Asbestos Removal Project at Sinclair Refinery in New York

Learn about the EPA’s strategy to control the sources of asbestos and other dangerous environmental pollutants which contaminated the Sinclair Refinery in Wellsville, New York.

The EPA selected the following asbestos remedies to address the Sinclair refinery portion of the New York site in a Record of Decision signed in 1991:

(1) the excavation of surface soil "hot spots" which exceed health-based cleanup criteria and their disposal in the Central Elevated Landfill Area; (2) pumping contaminated groundwater and treating it to health-based levels before discharge; and (3) monitoring site media, including the groundwater and surface water, for any possible contaminant migration.

ARCO agreed to implement the soils remedy puruant to an order signed by the EPA in May 1992. The excavation and consolidation of surface soils commenced in 1992 and was completed in 1993. ARCO agreed to apply the groundwater remedy pursuant to an order signed by the EPA in September 1992, using a phased approach.

Phase 1, a mix of groundwater pumping and air sparging and soil vapor extraction for mass contaminant removal for the subsurface, was designed in 1993-1994 and placed in operation in 1995.

The system was implemented through early 2003. Although 150,000 pounds of contaminant mass was removed during Phase 1 operations, EPA determined that a Phase 2 groundwater remedy was needed to address remaining areas of subsurface contamination, notably in the riverbank and riverbed of the Genesee River adjacent to a portion of the site and in the main drainage swale.

Additionally, groundwater beneath the site remains above drinking water standards mandating further treatment and protection of the river. As such, a Phase 2 investigation was completed in early 2004 and a design is currently in development.

Elements of the Phase 2 design include physical barriers to protect site contaminants from entering the river, the removal of contaminant hot spots from the riverbed and drainage swale, and pumping with discharge to a treatment wetland for on-site groundwater.

The initial portion of the Phase 2 design was completed in the spring of 2007. Construction of a groundwater extraction and wetland treatment system began during the summer of 2007. The design of the remainder of the Phase 2 remedy is expected to be completed in 2008.