3-02177 7fr/~~- UNDERGROUND ENGINEER]NG & 0 CAiAA$ k 17 ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUIONS Haley & Aldrich, Inc. 58 Chad es Street Cambrid ge, MA 02141-2147 Tel: 61 7.494.1606 Fax: 617.577.8142 [email protected] Letter of Transmittal AIC Date 27 December 1995 DEC 2 8 1995 File Number 10063-066 From Wesley E. Stimpson DEP/NORTHEAST REGION WAR11RN MAR- To Department of Environinental Protection 10 Commerce Way Woburn, MA 01801 Attention Mr. Richard Chalpin Copy to Cambridge Main Library, North Cambridge Library, W.R. Grace & Co. - Conn. Subject 62 Whittemore Avenue, Cambridge, MA Copies Date Description 1 12/95 Public Involvement Plan DEP RTN 3-0277 W.R. Grace & Co. - Conn. 62 Whittemore Avenue Cambridge, MA OFFCES Cleveland Remarks /1 Ohio Denver Colorado Hartford Connecticut Los Angeles California Manchester New Hampshire Portland Maine Rochester New York San Francisco (ft California Washington Districtof Columbia /. eg- 4w~ HA E ALDRICH INC Geotechnical Engineers & Environmental Consultants 7 November 1995 File No. 10063-066 Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Northeast Regional Office 10 Commerce Way Woburn, MA 01801 NOV 1 5 1995M Subject: Extension of PIP Comment Period W.R. Grace & Co. - Conn. DEP/NORTHEAST REGION 62 Whittemore Avenue & WOBURN, MASS. Cambridge, Massachusetts RTN 3-0277 Ladies and Gentlemen: It has been brought to our attention that the Cambridge Main Library did not place the PIP on the shelves where the W.R. Grace & Co. - Conn. documents can be found, but rather retained the PIP at the Reference Desk: This caused some confusion to an individual looking for the PIP, decreasing the number of days that the PIP could be reviewed. The Cambridge Main Library has informed Haley & Aldrich, Inc. that the PIP will be appropriately placed, and that interested individuals can also ask for the PIP at the Reference Desk. Because of this confusion at the Library, a request was made to W.R. Grace to extend the Public Comment period. It is W.R. Grace's continued desire to provide the public with the information that they require to become informed about the site. Therefore, the Public Comment period has been extended from 22 November 1995 to 27 November 1995 to allow for an additional five days of review time. If there are any questions or comments regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to call or write. Sincerely yours, HALEY & ALDRICH, INC. Veronica Wancho O'Donnell Senior Environmental Geologist FA10063\066\EXTEND.PIP c: W.R. Grace & Co. - Conn.; David Wightman 58 Charles Street Cambridge, MA 02141-2147 Offices Scarborough, Maine Rochester, New York Tel: 617/494-1606 Denver, Colorado Silver Spring, Maryland Cleveland, Ohio Fax: 617/577-8142 Glastonbury, Connecticut Bedford, New Hampshire Pmdon rcyied ppr. November 19, 1995 Ms. Veronica Wancho O'Donnell Haley and Aldrich, Inc. 58 Charles Street Cambridge, MA 02141 Dear Ms. O'Donnell: I would like to submit the following questions and informational requests for your response under the Public Involvement Plan: 1. Please provide a legible map designating the location of groundwater monitoring well no. B820-OW and B825-OW (referred to in the September, 1991 Long term Groundwater Monitoring Report.) Several requests have been made for this map, but no map has been received. 2. Please provide a legible map that will show the location of all machine shops that have operated, or are operating, on the W.R. Grace property. Please explain in detail and provide relevant documentation of all processes and materials (including any and all solvents) used in vehicle, equipment, and facility maintenance, repair and cleaning. Please explain all procedures used for storage and disposal of both virgin and used solvents in any machine shop operations at all sites within the Grace property. 3. Please provide a complete history of all uses of Building Number 28. 4. In the 1988 environmental data report, Volume 1 of 7, it is stated that chlorinated volatile organic compounds have been detected at only one site (B201-OW). In the light of subsequent sampling results, is this statement true? Which other sample sites have revealed findings of CVOC's? Could W.R. Grace provide a comprehensive mapping over the entire decade and a half of sampling detailing the occurrences of these compounds? 2 5. Please provide maps with concentration isopleths for napthalene, acetone, BTEX, and chlorinated organics. 6. Please provide a legible map of W.R. Grace property lines. 7. Please provide a legible map of current groundwater flow paths. 8. Please provide legible maps of all sampling sites. 9. Volatile organic compounds have been detected at several sampling locations on Whittemore Avenue. Please explain their occurrence. 