[CPEO-BIF] [Fwd: School in Harlem Still Unusable. What threat to Harlem Armory?]

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Date: 	Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:34:49 -0500
From: 	tapashb@aol.com

	



Community Asks Why a School in Harlem is Still Unusable (since 1997)
What threat is posed to Harlem Armory Community Gym?

In a December 12th 2008 Larry Schnapf, Esq. sent a letter to Rosalie 
Rosinko, Esq. Attorney for New York Department of Environmental 
Conservation, about the site investigation and cleanup of spill of 
solvents involving Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethylene/PCE), a proven 
carcinogen and liver toxin at 2350 Fifth Avenue, Harlem New York, the 
site of a prior dry cleaners, operated by the Joseph Karten, Senior. In 
1997 the site had been renovated as a School (PS141), but was closed 
when solvent was detected contaminating the indoor air of the School.

This recent letter was prompted by a two-year investigation of the site 
by Mr. John Bee of Tapash, Environmental Consultant for the tenants and 
indicated the Owner has failed to comply with numerous requirements of 
the Orders on Consent of the NYSDEC since the Owner entered into the 
agreement to investigate and cleanup the site in 1997 and 2001

The letter stated the Cleanup that had been implemented since 1997 has 
been ineffective, the spill was continuing to impact the building, 
making the valuable Harlem School space unusable and in danger of 
impacting the Harlem Armory gymnasium recently opened in September 2006 
by Mayor Bloomberg.  The Treatment System, a Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) 
System, is under-designed and has proved to be ineffective in reducing 
the source of solvent vapor intrusion into the building air and 
sub-floor that endanger the occupants and is migrating towards the 
adjacent Harlem Armory. 

Larry Schnapf requested that the Responsible Party (the Owner) of the 
property, 2350 Fifth Avenue Corporation, take the following actions to 
protect the tenants and occupants of the 2350 Fifth Avenue building, 
according to the 1997 and 2001 order on consent.

·                  Undertake Source Removal by excavation of the 
remaining contaminated soils and insulation under the building that is 
acting as a continuing source of contamination of the indoor air at the 
building;
·                  Upgrade the existing soil vapor e xtraction (SVE) 
system to increase its zone of influence and effectiveness; and
·                  Installation of a sub-slab depressurization system 
(SSDS) throughout the footprint of the building to complement the SVE 

The existing SVE treatment system was operated for five years and when 
it was turned off there was an immediate rebound in PCE concentrations 
in the indoor air, far in excess of NYSDOH guidance values - 
demonstrating that the present cleanup was ineffective.  Moreover, the 
cleanup is confined to the Northwest quarter of the building and does 
not address the vapor plume that has migrated beyond the capture zone of 
the treatment system.

The SVE system is not powerful enough to clean up the site. No radius of 
influence of the SVE suction was detected when measuring the vacuum 
drawn on the nine soil vapor monitoring points through the floor slab 
and neighboring wells.  This is further evidence that the SVE is poorly 
designed and maintained. 

The entire building failed NYSDOH guidelines for PCE exposure.  During 
an August 2008 site visit by Messrs. Copley, Hackman and Bee, 
(Consultants for the tenants) high concentrations of up to 199,000 ppbv 
of soil vapors were detected in the ground at SG-7 outside the North 
wall of the building under the sidewalk on 142nd Street and across from 
the Harlem Armory building.  These readings confirm the high 
concentration of vapor detected in January 2008, and reported by AKRF, 
(Consultant for the Owner) outside the building under the sidewalk of 
West 142nd Street (332,000 ug/m3 PCE in SG-7) indicating the 
contaminated vapors are leaving t he property in a northerly direction.  
These concentrations of solvent are typical of soils with an insoluble, 
separate phase of pure solvent (i.e., DNAPL).  This suspected DNAPL may 
not follow the groundwater flow and appears to be headed north towards 
the Harlem Armory operated by the City of New York, Department of 
Corrections and the multi-purpose youth center opened in September 2006 
by Mayor Bloomberg. 

