Air Monitoring Testing During Remediation at Midland Ross/American Properties…

Introduction

As many residents are aware, American Properties Highland Park has been approved to build 110 townhouses at 233 Cleveland Avenue. This site was the location of industries (including Midland Ross and Illuminating Experience) going back to the early 1900’s. The site has been previously contaminated. Honeywell has the responsibility for remediating the site, has been actively remediating it, and has begun the final phase of the remediation.

There is a large cement foundation still on the site (see Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring- Part 1, Page 3) . There are joints between slabs of concrete, which contain asbestos in the joints. The sections of concrete with asbestos will be cut out and removed from the site and disposed of at an approved site. The rest of concrete will be broken up, and stock piled for later use in grading the site. Underneath one section of the concrete foundation, there is a contaminated area, which will be remediated by Honeywell prior to construction of the townhouses.

Testing for Dust and Contaminates

 To assure the public health, Honeywell has positioned five (5) air monitoring stations on the site such that whatever the wind direction, the monitors will detect any excess level of dust. Honeywell has performed baseline testing for dust levels, asbestos, and a number of potential chemical contaminates on 5 days in November and December 2016. Future test results, when remediation is occurring, will be compared against this baseline data.

For dust levels, there is a trigger level of 80-µg/cubic meter of air, which will trigger an investigation of the cause; at a level of 109-µg/cubic meter of air (the action limit), work will be stopped, and an investigation will occur. Typically, the corrective action is to wet the work area down with water.

Air samples are evaluated for asbestos fibers by phase microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using EPA approved procedures at licensed analytical laboratories.

Air samples were also evaluated for metals and a variety of organic chemicals.

Results

Dust Levels – The levels of dust samples (n=25) were all well below the trigger level (80 µg/cubic meter of air) except one (Air Monitoring Station 5, 11/21/16) which exceeded the action level. It was determined that the dust level excursion was due to a vehicle’s exhaust near the Air Monitoring Station. Results dropped well below the trigger level when the vehicle was moved.

Asbestos – No asbestos was detected in 25 samples.

Chemical Contaminates – No contaminates exceeding NJDEP requirements were detected. For contaminates without NJDEP requirements, several were detected at just above or at the detection level of the analytical methods, which are far below levels of public health concern.

The complete testing report provided by the Honeywell’s contractor “Amec Wheeler Foster” is provided. Due to size restriction of this website on attachments, it is in three parts.Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring Report-Part 1 ,Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring Report-Part 2 , Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring Report-Part 3 .

Next Steps

Future  data summaries and test results will be posted on this website as the remediation of the American Property Highland Park LLC site proceeds.