Site Report: Skagway Wharf Tanks Area

Site Name:	Skagway Wharf Tanks Area
Address:	Skagway Boat Harbor, Skagway, AK 99840
File Number:	1526.38.009
Hazard ID:	2694
Status:	Active
Staff:	Stacee Henderson, 9072628202 stacee.henderson@alaska.gov
Latitude:	59.448560
Longitude:	-135.319052
Horizontal Datum:	WGS84

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.

Site Chronology
IC / Closure Details
Documents
Associated Sites

Problems/Comments

Directly upland from the Skagway Small Boat Harbor is the Wharf Tanks Area located in Klondike National Park. White Pass and Yukon Route Inc. (White Pass) has owned this property since about 1898. Eleven aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) were built in 1942 for use by the U.S. Army to store petroleum hydrocarbon products. In 1962 the bulk fuel AST facility was sold to Pacific and Arctic Pipelines Inc. who operated the facility until dismantling began in 1995 and the last of the ASTs were removed in 1996. As a result of historical activities on the site, there is an extensive residual light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) zone due to the coarse soils and tidally induced water table fluctuations. Over a large area of the site there is a thick zone of residual LNAPL that is smeared across the interval of soil corresponding to the water table fluctuations. The DEC Spill Response records state that in the mid-1970s a large rock-fall punctured a recently added AST releasing 0.5 million gallons of gasoline. At DEC request in 1999, White Pass arranged for Golder Associates to investigate soil and groundwater contamination. Golder installed monitoring wells, and sampling results from November 2000 and June 2002 indicated that the diesel range hydrocarbons (DRO) are more prevalent than gasoline range hydrocarbons (GRO) and carcinogenic indicator volatile hydrocarbon compounds such as benzene. The November 2000 average levels of GRO, DRO and benzene in groundwater were above the current 18 AAC 75.345 Table C cleanup levels by a factor of five, twenty-six, and thirteen respectively. The June 2002 average levels of GRO, DRO and benzene in groundwater exceeded the 18 AAC 75.345 Table C cleanup levels by a factor of two, four, and four respectively. In 2004, the upland road and surface area was expanded toward the boat harbor where a sheet pile retaining wall was installed. Golder has installed a system of subsurface wells over the length of the former AST area and a network of subsurface piping to pump air into and pull fuel vapors back out of the hydrocarbon smear zone. When fuel appears in groundwater wells it is recovered by pumping until the well is cleared. Active recovery of fuel and vapors from the subsurface continues on a seasonal basis and sample monitoring of groundwater contamination takes place on a less frequent schedule.

