September 2002 Meeting Abstract
The Buffalo Association of Professional Geologists is pleased to announce that Mr. Dino Zack, of TAMS Consultants, will be the speaker at its September 2002 Monthly Dinner Meeting. The title of his presentation is: The St. Lawrence River Remediation Project.
In September 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued, to the Reynolds Metals Company (RMC), an Administrative Order (AO) to investigate and remediate an area of the St. Lawrence River adjacent to the plant. Between September 1989 and January 1993, RMC completed various field sampling programs and reports to define levels and areas of contamination. In September 1993, the EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) outlining the remediation work to be accomplished: dredge approximately 35 acres of contaminated river sediments with a level greater than 1 part per million (ppm) PCBs, greater than 10 ppm PAHs, and greater than 1 part per billion PCDF's.
During the 2001 field season, RMC began the St. Lawrence River Remediation Project (SLRRP). Representatives from the EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Environment Canada (EC), and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Environmental Division (SRMT) were involved for the duration of the SLRRP.
The site, located in Massena, New York, is bordered by the St. Lawrence River to the north, the Grasse River to the west, and the Raquette River to the south. The St. Regis Mohawk tribal lands are within a couple miles to the east of the site and the village of Massena is approximately five miles to the west of the site.
Construction of containment structures, dredging, sediment handling and disposal, capping, and removal of the containment structures and associated decontamination activities were completed in 184 days, with crews working two ten-hour shifts, beginning in April 2001 and ending in November 2001.
Three derrick barges equipped with Environmental Cable Arm Buckets and WinOPS (a sophisticated positioning software package) were used to dredge approximately 67,550 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the St. Lawrence River. A total of 543 dredge passes were completed on the 268 cells; 134 cells were remediated on a single pass while 56 cells required three or more passes.
An interim cap consisting of approximately 2 feet of gravel was placed over 15 cells at the end of the season after determining that further dredging was not feasible.
Environmental monitoring during the project showed that there were no releases of contaminates above their associated EPA-determined action levels and no impacts to human health or the environment as a result of the remedial activities.
Mr. Dino Zack graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a Bachelors degree in Geology in 1993 and a Masters degree in Geology in 1998, studying under Dr. Jacobi. He has worked as a petroleum geologist before switching to the environmental arena. Dino presently works out of Buffalo, New York as an environmental geologist with TAMS, an Earth Tech Company.
Some of Dino's responsibilities include technical review of documents for regulatory agencies, and field oversight of potentially responsible party's activities for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at Superfund sites located throughout the state of New York. For the past four years, Dino has spent the majority of his time working on three sites located along the St. Lawrence River in Massena, New York, one of which he will be the topic of his presentation.
Dino is an enthusiastic outdoorsman and enjoys fly-fishing, mountain biking, whitewater kayaking, and camping. He is also an avid Ultimate Frisbee player and travels around the country playing in tournaments with his team the Zebra Muscles.
In the past year Mr. Dino Zack presented at the International Conference on the St. Lawrence River Ecosystem in Canada, Save the River Conference in the Thousand Islands, and at the Pegrum Lecture Series for the Geology Department at SUNY at Buffalo.
Dino is a very dynamic speaker and I am certain you will enjoy his presentation. So I am very pleased to invite you all to our first fall meeting.
Lea Cervi
Executive V.P.