Plan Approved Revised CAP to refine sampling plan and incorporate other ADEC comments. Sally Schlichting
7/2/1999 Cleanup Level(s) Approved Alternative Cleanup Levels Approved this date. Sally Schlichting
7/2/1999 Cleanup Plan Approved Biocell construction. Sally Schlichting
7/2/1999 Site Characterization Report Approved May 27 report documents work performed to date at Tank 3, provides results of soil confirmatory sampling, GW sampling, and sampling for pesticides and herbicides. Sally Schlichting
11/19/1999 Update or Other Action Letter setting out requirements to remedy unapproved stockpile of material without liner. Sally Schlichting
9/19/2000 Update or Other Action Site visit with Sally Schlichting occurred this date. Anne Marie Palmieri
9/28/2000 Update or Other Action Letter sent to Fred McCorriston allowing the biocell to remain uncovered over the winter with the appropriate treatment of leachate. Anne Marie Palmieri
1/28/2002 Update or Other Action Final report reviewed and a comment letter sent this date. Anne Marie Palmieri
7/2/2002 Update or Other Action Letter to Fred McCorriston sent this date allowing the removal of the first lift of soil from the biocell. Anne Marie Palmieri
7/2/2002 Update or Other Action First 18" soil layer was removed from the biocell and placed back on the top of the excavation hole. Anne Marie Palmieri
7/8/2002 Institutional Control Record Established Bill Janes
7/8/2002 Long Term Monitoring Established Groundwater monitoring must continue. LTM of the biocell must continue. Anne Marie Palmieri
7/8/2002 Conditional Closure Approved Conditional closure letter sent this date. Anne Marie Palmieri
2/5/2004 Update or Other Action Staff requested 2002 and 2003 groundwater monitoring well results. Anne Marie Palmieri
2/23/2004 Update or Other Action Staff reduced groundwater long-term monitiong well requirements based upon the 2002 and 2003 results. Anne Marie Palmieri
7/20/2004 Update or Other Action Cost recovery check received - $200.76 Bill Janes
10/28/2004 Update or Other Action Sent comments to Golder Associates regarding proposal to remove 18" lift from the biocell. Bill Janes
10/28/2004 Update or Other Action Approved Golder's plan to remove 12,000 cubic yards from the top 18 inches and place in area adjacent to the biocell. Need to discuss possiblie modifications to treatment approach and analytical requirements with Golder. Bill Janes
1/13/2006 Update or Other Action Email to Golder Associates asking for a project status report. No gw monitoring results have been received since 2004 (2003 data). Bill Janes
1/23/2006 Update or Other Action 2004 gw monitoring data received. June 2004 sampling showed 3.47 mg/L DRO in MW-28 and 1.83 mg/L in MW-29. No sampling was conducted in 2005 due to an oversight. Sampling scheduled again for end of summer 2006. Bill Janes
1/24/2006 Update or Other Action Biocell tilling to continue beginning May 2006 per email from Gary Hamilton at Golder Associates. Bill Janes
9/5/2006 Update or Other Action Site visit. Tilling at the biocell has been occurring five days per week all summer. Bill Janes
10/8/2006 Update or Other Action Eleven acre area divided into 36 grids and sampled this date using a biased-high approach. Bill Janes
3/12/2007 Update or Other Action Request to remove treated soil from biocell and placed in adjacent area received this date. Approx. 29,000 cy may be ready to remove (33 cells x 887 cy per cell). Bill Janes
3/16/2007 Update or Other Action Email sent to Golder Associates this date asking for clarification on which cells need to undergo addtitional treatment. Bill Janes
4/10/2007 Update or Other Action Clarification received from Golder. Soils from three of the cells located on the wet north end will be spread and treated with the remaining two feet of material across the entire biocell. Soils from the remaining 33 cells will be removed and placed in an adjacent area. DRO levels in a number of the 33 cells are above cleanup levels. However, the mean of the biased-high sample set for all 33 cells not proposed for additional treatment is less than 200 mg/kg. Bill Janes
5/2/2007 Update or Other Action Approval granted to remove remediated soil from 33 cells and place in an area adjacent to the 11 acre treatment area. Bill Janes
5/15/2007 Update or Other Action Skagway Commercial Company new land owner per email from company rep. Pat Salvucci. Soil will be excavated from biocell the first week of June per the approved Golder plan. Bill Janes
10/26/2007 Cleanup Plan Approved Email approval to excavate 400-800 cubic yards of petroleum contaminated soil from the former "man camp" and transport to the nearby biotreatment facility across the Klondke Highway. Skagway Commercial Company proposes to remove the remaining structures to access the contamination. Cleanup will be consistent with procedures used during the original cleanup, described in detail in the May 1999 Skagway Upper Tank Farm Status Report and Plan for Corrective Action. Bill Janes
2/12/2008 Update or Other Action Report received for the November 2007 removal of hydrocarbon contaminated soil from Skagway Upper Tank Farm, Tank 2 near Man Camp. 1,685 cubic yards of contaminated soil was removed and placed in an existing central bioremediation cell area and stockpiled on a liner to hold for processing in the spring of 2008. All confirmation samples from the excavation walls were non-detect for GRO, DRO and BTEX. Evonne Reese
