Were there any oil spills of any kind in New Jersey particularly in
property owned by Shell Oil Company before 1976?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Nov 2004 08:29 PST

Hello hcane-ga,

There were undoubtedly oil spills in NJ prior to 1976, and a good
likelihood that some of these came from Shell Oil facilities. 
However, a lot of contamination was only first identified in the
1980's, and it's not always clear when the spill itself (or spills, as
the case may be) took place.

For instance, here's one description of a contamined site in NJ:


=====
Contamination was first detected at this site in 1988, when gasoline
vapors and gasoline-contaminated soil were encountered during the
installation of service equipment. The Shell Oil Company, a
Potentially Responsible Party for the site, installed on-site ground
water monitor wells to delineate the extent of the ground water
contamination under the NJDEP's Bureau of Underground Storage Tanks
(BUST).

The site continued to operate as a Shell service station until late
1989, when all of the underground storage tanks and the above ground
and subsurface equipment were removed. At that time, 620 cubic yards
of contaminated soil were also excavated from the tank field and
disposed of at an off-site location. The underground storage tanks and
pumps were replaced with new equipment and a new operator began
marketing another brand of gasoline in 1990. However, Shell Oil
Company continued to monitor the ground water at the site under the
oversight of NJDEP.

=====

There are dozens of sites in NJ similar to the one described above,
and many of these are affiliated with Shell Oil in one fashion or
another.

Is this sort of thing helpful at all?  Is this the type of
contamination you have in mind, or are you looking for stories about
massive oil spills along the lines of the Exxon Valdez and similar
events?

Let me know a bit more about what you need.   Thanks.


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by hcane-ga on 10 Nov 2004 08:48 PST

Address:  One Madison Street 
          East Rutherford, NJ 07073   Bergen County
Tax Block and Lot Number Block 16B, Lots 5& 6

This property was owned by Shell Oil Company from an unknown date
until 1969.  In 1969, Keller Engineering purchased a portion of this
lot (Lot 5).  In 1976 30,000 gallons of #2 oil spilled.  I'm looking
for any other kinds of spills of any nature that occurred on this
particular property prior to the 1976 spill.  It could have been owned
by Shell or Keller but the focus is more on the property not
necessarily Shell.  I do believe pafalafa-ga is on the right track!

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Nov 2004 09:51 PST

Hello again, hcane-ga.

It's an awfully big job to reconstruct the spill history of a specific
site, but you may be in luck on this one!


I've located a document that is a very comprehensive review (more than
200 pages) of actual and potential sources of contamination in the
07073 zip code, specifically, at a site near the intersection of
Murray Hill Parkway and Manor Road.

The report makes reference to the Keller spill at 1 Madison Street,
and also references a spill at Delsaco Foods Corp at 164 Madison St. 
There is no mention of Shell that I can find.

The report mentions hundreds of actual and potential sources of
contamination, and provides a history on many of these.

For instance, it provides a detailed description of a Velsicol
chemical site along Berry's Ck that was sued by the state of NJ in
1976 for extensive air and groundwater contamination.

Another site in E. Rutherford was cited in 1980 for a history of
dumping more than 4.5 million gallons of waste solvents and other
chemicals in an unlined lagoon (the actual date of the dumping is not
given in the report, but probably can be teased out of the many
databases or contact information provided in the report).

There are descriptions of many such sites in the report.  


There are also several dozens databases and other sources of
information that are referenced in the report.


There is a great deal of information here -- and many leads to sources
of additional information -- regarding the local area in the 07073 zip
code.

If there is information available on your particular site, it would
likely be found in the same sources used in this report.


Should I post a link to the report as an answer to your question...?  
While it will not provide full details on the actual site you're
interested in, it will certainly be an in-depth pointer to the many
databases and public records where additional information may be
found.

Let me know what you think.


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by hcane-ga on 10 Nov 2004 11:13 PST

Fabulous!

Notice that I increased the list price!!!  Please post the link as an answer!

Thanks!

Hello again, hcane-ga.

Glad to hear that the report I found is "fabulous" -- it's available
as a sample report for the type of work done by a commercial
consulting firm, so it's actually quite a coincidence that the report
zero's in so closely to the area of interest to you.

For starters, have a look at the EDR Inc. web page at:


http://www.edrnet.com/reports/radius_map.html


which gives a description of their "radius map" reports:

==========

EDR Radius Map Report   

This map-based report identifies sites with real or potential
environmental issues. Environmental databases are searched within a
radius as defined by ASTM E 1527 or tailored to client specifications.

Each EDR Radius Map Report includes an overview and detail map.
Additional features shown on maps include sensitive receptors,
waterways and major roads, NPL site boundaries, wetlands, coal gas
sites, oil and gas lines, powerlines, 100 and 500 year flood zones,
and earthquake epicenters.

==========

The actual sample report for the 07073 Radius Map report that I
mentioned earlier is here:



www.edrnet.com/reports/samples/nj_sample.pdf



All 200+ pages of it!


I think this report should meet your needs, and then some.

But before rating this answer, please let me know if there is any
additional information that you need.  Just post a Request for
Clarification and I'll be happy to assist you further.

All the best...And thanks for price hike!

pafalafa-ga


search strategies -- Google searches on:

nj brownfields

site remediation njdep

remediation 07073

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Request for Answer Clarification by hcane-ga on 10 Nov 2004 11:47 PST

So just to be clear.  Nothing at that particular address regarding
spillage other than this report?

If not I'll read the report and go from there.  Thx.

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Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 10 Nov 2004 16:09 PST

hcane-ga,

That's correct.

There's nothing that showed up in the information I searched regarding
the location at 1 Madison Street, except the reference (in the EDR
report) to the Keller Engineering spill (it appears on page 178 of the
report).

Let me know if you need any assistance checking through the report itself.

pafalafa-ga