Action Information

Action Date	Action	Description	DEC Staff
11/26/1999	Site Added to Database	Petroleum, gasoline and diesel.	Sally Schlichting
11/29/1999	Site Ranked Using the AHRM	Initial ranking.	Sally Schlichting
12/1/1999	Update or Other Action	Site characterization work requested to be performed after area was identified during Skagway upper tank farm assessment.	Sally Schlichting
5/7/2001	Site Characterization Report Approved	Report approved this date.	Anne Marie Palmieri
5/7/2001	Cleanup Level(s) Approved	Method 2 soil cleanup levels are approved.	Anne Marie Palmieri
5/7/2001	Cleanup Plan Approved	Air sparging system will be installed. Additional characterization samples at the face of the bluff requested.	Anne Marie Palmieri
11/21/2002	Update or Other Action	Michael Katzie of the Skagway Traditional Council wants to be kept up to date with this cleanup.	Anne Marie Palmieri
3/21/2003	Site Characterization Report Approved	Supplemental Investigation report reviewed and approved.	Anne Marie Palmieri
5/27/2003	Meeting or Teleconference Held	Meeting held with White Pass and Golder in Skagway.	Anne Marie Palmieri
5/27/2003	Update or Other Action	A point of compliance for meeting AWQS was placed on the beach and the remedial action objective (RAO) for benzene during the air sparging was put off until Golder does additional monitoring.	Anne Marie Palmieri
2/5/2004	Update or Other Action	Air sparging system was not installed last summer. Golder hopes for spring start-up.	Anne Marie Palmieri
2/10/2004	Update or Other Action	City wants to replace timber seawall and add an additional 50 feet to the roadbed on the harbor side. Sampling of proposed dredging area to occur in 2/04.	Anne Marie Palmieri
6/4/2004	Update or Other Action	Project manager transition site visit.	Bill Janes
6/4/2004	GIS Position Updated	GPS reading obtained	Bill Janes
7/20/2004	Update or Other Action	CR check received - $258.12. Check previously received for $1,490.79	Bill Janes
10/27/2004	Update or Other Action	CR check received - $75	Bill Janes
9/5/2006	Update or Other Action	Site visit. City upgrades to seawall and road nearly completed. Inspected SVE/Air Sparge system. System switched automatically depending on tidal level. Sparging occurs during high tide and vapor extraction during lower tidal levels. System is turned off during the winter months as there is no one to maintain it. About 700 gallons recovered to date.	Bill Janes
2/26/2008	Exposure Tracking Model Ranking	Initial ranking with ETM completed.	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. The air sparging/soil vapor extraction unit has been running all summer and will continue to until the end of the season. One well is showing product and is being bailed. No other wells are showing non-aqueous phase liquids. Approximately 1,000 gallons has been recovered to date from this site. Groundwater modeling has been done. Not seeing much mass fluxing into the harbor.	Evonne Reese
9/26/2008	Site Visit	Site visit conducted along with other White Pass sites. The air sparging/vapor extraction system will continue to run until mid October when it will be shut down for the winter.	Evonne Reese
7/20/2010	Update or Other Action	Project management transfered to Bruce Wanstall; dissolved hydrocarbon concentrations in groundwater were generally lower in 2005 than the two previous sampling summary reports. Air sparging and soil vapor extraction system operation are geared to reduce the petroleum contaminant mass. LNAPL recovery is done by hand during summer months.	Bruce Wanstall
9/8/2011	Exposure Tracking Model Ranking	A new updated ranking with ETM has been completed for source area 73670 Former Bulk Fuel ASTs.	Bruce Wanstall
5/3/2012	Site Characterization Report Approved	DEC has reviewed and approved the Golder 2011 EMP Report. The DEC approval letter was sent today by regular mail to White Pass & Yukon Route representative Ed Hanousek. The DEC has requested action by White Pass at this Site in 2012. Most are recommended by Golder in the Report but a few of the requests go beyond that. DEC requests access wells be installed for continuous recovery of free product on groundwater and the addition of water wells up-gradient and down-gradient of the contaminant plume.	Bruce Wanstall
9/6/2012	Site Visit	DEC traveled from Juneau to Skagway and attended a meeting with representatives of White Pass and Yukon Route and consultant Golder & Associates. A site visit was performed by the attendees and plans were made for DEC and Golder to return to the site for scheduled sampling site activity in fall 2012.	Bruce Wanstall
11/16/2012	Site Visit	DEC traveled to Skagway to observe free product recovery from groundwater wells during the lowest slack tide in November, 2012, by consultant Golder Associates for RP White Pass and Yukon Route. Approximately 1/2 gallon of free phase oil was recovered in the first bailing on the evening of the 15th from well MW00-37; a second bailing on the evening of the 16th will be conducted to derive an estimated recharge rate. The oil appeared to be weathered #2 diesel which is consistent with groundwater sampling chemical analysis.	Bruce Wanstall