BACKGROUND

Mr. Bee and Mr. Schnapf, Esq., representing the tenants, first met with 
NYSDEC and NYSDOH on November 20, 2006 to discuss concerns about the 
environmental conditions at the site.  At the November 2006 meeting, Mr. 
Bee and Mr. Schnapf explained that American Self Storage operated a 
storage facility with seven full-time workers and approximately 50-100 
visitors present on any given day.  The tenants expressed their 
frustration about the pace and extent of the cleanup.  The tenants 
expressed the view that it appeared that the contamination has not been 
a priority to the NYSDEC, that the NYSDEC has been more concern with 
delineating the extent of the plume migrating off the site rather than 
focusing on removing the source of the contamination beneath the 
Premises or eliminating the vapor intrusion pathway affecting occupants 
of the building. The tenants also expressed alarm that there had been a 
rebound in indoor air concentrations of PCE, that the tenants had not 
been receiving timely information from the Owner on the remediation, and 
that the lack of timely information complicated the ability of the 
tenants to determine the appropriate steps that needed to be taken to 
protect their workers and clients from exposure to PCE.  Mr. Bee also 
shared the preliminary results of sampling that had been performed by 
PSI (a testing firm) on November 6, 2006 showing that three of the four 
samples detected concentrations of PCE that exceeded the NYSDOH indoor 
air guideline values. As a result, the tenants asked the NYSDEC to order 
the Owner to take more aggressive remedial actions to eliminate the 
documented human exposures at the Premises. 

On December 27, 2006, Mr. Bee provided the PSI sampling report to the 
NYSDEC and NYSDOH.  He noted that the Soil Vapor Extraction System (SVE) 
and carbon filters and suction piping installed by the Owner are 
inadequate and that the SVE well coverage needed to be expanded because 
the real extent of the vapor intrusion had expanded.  He recommended 
that a second SVE system be installed to address the portion of the 
building that the current SVE was not addressing. 

Since the November 2006 meeting, Mr. Bee has conducted several rounds of 
indoor air sampling.  The sampling events detected significant 
exceedances of NYSDOH indoor air quality guidelines for PCE and TCE, in 
the northwest quadrant of the Building in 2007, and high concentrations 
in uncontrolled soil vapors below and adjacent to the north wall of the 
building in 2008 even while the SVE system was operating. 

In March 2008, Mr. Bee again informed the NYSDEC project manager, Bryan 
Wong that the SVE was in disrepair.  Specifically, Mr. Bee advised Mr. 
Wong that some of the piping joints were disjointed and patched with 
duct tape that appeared to be in poor condition and possibly leaking, 
the SVE system had inadequate vacuum (as evidenced by the inlet vacuum 
gauge readings) and that some sample ports were not properly sealed 
(capped), thereby creating a vapor intrusion pathway and potentially 
allowing contaminated air to infiltrate into the building and creating 
vacuum leaks that diluted the effectiveness of the SVE system.  Mr. Bee 
also pointed out the decrepit condition of the SVE to AKRF staff during 
a site visit and asked that they verify the performance of the system as 
well as review the maintenance of the system. AKRF are the Owner’s 
cleanup contractors).

When no further action was taken, the tenants requested per mission to 
install a more robust remedial system to ensure that its workers and 
occupants would be adequately protected from the vapors migrating from 
the contamination between the slabs and beneath the building.  The 
tenants proposed installing a 20 HP blower that would have suction of 90 
inches of water with significantly broader coverage area.  By email 
dated March 24, 2008, Rosalie Rosinko, Esq. an attorney with NYSDEC 
advised Larry Schnapf that:
“Before the Department can even begin to discuss this issue …… you must 
obtain a letter from the owner of the Site stating that he has 
authorized your client to enhance/expand the system on his behalf.  
Also, any expansion or modification to a remedial system has to be 
designed by a P.E. with a New York State license.  The P.E. has to 
certify to the Department that construction of the system is in 
accordance to the approved plan.”

