Memo on draft disposal plans, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

DRAFT DUST CONTROL EVALUATION SUMMARY STATEN ISLAND LANDFILL RECOVERY OPERATION WTC DISASTER RELIEF October 11, 2001

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Evans Environmental & Geosciences (EE&G) was tasked by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop and prepare a Dust Control Evaluation for the debris sorting activities being conducted at Units 1/9 at the Staten Island Landfill. The generation of fine-grained airborne particulates (dust) has become a potential nuisance on the project. and represents a potential health and safety concern as well. Based on samples of the WTC debris collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at Ground Zero, over 30% of the granular debris reportedly contains greater than 1% asbestos. Furthermore, the prevailing wind direction appears to be towards the office trailers areas and/or decontamination areas, outside of the exclusion zone where workers are unprotected. Therefore, it is essential that the amount of airborne dust generated by site operations be minimized as much as technically practical so that worker exposure to potentially harmful substances, like asbestos, is minimized.

Dust is generated during site operations involving heavy equipment, grading, sorting, sifting, spreading, loading, dumping, excavation, covering, and general construction activities. Additionally, wind erosion of piles is another source of airborne dust. The winds at the site are frequently blowing, especially during the fall, winter, and spring months. This exasperates the generation of airborne dust in that each time the debris is handled, dust becomes airborne. The site is processing approximately 10,000 to 12,000 tons per 24-hour period. Work is conducted 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

2.0 EVALUATION OBJECTIVES

The objective of this evaluation is to present an analysis of the various alternatives commercially available for large scale dust suppression. This plan includes an evaluation of the effectiveness and feasibility of implementation of the various alternatives. A recommendation for the preferred alternative also is provided. Due to time constraints, a cost-benefit analysis of the preferred alternatives was not included in this document, and will follow under separate cover.

The use of dust control systems will be a critical element throughout this project to meet the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) goals of “zero dust emissions" and to minimize the potential for unnecessary worker exposure to airborne substances.

3.0 DESCRIPTION OF CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES

Debris is transferred to the Staten Island Landfill via barge or over the road via trucks. This debris is unloaded at the dock via large hoes/grapplers and placed in a loading area. A front-end loader lifts this debris and places it into off road dump trucks for transfer to the debris staging area located at the top of the 1/9 landfill. The debris is

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