4/15/2013	Meeting or Teleconference Held	DEC held a teleconference meeting with Golder to discuss the approval letter requests for future site activity at the Skagway Wharf Tank site. Golder agreed to replace MW00-044 with a free product recovery well and DEC agreed to not require water well installation behind the sheet pile bulkhead on the foreshore of the Small Boat Harbor. Golder anticipated that site activity in 2013 will begin in late May and will carry over into June.	Bruce Wanstall
8/12/2013	Meeting or Teleconference Held	DEC traveled to Skagway to attend meetings with representatives of White Pass and Yukon Route to assist with the planning and coordination of site activity by consultant Golder Associates at the site. DEC requested White Pass submit a report for the well sampling performed at the site in 2013.	Bruce Wanstall
10/24/2013	Update or Other Action	DEC requested by electronic mail that Golder submit a reporting schedule for 2013 site activity at the Wharf Tanks Site. In a meeting in fall 2012 DEC discussed with Golder and White Pass the problems inherent with long periods of no updates or reports from environmental consultants performing work on active contaminated sites. DEC and Golder discussed the specific work plan expectations for the Wharf Tanks site in April 2013. The same work plan expectations were discussed with the new supervising manager for White Pass (John Finlayson) in August 2013. Shortly after today's email was circulated Mr. Finlayson contacted DEC to state that going forward he and Ed (Hanousek) would improve the flow of information to the department regarding site activity.	Bruce Wanstall
10/28/2013	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	In fall 2013, Golder submitted a letter Work Plan summarizing collaboration with DEC to plan a schedule for future site activity appropriate to the status of the cleanup process at the Site. DEC approved the proposal for Golder to perform annual groundwater monitoring in fall, 2013, then after collecting a sample from well MW-0044 in 2014, replace the well with a 6-8-inch product recovery well that will span depths of high and low tide groundwater levels. Golder planned to complete the new well with a flush mount road-box to accommodate seasonal high road traffic near the Small Boat Harbor and the eastern-shore cruise ship dock.	Bruce Wanstall
4/2/2014	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	In spring 2014 DEC verbally agreed to modifications to the approved 2013 Golder Work Plan and inquired on progress compiling monitoring data into an environmental monitoring report. Golder stated that a report is in progress and efforts continue to schedule well drilling at Skagway sites in 2014 to replace monitoring well MW00-44 with a recovery well.	Bruce Wanstall
6/11/2014	Site Visit	DEC met with White Pass President John Finlayson, Superintendent of Rail Operations Mark L. Taylor, Director of Safety & Labor Relations Tyler Rose, and Golder Associates Senior Hydrologist Tamra Reynolds and Golder Principal Gary J. Hamilton at White Pass offices in Skagway. DEC agreed that correspondence, site work and reporting by Golder for this Site is acceptable. New well installation is planned in May, 2015.	Bruce Wanstall
8/29/2014	Update or Other Action	Golder installed the product recovery well in May, 2014, and plans to sample all wells in September 2014. Although Golder has compiled an environmental sampling report summarizing groundwater monitoring data since the report titled: 2006 to 2009 Environmental Monitoring Program Former Wharf Tank Site (Golder 2011), DEC agreed to postpone completion to allow addition of the 2014 data into a Summary Report in 2015.	Bruce Wanstall
9/24/2015	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	DEC letter to White Pass & Yukon Route Railway provides approval for: 2011 to 2014, Environmental Monitoring Program, ADEC File# 1526.38.009 Report (Report), dated April 24, 2015. Golder and Associates Inc. completed the Report documenting results of environmental sampling and product recovery at the Skagway Wharf Tanks Area Site between October 2011 and September 2014. DEC agreed with conclusions in the Report and recommendations to employ a passive product skimmer in the new product recovery wells with monitoring and measurements by White Pass staff and continuing with annual groundwater sample monitoring. DEC requested Golder submit a scheduled plan for the continuous monitoring of the recovery wells by White Pass staff. The next groundwater sample monitoring is scheduled for fall 2015.	Bruce Wanstall