By email dated March 31, 2008, NYSDEC indicated it would only consider 
discussing the modification20when the tenants obtained the services of a 
NY licensed PE and obtained agreement from the Owner.  NYSDEC also 
emphasized that “We will not entertain discussions with Mr. Bee.”

In an email dated August 26, 2008 to NYSDEC, Larry Schnapf summarized 
the continuing concerns of the tenants about the site as follows:

1.      These air sample results are why the tenants feels its workers 
and visitors are being exposed to unhealthy levels of VOCs and why the 
tenants requested permission to install a more robust SVE system for the 
self-storage area.  The tenants are very concerned that the SVE system 
is not being properly maintained in violation of the two AOCs and is 
inadequate=2 0to protect the occupants and pharmaceutical reps coming to 
the facility to pick up their medical supplies.  These are young women 
of child-bearing age and we are very concerned that their workers and 
visitors are being exposed to unhealthy levels of VOCs.
2.      Because of the sample results the tenants feel it is 
unreasonable to wait another six months or so for a remedial action to 
be designed and installed.  Perhaps Bryan Wong or Jane O’Connell his 
NYSDEC supervisor or Dawn Hettricks from NYSDOH can discuss the levels 
that have been detected to explain why they think there is not an 
immediate health risk to workers and visitors at the site.

In our August 27th 2008 conference call with NYSDEC, Mr. Chris Kopley 
(Environmental Consultant) explained to NYSDOH and NYSDEC 
representatives that he had observed the fol lowing:
·                  a system piping was held together with duct tape
·                  the discharge pipe had been measured to be emitting 
1643 ppb PCE from a discharge point 15 feet above the sidewalk and 
directed downwards to the pedestrian breathing zone. As you know, no 
detectable emissions are permitted under the ECL;
·                  the influent suction pressure appeared to be 
inadequate (inlet vacuum gauge reading 7 inches of Water Gauge), 
implying that there were significant leaks in the SVE vacuum ductwork 
and that the SVE system was woefully woefully under-designed; and,
·                  there were unlabelled and corroded waste drums 
scattered about the site, including an unlabeled drum left on a public 
sidewalk along 142nd Street This is what we saw at time 

Mr. Bee also said it was his opinion that the SVE system was not 
properly working because it was under-designed and poorly maintained in 
violation of the Consent Orders.  Both Messrs. Copley and Bee said it 
was their opinion that PCE vapors and a DNAPL (insoluble pure solvent) 
plume were migrating off-site to the North towards the basement of the 
Armory on 142nd Street operated by th e Dept of Corrections for juvenile 
offenders.


  


 VIOLATIONS OF ORDERS ON CONSENT


The existing SVE system piping was installed in the space between the 
upper and lower slabs to remove VOC including PCE from the space below 
the floor from where it could infiltrate into the building.  The piping 
was installed in this location to remove VOCs preferentially from those 
areas where there were breaks in the old slabs that could serve as 
pathways for vapors to migrate upwards.  Six horizontal vapor extraction 
wells were installed to maintain a negative pressure between the slabs 
in the entire portion of the School known to be underlain with 
insulation which contained solvent.

The Workplan ad dendum to the 2001 consent order provided for an 
Operation and Maintenance Plan to ensure that the SVE was functioned as 
designed.  Based on the following field observation, it appears that the 
Owner and AKRF have not been complying with these operation and 
maintenance requirements for the SVE system as listed below, thereby 
delaying the cleanup.  The tenants wish to point out that the failure of 
the Owner and AKRF to change out exhausted granular activated carbon in 
a timely manner has lead to “breakthrough” and the resulting emissions 
of potentially harmful concentrations of chlorinated solvents onto a 
public sidewalk, thereby further exposing sensitive individuals – a 
violation of law. 

