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Severstal draining benzene-tainted Sparrows Point oil reluctantly — and very slowly

Concerned about benzene found in concentrations 100,000 times the level considered safe, the EPA had to press the mill's owners to act more “aggressively” to remove it.

July 27, 2010 at 12:10 pm 9

Coal basin (Photo by Mark Reutter)

Shoreline at Sparrows Point near where Severstal has installed a benzene skimmer.

Photo by: Mark Reutter

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For more than a year, the leak of benzene from an abandoned coal-chemical plant at Sparrows Point has been the focus of government-company sparring.

Behind the scenes, efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency and Maryland Department of the Environment to require Severstal to install “skimmer” pumps — to prevent groundwater contaminated with cancer-linked benzene from leaking into Baltimore Harbor — have been fraught with disputes.

Severstal resisted efforts to install a full compliment of pumps, arguing it could contain the contamination by using air sparging and soil vapor extraction in a few locations. The company installed a small pump that collected all of three gallons of oil per month.

In a letter to Severstal on May 26, EPA criticized the company’s limited efforts to install the equipment, saying, “Severstal has repeatedly resisted EPA’s directions to propose a comprehensive IM [Interim Measures] strategy that will include groundwater pumping.”

The letter cited benzene levels that exceeded 100,000 times the limit considered safe in arguing that Severstal needed to “aggressively reduce the product source.”

The letter resulted in various conference calls among the parties last month and an agreement to install several prototype pumps over the next year.

Company Promotes Pump it Opposed

Forced to install the equipment, Severstal has turned the event into a display of its environmental commitment.

The company allowed a Baltimore Sun reporter and photographer to view a pump in action, which resulted in a front-page display of the equipment last Friday under the headline, “Cleaning up Sparrows Point.”

The article quoted Severstal’s chief environmental engineer, Russell Becker, lauding the company’s efforts.

“We’ve been aggressively identifying issues and getting systems in place,” Becker is quoted as saying, referring to a cleanup effort that has dragged on for 13 years.

No Barriers Along the Shoreline

The skimmer pump pictured by the newspaper is expected to extract 10-12 gallons of light oil a day. At this rate, even with more skimmer pumps and extraction “cells” installed over time, it will take years to recover the benzene-tainted oil under the former benzol plant, which is estimated at 11,000 gallons by MDE.

That is not the only spot with leaking chemicals at the mill. There are four more sites where high concentrations of benzene and naphthalene have been found dissolved in groundwater, with an undetermined amount of the chemicals leaking into Baltimore Harbor.

They are the former coal storage area, the former coal tar area, the cove area and the turning basin area. Recovering the carrier oil, treating the contaminated groundwater and stopping seepage into the harbor will take years to complete, especially since most of the equipment to do the work isn’t scheduled to be installed until July 2011.

Because regulators have not required Severstal to install barriers between the contaminated zone and harbor waters (the shoreline consists of dumped debris and porous waste material known as slag), the leak of benzene through groundwater discharges is expected to continue to run into the harbor.

The outflow of benzene was documented in a study last year for the Maryland Port Administration first reported by the Brew.

That study, which proposed containment barriers to keep toxic chemicals from the harbor, has been all but ignored by the steel company, EPA and MDE.

Mark Reutter can be reached at reuttermark@yahoo.com.

  • Fernando Vargas

    Brew quote:
    “The skimmer pump pictured by the newspaper is expected to extract 10-12 gallons of light oil a day. At this rate, even with more skimmer pumps and extraction “cells” installed over time, it will take years to recover the benzene-tainted oil under the plant, which is estimated at 11,000 gallons by MDE.”

    Vargas reply:
    11,000 gallons / 10 gallons per day = 3 years to recover the oil. A second pump would knock that down to 1.5 years. A third pump = 3/4 year = 9 months to recover the oil.

    • baltimorebrew

      Mr. Vargas raises a reasonable point — and Mr. Reutter has a pretty good answer. To offer the proper context, I have added Mark's comment to the story……fs

    • Vargas

      Re-checking my math:
      1 pump = 3 years, so 3 pumps = 1 year (not 9 months). Sorry.