8/15/2016	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	DEC reviewed and approved the 2015 Wharf Tanks Environmental Monitoring Report completed by Golder and Associates for the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway. Golder conducted annual groundwater sampling at the Wharf Tanks Site on October 8, 2015 at monitor wells MW00-37, MW00-38, MW00-39, MW00-40, WW0041, MW00-42, MW00-44, MW00-45, and MW14-02. Groundwater samples were not collected from well MW00-46 as this well was blocked at approximately four feet below grade and from MW00-43 as this well was not accessible due to a locking road box that could not be opened. In regard to wells MW00-40 and MW00-44, which have historically had measureable LNAPL, Golder collected samples immediately after the removal of a product skimmer.	Bruce Wanstall
10/10/2017	Update or Other Action	Staff assigned changed from Bruce Wanstall to Kara Kusche.	Kathryne Roldan
5/10/2019	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	ADEC reviews and provides comment of the report titled "Results of the 2016 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route, Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated September 22, 2017. Benzene, GRO, DRO, and RRO remain above ADEC cleanup levels in at least one well each. Contaminant concentrations are a mix of decreasing and stable.	Kara Kusche
5/28/2019	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	ADEC has reviewed the report titled "Results of the 2017 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated December 11, 2018. Benzene, ethylbenzene, xylene, GRO, DRO, and RRO remain above ADEC cleanup levels in at least one well each. Contaminant concentrations are a mix of decreasing and stable.	Kara Kusche
7/9/2019	Site Characterization Report Approved	ADEC approves the report titled "Results of the 2016 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route, Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 5, 2019.	Kara Kusche
7/10/2019	Site Characterization Report Approved	ADEC approves the report titled "Results of the 2017 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route, Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 9, 2019.	Kara Kusche
7/23/2019	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	ADEC provides comment on the report titled "Results of the 2018 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 11, 2019. Overall, groundwater concentrations are decreasing since monitoring began, but DRO and RRO in some wells appear to be more recently increasing. Benzene, ethylbenzene, xylene, GRO, DRO, and RRO remain above cleanup levels in one or more wells each.	Kara Kusche
7/17/2020	Site Characterization Report Approved	ADEC approves the 2018 groundwater monitoring report.	Jessica Hall
7/22/2020	Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other	ADEC provides comment on the 2019 groundwater monitoring report.	Jessica Hall
9/9/2020	Site Characterization Report Approved	ADEC approves the report titled "Results of the 2019 Groundwater Monitoring Program" dated July 06, 2020. ADEC concurs with the recommendations presented and the next groundwater monitoring event to be performed in fall 2020.	Jessica Hall
6/15/2022	Site Characterization Report Approved	DEC has reviewed the report titled "Results of the 2021 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated May 2022. Five of the nine wells proposed were sampled in June 2021. Groundwater was approximately 17.45-24.25 feet bgs with flow direction toward Taiya Bay. Samples were analyzed for BTEX, GRO, and RRO. Two wells MW00-41 and MW14-01 had exceedances of GRO, benzene, and ethylbenzene. Five of the wells had exceedances of DRO and four for RRO. Trends for contaminants are mostly decreasing or stable, however RRO is increasing.	Lisa Krebs-Barsis
9/1/2023	Site Characterization Report Approved	DEC has reviewed the report titled "Results of the 2022 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 2023. Five of the nine wells proposed were sampled in November 2022. Groundwater was approximately 15.9-19.8 feet bgs with flow direction toward Taiya Bay. Samples were analyzed for BTEX, GRO, and RRO. Two wells MW00-45 had an exceedance of benzene for the first time since 2015. Both of those wells also exceeded for ethylbenzene and GRO. MW00-45 had an exceedance of xylene. MW14-01 also had and exceedance of benzene. Five of the wells had exceedances of DRO and three for RRO. Trends for contaminants are mostly decreasing or stable, however RRO is increasing.	Lisa Krebs-Barsis
7/22/2024	Site Characterization Report Approved	Reviewed/approved the "2023 Groundwater Monitoring and Sampling Program" report, dated June 18, 2024. Seven of the nine wells proposed were sampled in July 2023. Groundwater was approximately 17.52-21.96 feet bgs with flow direction toward Taiya Bay. Samples were analyzed for GRO, DRO, RRO, and BTEX. Four of the seven wells sampled exceeded cleanup levels: MW00-37 (DRO); MW00-38 (DRO and RRO); MW00-45 (GRO, DRO, benzene, ethylbenzene, and xylene); MW14-01 (GRO, DRO, RRO, benzene, and ethylbenzene). Product was recovered from MW00-40 at 6.1 ounces, which is an increase from 2022. Product recovery well MW00-44 was not monitored due to inaccessibility. Trends for contaminants are mostly decreasing or stable, however RRO is increasing.	Stacee Henderson

