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     To date, cleanup efforts have involved the design, installation, and operation of a groundwater extraction and treatment system, soil vapor extraction and treatment systems, and several additional aggressive remediation technologies. Technologies that have been used or are currently in use include recirculation of treated groundwater to enhance biodegradation, soil vapor extraction at hot spot locations, air sparging, and phytoremediation. The phytoremediation demonstration area was constructed to evaluate the effectiveness of trees and other plants in removing contaminants from groundwater biologically.

     The contamination is being contained, so the contaminants do not pose a threat to the Truckee River, the Sparks Marina Park Lake, area groundwater supplies or local water sources. Monthly testing is conducted on the treated groundwater to ensure contaminants are not being discharged to the Truckee River. The remediation system will continue to operate until clean up is completed to the satisfaction of the Division.

Site History

     The railyard was constructed in the late 1800's and has served as a major east/west thoroughfare for railroad traffic since its construction. Before the 1950's, the railyard was the largest industry in Sparks with a roundhouse, powerhouse, machine and locomotive shops, crew lodging and commissary. Current and past railyard operations include maintenance, cleaning, refueling, and storage of railroad engines and other rolling stock.

     The site has been used as a refueling and service area for Southern Pacific Railroad since about 1907 and has been a fuel storage and distribution facility since 1957. Fuel is transported to the facility via a pipeline over the Sierra Nevada Mountains from San Francisco bay area refineries. The site is the central storage and distribution point for most vehicle and heating fuels supplied to the northern Nevada and eastern California region from Bishop to Alturas, California and from the Lake Tahoe area to Ely, Nevada.

     The terminal also supplies fuels to the Fallon Naval Air Station, Nevada Air Guard, Army National Guard, Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, California, and the Oregon National Guard in Klamath Falls, Oregon. With the exception of the Fallon Naval Air Station, which receives fuel via a dedicated pipeline, military fuels are trucked from the terminal to their intended destination. Current and past operations at the terminal include the storage, distribution, and loading of gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuels, military fuels, and fuel additives.

     In mid-1987 the NDEP was informed of the presence of soil and ground water contamination at the fuel terminal tank farm located just south of Interstate 80 in Sparks, Nevada. The primary contaminant of concern was petroleum hydrocarbons. NDEP issued and order to Santa Fe Pacific Pipeline Partners (now known as Kinder Morgan Energy Partners) to investigate contamination in December 1987. Santa Fe began an investigation into the cause of the contamination and its extent. In November 1988, petroleum hydrocarbon contamination was noted in the Helms Gravel Pit located approximately 4200 feet east of the fuel terminal. It was determined that the contamination in the gravel pit was from the terminal.

     In 1989 and 1990 the other nine parties who owned or leased property at the site were ordered by NDEP to participate in the investigation and clean up. The additional parties included Southern Pacific Railroad, Golden Gate Petroleum, Shell Oil, Texaco Refining and Marketing, Inc., BP Air, Berry-Hinkley Terminal, Unocal, Chevron and Time Oil.

     The Helms Gravel Pit began operation in 1967 and was located in an area with historically high ground water. As a result, dewatering was necessary to keep the pit from being inundated. Between 6 and 7 million gallons of water per day was pumped from the pit and discharged to the Truckee River via the Peoples Ditch. The pumping had a significant influence on ground water movement and flow in the Sparks area and resulted in the contamination plume being controlled by the pit rather than the natural groundwater gradient, which would have been toward the Truckee River. As a result, it was in the interest of the Division and the Responsible Parties to continue pit dewatering.

     A significant amount of investigation occurred on the actual property of the railyard and fuel terminal facility. There was reluctance, however, on the part of the companies to conduct an off-site investigation. As a result, NDEP filed a civil action against all 10 companies in January 1991.

     Subsequently, this action was integrated with similar actions from other municipal and private parties. In August 1991 Congressional hearings were held and the EPA also ordered the 10 companies to conduct an investigation and perform remediation of the site. This was ordered through the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), through Section 106 of that act. As a result of these actions, additional characterization work was conducted, resulting in the plume being completely defined by July 1992.

     The Division settled its legal action with the Responsible Parties in July 1995. The other parties to this action settled soon after. The companies involved with the settlement owned, operated or leased operations at the site. The settling companies included Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines, Inc. (now Kinder Morgan Energy Partners), Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Shell Oil Company, Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc., Time Oil Company, Berry-Hinkley Terminal Inc., UNOCAL Corporation, and Golden Gate Petroleum.

     The terms of the agreement included the payment of over ten million dollars to the State of Nevada over a ten-year period and the clean up of impacted soil and groundwater to state standards, at the settling companies' expense.

     The settlement was the largest environmental settlement ever reached in Nevada. The settlement will ensure the protection of the groundwater and drinking water resources of the Truckee Meadows and the City of Sparks, protect the water quality of the Truckee River and Pyramid Lake, and provide an incentive for individuals and corporations to act in an environmentally responsible manner.

