Burgess Brothers

Burgess Brothers Environmental Monitoring and Superfund Site Cleanup
Woodward and Bennington, Vermont

Gas Collection System Piping

Overview

The Burgess Brothers Superfund Site was placed on the National Priority List in March 1989. Environmental Partners has been retained by the Responsible Party to assist them in negotiating the Record of Decision (ROD), and developing the Remedial Action Design. The Site consists of an approximate 3-acre landfill area, and includes two former sludge lagoons. Elevated levels of chlorinated solvents have been detected in groundwater and soils. Contaminants are migrating to a Marshy Area, located immediately down slope of the landfill.

Approach

Environmental Partners has taken a strategic, team-oriented approach with the Responsible Party, State and Federal Regulators to develop source control remedies that were technically feasible and economically viable, and work proactively to deflect remedies proposed by EPA that were not appropriate source control measures. Implementation of some of these source control measures on a voluntary basis avoided expensive groundwater remediation costs that would otherwise have been required.

Solution

The selected remedy for the site consists of:

• Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE)/Air Sparging of the lagoon soils and groundwater
• Capping of the landfill
• Institutional Controls
• Monitoring of surface water and groundwater

The SVE/AS system consists of a series of vacuum wells equipped with blowers and activated carbon offgas treatment units. The capping system consists of a composite cap (a 60 mil Low Density Polyethylene liner overlying a geocomposite clay liner); a tri-planar geocomposite drainage net; and a vegetative soil layer. A passive gas vent system was determined to be appropriate for the site and the surface water collection system consists of both earthen and riprapped swales. Environmental Partners performs routine O & M on the system.

Environmental Partners is currently also providing a feasibility analysis for the Responsible Party for the implementation of a remedial alternative which would involve construction of an iron filings wall for the dechlorination of the down gradient chlorinated solvents plume.