Action Date

Action

Description

DEC Staff

11/26/1999

Site Added to Database

Petroleum, gasoline and diesel.

Sally Schlichting

11/29/1999

Site Ranked Using the AHRM

Initial ranking.

Sally Schlichting

12/1/1999

Update or Other Action

Site characterization work requested to be performed after area was identified during Skagway upper tank farm assessment.

Sally Schlichting

5/7/2001

Site Characterization Report Approved

Report approved this date.

Anne Marie Palmieri

5/7/2001

Cleanup Level(s) Approved

Method 2 soil cleanup levels are approved.

Anne Marie Palmieri

5/7/2001

Cleanup Plan Approved

Air sparging system will be installed. Additional characterization samples at the face of the bluff requested.

Anne Marie Palmieri

11/21/2002

Update or Other Action

Michael Katzie of the Skagway Traditional Council wants to be kept up to date with this cleanup.

Anne Marie Palmieri

3/21/2003

Site Characterization Report Approved

Supplemental Investigation report reviewed and approved.

Anne Marie Palmieri

5/27/2003

Meeting or Teleconference Held

Meeting held with White Pass and Golder in Skagway.

Anne Marie Palmieri

5/27/2003

Update or Other Action

A point of compliance for meeting AWQS was placed on the beach and the remedial action objective (RAO) for benzene during the air sparging was put off until Golder does additional monitoring.

Anne Marie Palmieri

2/5/2004

Update or Other Action

Air sparging system was not installed last summer. Golder hopes for spring start-up.

Anne Marie Palmieri

2/10/2004

Update or Other Action

City wants to replace timber seawall and add an additional 50 feet to the roadbed on the harbor side. Sampling of proposed dredging area to occur in 2/04.

Anne Marie Palmieri

6/4/2004

Update or Other Action

Project manager transition site visit.

Bill Janes

6/4/2004

GIS Position Updated

GPS reading obtained

Bill Janes

7/20/2004

Update or Other Action

CR check received - $258.12. Check previously received for $1,490.79

Bill Janes

10/27/2004

Update or Other Action

CR check received - $75

Bill Janes

9/5/2006

Update or Other Action

Site visit. City upgrades to seawall and road nearly completed. Inspected SVE/Air Sparge system. System switched automatically depending on tidal level. Sparging occurs during high tide and vapor extraction during lower tidal levels. System is turned off during the winter months as there is no one to maintain it. About 700 gallons recovered to date.

Bill Janes

2/26/2008

Exposure Tracking Model Ranking

Initial ranking with ETM completed.

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. The air sparging/soil vapor extraction unit has been running all summer and will continue to until the end of the season. One well is showing product and is being bailed. No other wells are showing non-aqueous phase liquids. Approximately 1,000 gallons has been recovered to date from this site. Groundwater modeling has been done. Not seeing much mass fluxing into the harbor.

Evonne Reese

9/26/2008

Site Visit

Site visit conducted along with other White Pass sites. The air sparging/vapor extraction system will continue to run until mid October when it will be shut down for the winter.

Evonne Reese

7/20/2010

Update or Other Action

Project management transfered to Bruce Wanstall; dissolved hydrocarbon concentrations in groundwater were generally lower in 2005 than the two previous sampling summary reports. Air sparging and soil vapor extraction system operation are geared to reduce the petroleum contaminant mass. LNAPL recovery is done by hand during summer months.

Bruce Wanstall

9/8/2011

Exposure Tracking Model Ranking

A new updated ranking with ETM has been completed for source area 73670 Former Bulk Fuel ASTs.

Bruce Wanstall

5/3/2012

Site Characterization Report Approved

DEC has reviewed and approved the Golder 2011 EMP Report. The DEC approval letter was sent today by regular mail to White Pass & Yukon Route representative Ed Hanousek. The DEC has requested action by White Pass at this Site in 2012. Most are recommended by Golder in the Report but a few of the requests go beyond that. DEC requests access wells be installed for continuous recovery of free product on groundwater and the addition of water wells up-gradient and down-gradient of the contaminant plume.

Bruce Wanstall

9/6/2012

Site Visit

DEC traveled from Juneau to Skagway and attended a meeting with representatives of White Pass and Yukon Route and consultant Golder & Associates. A site visit was performed by the attendees and plans were made for DEC and Golder to return to the site for scheduled sampling site activity in fall 2012.

Bruce Wanstall

11/16/2012

Site Visit

DEC traveled to Skagway to observe free product recovery from groundwater wells during the lowest slack tide in November, 2012, by consultant Golder Associates for RP White Pass and Yukon Route. Approximately 1/2 gallon of free phase oil was recovered in the first bailing on the evening of the 15th from well MW00-37; a second bailing on the evening of the 16th will be conducted to derive an estimated recharge rate. The oil appeared to be weathered #2 diesel which is consistent with groundwater sampling chemical analysis.

Bruce Wanstall

4/15/2013

Meeting or Teleconference Held

DEC held a teleconference meeting with Golder to discuss the approval letter requests for future site activity at the Skagway Wharf Tank site. Golder agreed to replace MW00-044 with a free product recovery well and DEC agreed to not require water well installation behind the sheet pile bulkhead on the foreshore of the Small Boat Harbor. Golder anticipated that site activity in 2013 will begin in late May and will carry over into June.

