Freight Carrier Facility Stormwater Compliance Support

Terraphase has provided ongoing, turnkey industrial stormwater compliance support for a freight carrier with operations across North America. Our work spans multiple states and regulatory environments, delivering comprehensive environmental compliance solutions.

Scope of Services

Terraphase has supported this client with stormwater services for facilities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, and California. Our team provides services that include stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) development, monthly stormwater inspections, stormwater sampling, housekeeping and best management practice (BMP) recommendations, compliance vendor management and oversight, BMP implementation, corrective action planning, agency reporting and negotiations, and conceptual planning for long-term stormwater infrastructure improvements. Terraphase has completed advanced corrective actions for treatment design and implementation at facilities in both Oregon and Washington and is supporting the client with stormwater permitting associated with facility relocation, including evaluation of a conditional no exposure exemptions for their new facility in Tacoma, Washington.

Our services also included facility asbestos surveys; hazardous waste and material management (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA]/Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act [EPCRA]); spill prevention, control, and countermeasure (SPCC) plan development and inspections; and comprehensive multimedia compliance evaluations.

Notable Accomplishments

• Completed advanced stormwater treatment design and implementation in Oregon and Washington
• Supported stormwater permitting and relocation planning for multiple facilities
• Delivered integrated environmental compliance services across five U.S. states

Northern California Former Chemical Manufacturing Facility Remediation

This former chemical manufacturing facility, with operations dating back to the 1890s, produced agricultural and industrial chemicals for over a century. In the late 1990s, Terraphase initiated environmental investigations and remedial planning to address legacy contamination under the oversight of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). These efforts have guided the site’s transition toward long-term environmental compliance and risk reduction.

Scope of Services

Terraphase investigations included collecting hundreds of soil, groundwater, soil gas, and pore water samples across the site under the oversight of both the RWQCB and the DTSC. The samples were analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semivolatile organic compounds, metals, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and radionuclides to evaluate risks associated with technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material from previously processed ore at the site. The findings demonstrated the site posed no risk to human health.

Terraphase also developed a sea-level rise vulnerability assessment (SLR-VA) using historical and current groundwater elevation data collected at the site, local tidal information, and peer-reviewed sea-level rise scenarios. Terraphase also prepared a human and ecological health risk assessment to identify remedial activities aimed at mitigating risks to future site users. Remedial alternatives were further evaluated in a feasibility study/remedial action plan (FS/RAP).

• Stabilization of pyrite cinders using dolomitic limestone
• Installation of a biologically active permeable barrier
• Design, permitting, and operation of a soil-vapor extraction (SVE) system
• Targeted soil excavations and capping
• In-situ treatment of groundwater VOCs using chemical reduction and bioremediation
• Establishment of engineering controls

Current operations include ongoing maintenance and performance monitoring of the soil-vapor extraction (SVE) system for compliance with the Bay Area Air District (BAAD) permit and implementation of the groundwater monitoring program for continued evaluation of the in-situ remedy performance. In-situ treatment for metals in groundwater will be implemented in accordance with the FS/RAP pending approval of the preliminary design document currently under DTSC review.

Notable Accomplishments

• Stabilized approximately 300,000 cubic yards of pyrite cinders
• Removed approximately 50,000 cubic yards of soil from targeted excavations
• In-situ treatment involved over 700 tons of zero valent iron injected through 950 fractures, and over 250,000 gallons of electron donor and microbial cultures through 182 wells to enhance reductive dechlorination
• Implemented a comprehensive site management plan and requirement of vapor mitigation systems for proposed buildings as engineering controls
• Incorporated a comprehensive groundwater monitoring program consisting of quarterly sampling of 130 monitoring wells and semiannual sampling of subset wells to evaluate the in-situ remedy for VOCs

JCI Jones Chemicals, Inc. (JCI), Superfund Site Profile

The JCI facility in Torrance, California, is part of Operable Unit 7 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Montrose Superfund Site. Work at this location is conducted cooperatively with other responsible parties and USEPA under a consent decree. Terraphase has played a key role in supporting the site’s long-term environmental management and remediation strategy.

Scope of Services

Terraphase has provided technical representation to USEPA, characterized the nature and extent of releases and impacts of site operations, supported negotiations to maintain separation of responsibilities for the different releases, and designed and oversaw installation of a long-term soil-vapor extraction pilot test system, incorporating client-owned unit processes, as technically appropriate, as a cost-saving measure.

Notable Accomplishments

• Successful delineation of the different releases
• Integrated soil-vapor extraction system installation work that could be self-performed by the client into the design to facilitate additional cost reductions
• Nearly 400 pounds of chlorinated hydrocarbons have been removed in less than 3 years of system operation