In particular, the tenants note the following deficiencies in the 
operation and maintenance of the remedial system as required by the 
Cleanup Workplan:
·        & nbsp;            Condition of SVE- The joints of the existing 
SVE piping/ductwork were held together with duct tape
·                     The current SVE Cleanup system has insufficient 
power to remediate the chlorinated solvent release and simultaneously 
protect the building from vapor intrusion.
·                     Insufficient Vacuum - No effect of the cleanup=2 
0system was noted. No vacuum was observed (at a detection level of 0.1 
inch of water gauge) in the wells around the source area in the nine 
soil vapor monitoring points through the floor slab and neighboring wells. 
·                     Discharge Point Exhaust- The cleanup system 
exhaust is angled downward toward the sidewalk on 142nd Street and the 
pedestrian breathing zone was discharging 1643 ppbv of volatile 
organics, in violation of the law.
·                     Migration of Con taminants- On August 7, 2008, 
high concentration of soil vapors were detected (by both the Owners and 
the Tenant’s consultant), leaving the site and flowing to the North.  
Based on the concentrations in soil vapor, it is probable that DNAPL 
chlorinated solvents are present as well as contaminated groundwater.  
It appears that vapors and DNAPL may be migrating more northward beneath 
142nd street towards the Armory occupied by a Gymnasium for Harlem and 
the Dept of Corrections. 

The tenants have tried to work both with the Owner and the NYSDEC to 
facilitate and expedite the cleanup of the Premises.  However, after 
seven years, it is clear that insufficient progress is being made in 
remediation of this site, and that site workers and visitors remain 
exposed to indoor air concentrations of PCE and related VOC above 
acceptable DOH concentrations.  The tenants regret that they are being 
prevented from implementing such changes through a time-sensitive 
Removal Action. In addition, the fail ure to make significant progress 
has prevented the site building from being utilized fully. By allowing 
the responsible party to implement a cheap, under-designed and 
ineffective remedial system for over a decade, the NYSDEC has enabled 
and allowed the Owner to reap substantial economic benefits if not a 
windfall. The failure to require the Owner to aggressively address the 
dangerous conditions at the Premises has turned the “polluter must pay” 
principle of the superfund program on its head. The tenants believe that 
the time for engaging in prolonged investigations while building 
occupants are being exposed to chemical vapors above NYSDOH guidelines 
must cease immediately.  

The NYSDEC must act aggressively to compel the Owner to remove the 
source of the solvent, contamination and implement emergency cleanup 
measures to prevent the continued migration of contaminated vapors into 
the Building, and towards the adjacent buildings and the ambient air.

We note that the Owner is now in violation20of New York State Bill 
(A.10952-B/S.8634) passed to force disclosure to tenants and the Harlem 
Armory along with other potentially impacted individuals by Owners with 
environmental problems.

John Bee
732 267 5722 


Contacts


Lawrence Schnapf, Esq.
Schulte, Roth and Zab el
919 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022
212 756 2205
Lawrence.schnapf@srz.com <mailto:Lawrence.schnapf@srz.com>

John Bee, Professional Geologist
Tapash Environmental Consultants
120 North Washington Street
Hammonton NJ 08037
732 267 5722
tapashb@aol.com <mailto:tapashb@aol.com>,

Joseph Karten
Owner of 2350 Fifth Avenue Corporation
(212)234 5000
icrcjk@aol.com <mailto:icrcjk@aol.com>

Rosalie K. Rosinko, Esq.
Senior Attorney-Division of Environmental Enforcement
Office of General Counsel  - NYSDEC
100 Hillside Avenue, Suite 1W
White Plains, NY  10603
(914) 428-2505 Ext 315

Mark McIntyre & Dan Walsh
Office of the Mayor
New York City
(212)788 3015
=0 A

Bryan Wong
NYSDEC
Case Manager for 2350 Fifth Avenue
Long Island City, NY
(718)482 4900
yywong@gw.dec.state.ny.us <mailto:yywong@gw.dec.state.ny.us>

Dawn Hettricks
NYSDOH Albany
Case Manager for 2350 Fifth Avenue
518 402 7860
 deh02@health.state.ny.us <mailto:deh02@health.state.ny.us>


John Bee - Tapash

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--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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