Bruce Wanstall

8/12/2013

Meeting or Teleconference Held

DEC traveled to Skagway to attend meetings with representatives of White Pass and Yukon Route to assist with the planning and coordination of site activity by consultant Golder Associates at the site. DEC requested White Pass submit a report for the well sampling performed at the site in 2013.

Bruce Wanstall

10/24/2013

Update or Other Action

DEC requested by electronic mail that Golder submit a reporting schedule for 2013 site activity at the Wharf Tanks Site. In a meeting in fall 2012 DEC discussed with Golder and White Pass the problems inherent with long periods of no updates or reports from environmental consultants performing work on active contaminated sites. DEC and Golder discussed the specific work plan expectations for the Wharf Tanks site in April 2013. The same work plan expectations were discussed with the new supervising manager for White Pass (John Finlayson) in August 2013. Shortly after today's email was circulated Mr. Finlayson contacted DEC to state that going forward he and Ed (Hanousek) would improve the flow of information to the department regarding site activity.

Bruce Wanstall

10/28/2013

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

In fall 2013, Golder submitted a letter Work Plan summarizing collaboration with DEC to plan a schedule for future site activity appropriate to the status of the cleanup process at the Site. DEC approved the proposal for Golder to perform annual groundwater monitoring in fall, 2013, then after collecting a sample from well MW-0044 in 2014, replace the well with a 6-8-inch product recovery well that will span depths of high and low tide groundwater levels. Golder planned to complete the new well with a flush mount road-box to accommodate seasonal high road traffic near the Small Boat Harbor and the eastern-shore cruise ship dock.

Bruce Wanstall

4/2/2014

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

In spring 2014 DEC verbally agreed to modifications to the approved 2013 Golder Work Plan and inquired on progress compiling monitoring data into an environmental monitoring report. Golder stated that a report is in progress and efforts continue to schedule well drilling at Skagway sites in 2014 to replace monitoring well MW00-44 with a recovery well.

Bruce Wanstall

6/11/2014

Site Visit

DEC met with White Pass President John Finlayson, Superintendent of Rail Operations Mark L. Taylor, Director of Safety & Labor Relations Tyler Rose, and Golder Associates Senior Hydrologist Tamra Reynolds and Golder Principal Gary J. Hamilton at White Pass offices in Skagway. DEC agreed that correspondence, site work and reporting by Golder for this Site is acceptable. New well installation is planned in May, 2015.

Bruce Wanstall

8/29/2014

Update or Other Action

Golder installed the product recovery well in May, 2014, and plans to sample all wells in September 2014. Although Golder has compiled an environmental sampling report summarizing groundwater monitoring data since the report titled: 2006 to 2009 Environmental Monitoring Program Former Wharf Tank Site (Golder 2011), DEC agreed to postpone completion to allow addition of the 2014 data into a Summary Report in 2015.

Bruce Wanstall

9/24/2015

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

DEC letter to White Pass & Yukon Route Railway provides approval for: 2011 to 2014, Environmental Monitoring Program, ADEC File# 1526.38.009 Report (Report), dated April 24, 2015. Golder and Associates Inc. completed the Report documenting results of environmental sampling and product recovery at the Skagway Wharf Tanks Area Site between October 2011 and September 2014. DEC agreed with conclusions in the Report and recommendations to employ a passive product skimmer in the new product recovery wells with monitoring and measurements by White Pass staff and continuing with annual groundwater sample monitoring. DEC requested Golder submit a scheduled plan for the continuous monitoring of the recovery wells by White Pass staff. The next groundwater sample monitoring is scheduled for fall 2015.

Bruce Wanstall

8/15/2016

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

DEC reviewed and approved the 2015 Wharf Tanks Environmental Monitoring Report completed by Golder and Associates for the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway. Golder conducted annual groundwater sampling at the Wharf Tanks Site on October 8, 2015 at monitor wells MW00-37, MW00-38, MW00-39, MW00-40, WW0041, MW00-42, MW00-44, MW00-45, and MW14-02. Groundwater samples were not collected from well MW00-46 as this well was blocked at approximately four feet below grade and from MW00-43 as this well was not accessible due to a locking road box that could not be opened. In regard to wells MW00-40 and MW00-44, which have historically had measureable LNAPL, Golder collected samples immediately after the removal of a product skimmer.