Vista Canyon Group's Remediation Activities

     In 1991, the terminal and railyard landowners and tenants began coordinated remediation and monitoring at the site and subsequently formed a group called the Vista Canyon Group to maintain coordinated remediation and monitoring efforts. The Vista Canyon Group includes the following entities:

• Berry-Hinkley Terminal, Inc.
  
• Chevron USA, Inc.
  
• Equilon Enterprises LLC, a joint venture between Shell Oil Company and Texaco Refining and Marketing, Inc.
  
• Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. through its operating partner SFPP, L.P. (formerly Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines, Inc.)
  
• Union Pacific Railroad Company (formerly Southern Pacific Transportation Company)
  
• Time Oil Co.
  
• Union Oil Company of California, d.b.a. UNOCAL

     The Vista Canyon Group's Sparks Solvent/Fuel Site (SSFS) Remediation project includes Union Pacific Railroad Company's (formerly Southern Pacific Transportation Company) Railyard and the Kinder Morgan Energy Partners' (formerly Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines, Inc.) Terminal Tank Farm and extends to a series of extraction wells upgradient of the Sparks Marina Park Lake.

     The water level of the Sparks Marina Park Lake controls groundwater levels and flow directions underlying the SSFS. All of the shallow groundwater underlying the SSFS flows toward the lake. The shallow groundwater affected by activities at the railyard and terminal tank farm ultimately discharges in the lake unless intercepted. Protection of the lake from any impacted groundwater underlying the SSFS is the primary objective of the SSFS remediation system. The remediation system is also operated to contain other impacted groundwater near the terminal and to aggressively remediate areas that have residual petroleum products in the soils underlying the SSFS.

     During terminal construction and excavation activities in 1987, dissolved petroleum products and free product were found in soils and groundwater. Assessments of the shallow soils and groundwater at the terminal were completed in 1987 and 1988. A groundwater recovery system was installed and began operation in 1989 to capture and contain free product on the terminal property. An environmental site assessment and hydrogeologic characterization were conducted in a portion of the railyard in 1989.

     Chlorinated solvents were detected in groundwater and free product was found. A recovery system to capture free product was designed and installed at the railyard in early 1991. On August 16, 1991, the EPA issued Administrative Order 91-22 (Order) to the Vista Canyon Group members under Section 106 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). In response to the Order, a Removal Action Plan was completed in 1992, summarizing site assessment activities and presenting removal actions. Eleven removal actions for source control, free product removal, aquifer protection, and surface water protection were outlined in the plan. Following agency acceptance of the plan, the Vista Canyon Group members implemented the eleven removal actions.

     A groundwater flow model was completed in 1993 to design a site wide removal system to remove and control the migration of free product and impacted groundwater from the SSFS. A site wide groundwater and soil vapor extraction and treatment system and mobile free product recovery unit was constructed and began operation in 1995.

     Since start up of the site-wide remediation system, approximately 400,000 gallons of petroleum hydrocarbons have been removed from the subsurface. The remediation system monitoring data indicate that the total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations in vapors removed from the unsaturated zone above the pre-flood water table decreased by more than 97 percent across the site prior to the filling of the pit. The regional flooding of January 1997, and the subsequent filling of the Helms Gravel Pit, forming the Sparks Marina Park Lake, significantly impacted the system. The filling of the gravel pit to form the lake resulted in higher groundwater levels across the area.

     Since the flooding and subsequent filling of the pit created the Sparks Marina Park Lake, the remediation system has been expanded to include additional wells immediately upgradient of the lake to prevent the flow of impacted shallow groundwater into the lake. The site-wide soil vapor extraction system was shut down following the flood due to submerged well screens. A mobile soil vapor extraction system is currently used to remediate the remaining areas in the terminal and railyard with significant hydrocarbon concentrations in soils.

     Current activities at the SSFS include extensive quarterly monitoring at the site, which has been on going since 1992, maintenance of groundwater containment, removal of free product and impacted groundwater, and aggressive remediation. Prior to discharge to the river, nitrate is removed from the treated groundwater for the protection of the Truckee River. Monthly testing is conducted on the treated groundwater to ensure contaminants are not being discharged to the Truckee River.

     Groundwater containment activities are focused upgradient of the Sparks Marina Park Lake to protect the lake and near McCarran Boulevard to prevent the migration of impacted groundwater from the terminal and railyard area. Aggressive remediation activities have included the following:

• Recirculation of treated, aerated groundwater to enhance flushing of residual product from soils and to enhance biodegradation of sorbed and dissolved constituents of concern;
  
  
• Phytoremediation to enhance groundwater capture and remediation of dissolved volatile organic compounds and nitrates;
  
  
• Soil vapor extraction in the remaining areas of the terminal and railyard with significant concentrations in soils;
  
  
• An air sparging pilot study to determine the effectiveness of remediation by the addition of oxygen to the subsurface; and
  
  
• Extraction and treatment using high pressure oxidation of groundwater from wells with the highest levels of MTBE.

     The remediation system will continue to operate until clean up is completed to the satisfaction of the Division.