APPENDIX GHazardous Waste and

Contaminated Materials Assessment

Final Design Report/Environmental Impact StatementNYS Route 17 – Elmira to Chemung

Towns of Elmira, Ashland and ChemungChemung County

P.I.N. 6066.58

November 2007

APPENDIX GHazardous Waste and

Contaminated MaterialsAssessment:

Supplemental Information

Final Design Report/Environmental Impact StatementNYS Route 17 – Elmira to Chemung

Town and City of ElmiraTowns of Ashland and Chemung

Chemung CountyP.I.N. 6066.58

November 2007

T e c h n i c a l M e m o r a n d u m

www.bergmannpc.comPhone: 585.232.5135 Fax: 585.325-8446

200 First Federal Plaza / 28 East Main Street / Rochester, New York 14614

Architects / Engineers / Planners

New York State Department of TransportationProposed Wetland Creation as part of NYS Route 17Elmira to Chemung, PIN 6066.58Flat Iron Road, Town of Caroline, Tompkins County, NYHazardous Waste Contaminated Materials ScreeningJune 13, 2007

A Hazardous Waste/Contaminated Materials Screening was performed at the proposedwetland creation site located on Flat Iron Road in the Town of Caroline, TompkinsCounty, NY. The parcel is approximately 15 acres in size and consists of twelve acres ofopen agricultural field and three acres of thick woods and scrub-brush at the Southwestcorner of the property. This project is intended to create a wetland to compensate forremoving a portion of wetland as part of the NYS Route 17- Elmira to Chemung project.

This screening included a site reconnaissance, an interview with the current land ownerMatt Mix, a review of historical aerial photographs and environmental databases. Thereview included ASTM E 1527-05 listed environmental databases. A site reconnaissancewas conducted by Bergmann Associates (Bergmann) personnel in August 2007.

Regulatory database searches were conducted regarding the project site byEnvironmental Data Resources Inc (EDR), a nationally recognized database searchservice, as contracted by Bergmann Associates. The review included ASTM E 1527-05listed environmental databases, limited to a 1.5 mile wide radius of the project sitecentered on the subject parcel. This review was supplemented with a search using:

Federal U.S. EPA Evirofacts web-based databases.

NYSDEC PBS/CBS/MOSF registries (current registries reviewed by EDR as partof the database review package).

June 2007 NYSDEC Spills Event and Waste web-based databases.

The subject parcel owned by Matt Mix was not identified as a Federal or State hazardouswaste disposal site, active or closed solid waste disposal facility, hazardous wastetreatment, storage or disposal facility, chemical bulk storage facility, Brownfield orvoluntary cleanup site. The site is not a registered Petroleum Bulk Storage facility. Theinterview with the property owner indicated that fuel oil tanks were never kept on site atthis location, as it has always been an agricultural field.

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Site Observations and Conditions

Bergmann personnel conducted site reconnaissance on August 1, 2007. During the visitBergmann personnel observed the property consisting of mostly open field with shortmixed vegetation comprised of grasses and legumes. The open field was being used togrow hay for livestock feed. The property owner indicated that no pesticides orherbicides have been used on the subject property for approximately ten years. The lastapplication involved treatment of the open field area of the site with approximately 1lbper acre of the herbicide Atrazine.

The three acre wooded portion of the subject property was the only section to contain anydebris. As indicated by the owner and observed onsite, the edge of the wooded propertybordered by the open field contained vehicles, farm equipment, pipe and miscellaneousdebris.

Debris located on the subject property

An interview with the property owner and site reconnaissance yielded evidence of theabandonment of at least two automobiles on the subject property. These two automobileswere located at the south end of the property just inside the northern edge of the woodedarea. One vehicle, a small car, had been removed a week prior to the site reconnaissance,and one vehicle remained. The property owner informed us that the remaining vehiclewas scheduled to be removed the week following the August 2007 site visit in addition tothe removal of a manure spreader located in the same vicinity.

Other debris on the subject property included a freezer, mattress, wire fencing, a car doorand assorted plastic containers. Labels were not present on the plastic containers butsome appeared to be the typical yellow antifreeze containers and 32 ounce oil containers.Not all containers were empty.

The ground where a recently removed vehicle was stored since approximately 1983 wasvacant of any vegetation. No visible staining was observed. There did not appear to beany lack of vegetation in the proximity of the plastic containers or any visible staining.

NYSDEC Listed Petroleum Spill Events

No spill events were found to have occurred on the subject property owned by Mr. Mix.However, there were recorded spill events in the nearby area. Three spill events occurredwithin one half mile from the subject property. All three were related to residential fueloil tank leaks and all were closed out with no further action required according to the NYSPILLS Database. The spill events are summarized in Table 1.

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Table 1Identified NYSDEC Spill Event sites Nearby Matt mix Property

Spill No. Name Spill Date Cause Status0650297 Snyder Residence 4/21/06 Leak in fuel line caused

a small leak on concretefloor of home.

Closed

9100328 Moyer Residence 4/8/91 Fuel oil tank tipped overand uprighted byresident.

Closed

9313405 3271 Slaterville Road 2/14/94 Leaking fuel oil filtercaused a leak onto thefloor of the residence.

Closed

Aerial Photo Review

Bergmann conducted a review of the available aerial photographs retained by theTompkins County Soil and Water Conservation office located in Ithaca, New York.Aerial photos from 1938, 1964, 1978, 1980 and 1990 were reviewed. All the aerialphotographs showed the subject property used for agricultural purposes. Thephotographs did not show any signs of disturbance, distressed vegetative areas, dumpingor excavation

Asbestos Containing Materials

There were no building structures or building debris on the subject property, asbestoscontaining materials and lead based paint are not concerns.

Recognized Environmental Concerns

Long term storage of automobiles may have lead to the leaking of potentially hazardousfluids, specifically oil, gasoline and antifreeze containing ethylene glycol. The groundwhere the removed vehicle was previously stored was vacant of any vegetation. Alsoposing a potential risk is the various containers observed on site. Should the containershave been dumped with any of their contents it is possible that some may have leakedinto the surrounding soils.

Conclusions

The debris on the subject property does warrant a Phase II investigation. Bergmannrecommends the sampling of soils in the area of the former abandoned automobiles andcontainer debris. The soil should be analyzed for petroleum constituents as well asethylene glycol due to the potential loss of fluids from the abandoned automobiles as well

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as the containers that were observed on the ground.

The nearby spill sites are of no concern to the subject property. All were minorresidential spills and were all closed by the NYSDEC with no further action necessary.