Bruce Wanstall

10/10/2017

Update or Other Action

Staff assigned changed from Bruce Wanstall to Kara Kusche.

Kathryne Roldan

5/10/2019

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

ADEC reviews and provides comment of the report titled "Results of the 2016 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route, Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated September 22, 2017. Benzene, GRO, DRO, and RRO remain above ADEC cleanup levels in at least one well each. Contaminant concentrations are a mix of decreasing and stable.

Kara Kusche

5/28/2019

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

ADEC has reviewed the report titled "Results of the 2017 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated December 11, 2018. Benzene, ethylbenzene, xylene, GRO, DRO, and RRO remain above ADEC cleanup levels in at least one well each. Contaminant concentrations are a mix of decreasing and stable.

Kara Kusche

7/9/2019

Site Characterization Report Approved

ADEC approves the report titled "Results of the 2016 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route, Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 5, 2019.

Kara Kusche

7/10/2019

Site Characterization Report Approved

ADEC approves the report titled "Results of the 2017 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route, Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 9, 2019.

Kara Kusche

7/23/2019

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

ADEC provides comment on the report titled "Results of the 2018 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 11, 2019. Overall, groundwater concentrations are decreasing since monitoring began, but DRO and RRO in some wells appear to be more recently increasing. Benzene, ethylbenzene, xylene, GRO, DRO, and RRO remain above cleanup levels in one or more wells each.

Kara Kusche

7/17/2020

Site Characterization Report Approved

ADEC approves the 2018 groundwater monitoring report.

Jessica Hall

7/22/2020

Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other

ADEC provides comment on the 2019 groundwater monitoring report.

Jessica Hall

9/9/2020

Site Characterization Report Approved

ADEC approves the report titled "Results of the 2019 Groundwater Monitoring Program" dated July 06, 2020. ADEC concurs with the recommendations presented and the next groundwater monitoring event to be performed in fall 2020.

Jessica Hall

6/15/2022

Site Characterization Report Approved

DEC has reviewed the report titled "Results of the 2021 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated May 2022. Five of the nine wells proposed were sampled in June 2021. Groundwater was approximately 17.45-24.25 feet bgs with flow direction toward Taiya Bay. Samples were analyzed for BTEX, GRO, and RRO. Two wells MW00-41 and MW14-01 had exceedances of GRO, benzene, and ethylbenzene. Five of the wells had exceedances of DRO and four for RRO. Trends for contaminants are mostly decreasing or stable, however RRO is increasing.

Lisa Krebs-Barsis

9/1/2023

Site Characterization Report Approved

DEC has reviewed the report titled "Results of the 2022 Groundwater Monitoring Program, ADEC File Number 1526.38.009, White Pass & Yukon Route Former Wharf Tanks Site, Skagway, Alaska" dated July 2023. Five of the nine wells proposed were sampled in November 2022. Groundwater was approximately 15.9-19.8 feet bgs with flow direction toward Taiya Bay. Samples were analyzed for BTEX, GRO, and RRO. Two wells MW00-45 had an exceedance of benzene for the first time since 2015. Both of those wells also exceeded for ethylbenzene and GRO. MW00-45 had an exceedance of xylene. MW14-01 also had and exceedance of benzene. Five of the wells had exceedances of DRO and three for RRO. Trends for contaminants are mostly decreasing or stable, however RRO is increasing.

Lisa Krebs-Barsis

7/22/2024

Site Characterization Report Approved

Reviewed/approved the "2023 Groundwater Monitoring and Sampling Program" report, dated June 18, 2024. Seven of the nine wells proposed were sampled in July 2023. Groundwater was approximately 17.52-21.96 feet bgs with flow direction toward Taiya Bay. Samples were analyzed for GRO, DRO, RRO, and BTEX. Four of the seven wells sampled exceeded cleanup levels: MW00-37 (DRO); MW00-38 (DRO and RRO); MW00-45 (GRO, DRO, benzene, ethylbenzene, and xylene); MW14-01 (GRO, DRO, RRO, benzene, and ethylbenzene). Product was recovered from MW00-40 at 6.1 ounces, which is an increase from 2022. Product recovery well MW00-44 was not monitored due to inaccessibility. Trends for contaminants are mostly decreasing or stable, however RRO is increasing.

Stacee Henderson

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Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

Site Report: Skagway Wharf Tanks Area

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State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation