By Tom Momberg
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a public meeting Tuesday to unveil options for remediation of soil containing traces of lead in a small area of Fort Totten behind the baseball field.
Project Manager Greg Goepsert identified five areas around the U.S. Coast Guard-controlled part of the fort that contain traces of lead, of which he said only the one behind the ball field had the potential need for remediation strategies.
The Army Corps put forward four options for a roughly 20,000-square-foot surface area where it said lead levels just barely exceeded background concentrations required for remediation. The minimum background concentration that has the potential to harm a child if ingested is about 523 milligrams per kilogram in shallow soil and 449 milligrams per kilogram in deep soil.
The area suggested for soil remediation has traces of lead from when fill was taken from surfaces of former and existing vehicle maintenance areas on the Army-owned part of the fort to fill areas with standing water.
The first alternative would be to do nothing and to spend no money, which New York District Army Corps Public Affairs Specialist Chris Gardner said is always the baseline consideration.
The second alternative would be to use land-use controls such as physical barriers or limitations on future land use, at an initial capital cost estimate of just over $73,400 and a 30-year maintenance cost of just under $132,700.
The third alternative would be to implement a soil cover cap by covering the affected area with additional topsoil and use land-use controls similar to the second alternative. The Army Corps estimated the construction time frame for the third option at a year and a half, with an initial capital cost of over $156,500 and a 30-year maintenance cost of about $126,100.
The fourth alternative, which seemed to be favored by the public, would be complete removal, off-site disposal and backfill of about 1,667 cubic yards of soil. Gardner said the fourth alternative would likely take just a few months over winter or spring of 2016, for a capital cost of nearly $451,000.
A public comment period will open July 18 and close July 24, during which any member of the public can send written comments, questions and concerns regarding the project and any of the remediation alternatives.
Gardner said the project team would take all public comments into consideration before it determines which option it would take for soil remediation, and send out requests for proposals to be returned by fall.
Fort Totten has had a history of chemical remediation ever since a 1988 site investigation, and the Army Corps said it would continue to maintain contamination concerns and hold the Department of Defense responsible as the fort continues to have more of a public presence.
“Right now, they seem to feel they have inspected every inch of Fort Totten,” said Warren Schreiber of Community Board 7 and president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance. “I thought it was very positive that they came back and are committing to this once again.”
Written public comments should be mailed, postmarked within the public comment period window, to Greg Goepsert at the New York district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 26 Federal Plaza, CENAN-PP-E, Room 1811, New York, NY 10278.
Reach reporter Tom Momberg by e-mail at tmomb
