Soil Remediation System at Former Naval Station - Astoria, OR

The site is located on the eastern side of Tongue Point, which is a peninsula extending into the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon. The property was previously owned by the US Navy and contained Underground Storage Tanks (UST's). The property is currently owned by the Department of Labor and operated as a Job Corps Center. The former UST site was a grass-covered area, surrounded by trees, shrubs, paved surfaces, and Job Corps housing. The site is bound on the north and northwest by Cathiamet Bay, and on the west and southwest by the Job Corps Center.

The site contained two closed-in-place underground fuel storage tanks, associated pipelines, and three monitoring wells. Historical investigation determined the contaminants of concern to be fuel oils, PAH's and related hydrocarbon contaminants. Soil contamination was limited to the vadose zone and a thin, shallow unutilized aquifer, all contained within the site boundary.

The objective of this remediation project was to remove as much of the impacted soils as possible within the area. The contaminated soils were transported to an offsite thermal desorption facility for treatment and returned to the site as sterile backfill. As a part of the backfill operations, an oxygen release compound was mixed with the backfill materials to facilitate treatment of the remaining contamination outside of the excavation area. This project required extensive dewatering. This water was transported to a nearby treatment facility for disposal. Two existing monitoring wells were also decommissioned, and three new wells were installed to provide continued monitoring of sub-surface conditions.

Project Performance

Despite the intrusive nature of the work, the project was completed with no complaints. In addition, numerous changed conditions were responded to promptly and with a minimum of cost.