3/3/2008 Update or Other Action Emailed Gary Hamilton of Golder Associates to find out the status of the groundwater monitoring (GWM) that was supposed to be done in summer 2006 since we have never received a report. He responded stating that GWM was done in 2006 and 2007 and that they did not prepare a report since the concentrations in the groundwater continue to exceed cleanup levels. He is going to send us a copy of the results for the file. Evonne Reese
4/1/2008 Update or Other Action GW monitoring report for July 2006 monitoring event received per recent request. DRO in MW-28 is at about the same concentration as it has been since 2001. The July 2006 concentration was 5.48 mg/L. Email sent to Golder asking if they could explain why it has continued steady state for the past seven years. Bill Janes
4/2/2008 Update or Other Action Email response from Golder: prior to site remediation the soil and groundwater was more heavily contaminated in this area (MW00-28), compared with other areas of the site, due to historical pump station activates. The remedial excavation work and confirmatory soil sampling was carried out in the same manner at this location as elsewhere. Therefore, there is no reason to suspect that is the contamination was missed. I recommend that we monitor the groundwater for a few more years to see if the DRO concentrations start to decline. If they do not I suggest that we look at in situ techniques to reduce DRO concentrations as this area has been re-developed and excavation may no longer be practical. Bill Janes
9/10/2008 Meeting or Teleconference Held Meeting via teleconference with Ed Hanousek (White Pass) and Gary Hamilton (Golder Associates) regarding the status of this site. Continued tilling of the land farm has been happening this summer and will continue through the end of the season. Five locations in the biocell were sampled in June 2008. Two of the samples were below cleanup levels and three were above. All groundwater wells have met drinking water standards except for the well on Jewel Gardens property. This well will be sampled again towards the end of this month. Evonne Reese
9/26/2008 Site Visit Site visit conducted along with other White Pass sites. There should be one more 18” lift that will come off the landfarm biocell area in spring 2009. After that there will be a small amount of soil remaining that will need to attenuate and then the biocell can be closed out. Tilling has occurred regularly during this past summer. Also visited Jewell Gardens which is part of the original tank farm and has (had) the only monitoring well (MW-28) that is still showing contamination above cleanup levels. We were unable to find MW-28 and suspect that it may have inadvertently been taken out or destroyed during the construction of the gardens. The reinstallation of this well needs to be determined. Evonne Reese
9/21/2011 Update or Other Action Contacted Gary Hamilton (Golder Associates) regarding status of land farming. He said that the samples taken last fall were still above the cleanup level so the next 18" of soil were not removed as planned. Tilling has continued and soil will be sampled again during this fall season and an update or report will follow from Gary. DEC staff will investigate whether groundwater monitoring well #28 needs to be reinstalled and let Gary know by October 2011. The well may not need to be reinstalled because this site can meet the 2009 closure policy since the groundwater is not used as a drinking water source in this area. Evonne Reese
10/15/2011 Update or Other Action Discussed the issue of MW-28 being destroyed with Bill Janes and it was agreed that we would not require reinstallation at this time. Evonne Reese
12/10/2011 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other Reviewed a request to remove 3,600 cubic yards of soil from the bio-remediation cell on this site. The soil has been tilled and aerated during various times of the summer season in order to encourage remediation. The last lift of soil removed was in 2007. Soil sampling and analysis for DRO, GRO, and BTEX was performed in October 2011. Approval was granted to remove the 3,600 cubic yards from the cell and deposit onsite in a low lying area adjacent to the bio-remediation cell. There will be an estimated 8,400 cubic yards of soil remaining in the bio-remediation cell. Evonne Reese
10/10/2012 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other Multi Incremental sampling plan reviewed and commented on. Aiming for sampling the last week in October. Evonne Reese
1/2/2013 Institutional Control Update Unable to complete MI sampling during the fall due to early snow in Skagway. Sampling is tentatively planned for the first week in May 2013. Evonne Reese
9/25/2013 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other Received the final report on the biocell sampling performed in May 2013. The report will be reviewed and the action to take on this site will be discussed with staff members/management that have been involved with the site since the early days of management. Evonne Reese
