Allan Appel Photo
A yellow boom, installed in May to contain pollution, has since been lifted ashore.
Months after oil slicks surfaced on the Quinnipiac River, an environmental firm got the OK to find out the source of the pollution.
The oil spills were spotted in May by CSX Transportation, which owns nearby land. CSX responded by putting yellow containing booms (like the one pictured above) into the water.
Arcadis, a Massachusetts-based environmental consulting firm, has been investigating the problem. To find a more permanent solution, Arcadis now intends to bore holes nearby to discover where the oil is coming from.
The firm received permission to do just that at last week’s meeting of the City Plan Commission. Arcadis’s Andy Robinson presented the plan to commissioners, who approved a coastal site plan review to make way for further investigative work.
CSX-owned site along the Quinnipiac at Lyman and Welton Streets.
The area in question is off Lyman and Welton streets within the Cedar Hill Rail Yard in northern New Haven. It’s a site that used to contain a set of railroad roundhouses. The owner, CSX, now leases the site to a trucking company.
Arcadis’s Andy Robinson.
Robinson said that the sheens did not extend much beyond a foot or two from the shoreline. They are most likely from a now-buried industrial or railroad use from decades ago, he said.
Robinson said Arcadis intends to determine the source of the leaks by making 30 20-foot soil borings, 15 to 20 feet from the Quinnipiac shoreline.
Following the borings, five 17-foot deep wells will be left, consisting of one-inch PVC pipe through which groundwater samples will be taken and tests conducted.
All of the proposed boring work will be conducted on a single day, Nov. 14, Robinson said.
CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan said the point of the borings is to design and implement a permanent solution to the pollution. He said when the company first found out about the sheens in May, it notified the Coast Guard and Arcadis, which has been monitoring the site.
So far, no fish appear to be affected by the oil, he said.
Robinson said that his company has been conducting environmental responses in this area for a decade. Commissioner and East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker asked if this situation is new or has occurred in the past as well.
“In 2000 there was a first sheen. We put out booms, and capped the underground pipes,” Robinson responded.
The current sheens sighted in May emerged during regular visits, Robinson added.
“Is it 100 percent coming from the property?” Elicker persisted.
“Likely, but it could be another source,” Robinson responded. He said that pipelines from another company, Magellan, ran through the site as well.
State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) spokesman Dennis Schain said the entire rail yard is long known as a site with contamination, including petroleum.
When the property transferred in 2004 between New York Central Lines to CSX, by law a licensed environmental professional firm had to be retained to do studies, develop a remediation plan, and send the info to DEEP.
The firm as been doing that, Schain said. “We received the report [from Arcadis] in August 2011, which discussed the sheen and installation of booms.”
City Plan Commission Chair Ed Mattison and City Engineer Richard Miller.
A mechanical rig will do most of boring. In marshy tidal areas that the equipment cannot reach, the work will be done manually.
City Engineer Rick Miller reminded the City Plan commissioners that modern New Haven sits atop what was a heavily industrial city with a lot of contamination underfoot. He complimented companies’ vigilance. “The city is encouraging testing these locations,” he said.
Commissioners approved the proposal unanimously.
When the company spotted the oil in May, it put down yellow booms to contain the pollution. A visit to the site showed that while some booms extend into the water, 80 percent of them are sitting on land.
Robinson acknowledged Friday that the booms are not where they should be.
“The sheen is close to shore from what we’re seeing. We’re in the process of re-evaluating the system out there. The tides and river [have moved the booms] and we need to adjust them. We’re moving to re-evaluate this.”
When will they be adjusted? “They certainly will be re-deployed as soon as possible.” he said.
Schain added in a phone interview that CSX and Arcadis plans “sound right” in order to capture and contain the leak in the long run.
“You hate for there to be contamination in the ground, but that’s our legacy of industrial history in this sate and past practice.”
Of the rail yard, he added, “You want to see it addressed as quickly as possible and they are making progress.”
He agreed with the CSX and Arcadis conclusion that there appears to be “minimal impact” on the environment.