Congrats to our Associate, Mike Meriney, LSRP, and Environmental Team on this remediation project at the former St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic, NJ. After being closed for over a decade, it is now being rehabilitated into condominiums, and E&LP is working to address the large body of No. 6 fuel oil that floats on the ground water surface within the fractured bedrock below the site. No.6 oil is a sticky, viscous petroleum that is difficult to remediate. Based on its physical properties, complete removal of No. 6 fuel oil is not reasonably economically feasible; therefore E&LP will ultimately pursue a Technical Impracticability (TI) Waiver from NJDEP as the regulatory mechanism to achieve site closure. Through a series of remedial actions, including down-well belt skimmers and dual-phase water/product recovery with in-well heating, the freely flowing portion of the No.6 oil will be removed, leaving a congealed, non-mobile, tar-like substrate in place. Once free flowing product is mitigated, we will have achieved the technical weight of evidence obligations to support pursuit of a TI waiver. We look forward to testing our creative solutions in hopes of successfully resolving this environmental issue to keep this location safe for its future residents.
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