10/10/2013 Exposure Tracking Model Ranking Initial ranking with ETM completed for source area id: 79517 name: Biocell - Skagway Tank Farm Evonne Reese
10/24/2013 Institutional Control Update The recent soil sampling report has been reviewed and is determined that future treatment (fertilizer addition and tilling) can be discontinued within the biocell area. This sampling event included contaminants of concern DRO, GRO, and BTEX. There are two areas of the biocell that had samples slightly above the migration to groundwater cleanup levels for DRO, but the concentrations should continue to degrade without active treatment. All other sample concentrations were either non-detect or below the migration to groundwater cleanup level. All other institutional controls on this site still apply. Groundwater restrictions will remain in the area of monitoring well #28 and further groundwater sampling in that area will be required if the landowner requests that the ICs be removed in the future. Evonne Reese
12/16/2013 Institutional Control Compliance Review IC compliance review conducted. Evonne Reese
4/30/2014 Institutional Control Compliance Review A letter was issued regarding the discontinuation of biocell tilling and monitoring on this date. The letter is uploaded to the database documents. Evonne Reese
9/22/2015 Institutional Control Compliance Review The Affiliate’s information has been updated with the current property owner’s information. The Man Camp area located north of Jewell Gardens is currently populated by a tourist excursion company’s seasonal workers. There is a deep drinking water well on the property. All historic contaminated soil on the Man Camp property was removed in 2007 and placed in the biocell for remediation. Groundwater monitoring wells on the Man Camp were decommissioned in the early 2000’s since consistent sample results showed either non-detect for contaminants or concentrations below cleanup levels. Evonne Reese
8/26/2016 Institutional Control Compliance Review IC compliance review conducted. Contacted City of Skagway to find information on current landowners. Nathan Maxwell
8/31/2016 Institutional Control Update Sent reminder letters to 10 landowners whose properties do not fall within boundaries of current institutional controls. Only standard conditions apply to these properties. Nathan Maxwell
10/7/2016 Institutional Control Update Contact has been made via informational letter with all of the current property owners in regards to the history of this property. The reminder system has been set to do a periodic review of the ICs and the land's current use in four years time. Evonne Reese
3/14/2019 Update or Other Action Contacted by the City of Skagway who has purchased this property. They have plans of building a composting facility on the old biocell farm area. I let them know that since no soil will be removed from the property we did not have an issue with the project. The engineer will keep me apprised as they progress on the project. Evonne Reese
7/11/2019 Institutional Control Update I spoke the Skagway Development Corporation regarding the use of 5 acres of the biocell area for a RV park which will be used primarily seasonally. (The city is still planning on using 10 acres for a composting facility.) City water/sewer lines will be installed to supply this location and other future needs. The RV park construction will not happen until the water/sewer lines are installed. The timeline for this is about 2 years from now. I explained that DEC is agreeable to this use as long as city water is provided to the RV park and that DEC needs to be informed if soil is removed from the site to make sure that it is not placed in a sensitive area. The final sampling of the biocell soils was completed in 2014 and all samples showed contaminant concentrations below the soil cleanup levels. Evonne Reese

Contaminant Information

Name Level Description Media Comments
DRO Between Method 2 Migration to Groundwater and Human Health/Ingestion/Inhalation Soil
DRO > Table C Groundwater Contaminant levels are above cleanup levels in one area only, near Jewell Gardens.

Control Type

Type Details
CS Database Notation And Letter To Landowner/RP

Requirements

Description Details
Advance approval required to transport soil or groundwater off-site. Standard condition.
Groundwater Monitoring If the ICs are to be removed on this property, groundwater sampling will be required in the area of former monitoring well #28 which is believed to have been destroyed during construction activities near Jewell Gardens. This was the only well that was still showing DRO concentrations above the cleanup level of 1.5 mg/l.
Periodic Review Every four years.
Movement or use of contaminated material (including on site) in a manner that results in a violation of the water quality standards is prohibited (18 AAC 70) Standard condition.
Groundwater Use Restrictions No groundwater wells shall be installed onsite without prior review and approval of ADEC.

No associated sites were found.

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State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

P.O. Box 111800
Juneau, AK 99811-1800
Phone: 907-465-5066
Fax: 907-465-5245
TDD: 800-770-8973
Physical Location: 410 Willoughby