  • Steelworker1974

    Mark, Having a little snit because Horton stole your thunder?

    You still are using junk science. The standard to which you refer for benzene is a drinking water standard. The material below Severstal is not drinking water thus that standard should not be used. There is another standard, for surface waters, that should be used to categorize the benzene leakage. While the amount of benzene leakage my also exceed that standard it is the correct standard to use. Look it up or ask one of your environmental experts. However, you know the old saw, repeat the lie enough and it will become the truth.

    I agree with Vargas that your math is flawed as far as the time it would take to remove the 11,000 gallons of benzene with three pumps. While my numbers do not totally agree with his, the time for removal is a far cry from what you stipulate. But again, repeat the lie enough and it becomes the truth.

    Fact checking you is sometimes a no brainer even for a lowly steelworker like me.

    It is heartening to see that people like Vargas, who can think for themselves, are showing you up for what you are. There are a small core of people out here who live and die by your word because they either lack the capacity to think for themselves, are too lazy to check the facts and do their own thinking, or a trying to desperately make themselves relevant.

    You wanted the pumps and you got them. Now let them do their work and move on to your next imagined crisis for which you will certainly blame the evil doers at Severstal.

  • Mark Reutter

    To clarify — the 11,000 gallons refers only to the contamination at the former benzol plant where the current pump is operating. There are four more sites where high concentrations of benzene and naphthalene have been found dissolved in groundwater, with an undetermined amount of the chemicals leaking into Baltimore Harbor.

    They are the former coal storage area, the former coal tar area, the cove area and the turning basin area. Recovering the carrier oil, treating the contaminated groundwater and stopping seepage into the harbor will take years to complete, especially since most of the equipment to do the work isn't scheduled to be installed until July 2011.

  • baltimorebrew

    Mr. Vargas raises a reasonable point — and Mr. Reutter has a pretty good answer. To offer the proper context, I have added Mark's comment to the story……fs

  • PATRIOT

    There are many organizations, Enviremental Groups, not counting the hundreds of people in the surrounding communities also the church leaders. Instead of complaining and being negative, most waiting for a payout from SEVERSTAL STEEL Including our local and Fed. Gov. Since the Envirement and Pollution at Sparrows is this most terrible MR. YUK. Since the situation at Sparrows Point is that critical Everyone should help SEVERSTAL STEEL with the cleanup, also the Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard. Call in THE MARINES if needed. All of the complaints in the world are useless, Everyone should band together and Help with the cleanup effort. Everyone Does not need a skimmer pump, We can Help by removing the tires and debris in our back yards, streams and waterways. Many own water front properties can help. All of us are in this together, like it or not actions speak louder than words. Lets Join hands and Help with the Cleanup.

    • Skianbfree

      I agree with you patriot.I have been employed at the “Point” for 14 years now.While Severstal is the current owner they were not the ones who created the enviromental problems that exisit today.While i understand that they assume responsibilty when they took ownership,the problems were here long before they got here.What are the options open to the company and the government?Can the government declare the sites mentioned in Mark Reutter column as superfund sites and expediate the clean up.Or does the company have to put money that could be spent on retaining good paying jobs at the “Point”.Because make no mistake at some point any sane company will do a study on whether it is more cost effective to keep the mills running or cut bait and take a short term loss.I dont have to go over the thousands and thousands of men and women who risked their lifes and health to provide a better life for they're loved ones.

  • MungoJerri

    When something is exposed like this, it makes me wonder about everything. Can we as citizens really do anything about this? Can we really have an impact? I'm one person. Maybe more if I could get my dear hubby to believe in some conspiracy.

    It's been uncovered. Now what? Can the people get this cleaned up somehow? Do 35 agencies have to agree about some fine details? Can anyone actually just do the right thing for the citizens of Baltimore and not try to cover up something or try to point the blame elsewhere?

    Can a consensus be reached and plain old everyday people go down the the shore and lend a hand? What happened to this kind of helping hand. Community. Where has that gone?

    Wonderful reporting Mark.

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