The Department of Environmental Conservation’s Contaminated Sites Program has created a Technical Project Team (TPT) to provide comprehensive and coordinated oversight for the investigation of sulfolane in the groundwater in North Pole. The fundamental goal of this technical team is to ensure the protection of human health and the environment. The team consists of experts in the fields of toxicology, engineering, hydrology, and environmental chemistry, coordinated by a professional facilitator. The TPT consists of seven sub-groups. The goal of each sub-group and its membership are shown on the organizational chart below.

The TPT is just one component in a much larger organization of local, state, and federal government agencies, the responsible parties, and contractors.  The organization chart below shows how all of these entities interrelate and interact to accomplish the shared goal of protecting human health and the environment in the affected area.

Click the image below to view all the agencies, organizations, and stakeholders involved:

See the Documents page for a complete record of past meetings and related documents.

1. Eliminate the current exposure to sulfolane.
2. Pursue aggressive on-site remediation.
3. Establish a monitoring network that adequately measures the success of the remediation at eliminating off-site contaminant migration and removing the contamination on site.
4. Achieve and maintain source control:
   • Determine an inspection process and operational policies that eliminate systemic releases or leaking issues and minimize the potential for new spills.
   • Aggressively respond to and clean up any new spills that do occur.
5. Determine the extent of the contamination downgradient and potential for movement of the plume in order to develop a remedial strategy that will control exposure for the duration of time it takes to achieve final cleanup levels via engineered and/or natural mechanisms.
6. Complete an evaluation of risk that accounts for all exposure pathways and cumulative risk