10. Based on your knowledge of the existing conditions in and around the subway tunnel, do you believe that existing clay at the W.R. Grace site will surround and protect any piles driven on the site? 11. Could you characterize and assess the status of contamination at Parkway Pond, with particular attention paid to all cumulative sampling results from groundwater, surface water and sediment samples to date. 12. The MBTA recently added a child care facility to the Alewife Station and a tot lot a short distance from a large vent. Are you satisfied that the children in these areas will not be adversely affected by any proposed construction? How do you propose to notify these children's parents of potential risks from remediation and construction activities? 13. Where were soils from the WR Grace site moved to during One Alewife Center and MBTA subway construction? Please provide any relevant copies of DEP/EPA/DOT manifest receipts. Please provide a point of contact for relevant transfer, storage and disposal facilities. 14. What are WR Grace's long-term plans for the portion of the site it would retain? Will there be any additional development phases beyond what is currently proposed? 15. Could you please request an estimate from the developer of the amount of auto pollution that will result if the current proposal for a shopping center is implemented. Please also 2 3 request supporting documentation. Can it be compared with similar estimates from the previous office proposal? 16. Would you compare both of these estimates with pollution produced by a no-build option. 17. If WR grace is responsible in part for polluting Alewife Brook, would WR Grace contribute in like measure to the brook's clean up? 18. If WR Grace was coincidentally responsible for polluting any adjacent land, would WR Grace assume responsibility for clean up? 19. If construction at the site proceeds, and a "sick building" is a result, will WR Grace assume any liability? How will WR Grace deal with a building that is too sick for occupancy? 20. Will you assess the nature, source and extent of contamination on the site. 21. Are you convinced that risk evaluations have taken into consideration the DUAL presence of napthalene and benzene? Are you aware of the most recent data on this subject? 22. What is the source of the "iron oxide" found at Parkway Pond? 23. Why was the Feasibility Study done before completion of the Long-term Groundwater Monitoring Report? Did W.R. Grace consider the original ordering of the separate points of the DEQE's NOR of 1987 as part of the intended protocol? 24. In 1979, several engineering reports advised against any significant construction at this site. Large concentrations of sulfuric acid and other corrosive contaminants such as napthalene posed a recognized and documented risk with regard to the MBTA subway construction. These reports advised against routing the subway through the Grace site, proposing rather a more expensive and circuitous alternative. In WR Grace's opinion do these formerly stated admonitions have any relevance to underground concrete construction currently contemplated (i.e. hotel parking)? Are you aware of any conditions or circumstances regarding U4 the existing subway beneath the WR Grace site which would underscore the validity of these former engineering reports? If you were aware of such conditions, would it qualify your contention that the WR Grace site is in fact "clean"? 25. To what extent will WR Grace guarantee the integrity of any construction at its site? Respectfully submitted, Joseph J. Joseph 18 Dudley Street Box 593 Cambridge, MA 02140 cc: Department of Environmental Protection 3- a-y-7 7 U- H ALEY & ALDRICH I'NC. J06A Letter of Transmittal Geotechnical Engineers & Environmental Consultants To Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Date 13 October 1995 10 Commerce Way File Number 10063-066 Woburn, MA 01801 Le al Notice; RTN 3-0277 Attention Richard Chalpin .f I Copies Date Description OCT T 1995 1 Oct. 1995 Legal Notification for PIP Public Hearing DEP/NORTHEAST REGION WOBURN, MASS. Remarks Dear Mr. Chalpin: The copy of the Legal Notice for a Public Involvement Plan Meeting on the W.R. Grace facility (RTN 3-0277) forwarded to you on 13 October 1995 did not list the time for the hearing. The attached Notice is the Notice to be published in the Cambridge Chronicle. 58 Charles Street Cambridge, MA 02141 Tel: 617/494-1606 Fax: 617/577-8142 Copy To Offices Brea, California San Francisco, California Denver, Colorado Glastonbury, Connecticut Scarborough, Maine Silver Spring, Maryland Bedford, New Hampshire Rochester, New York Cleveland, Ohio Signed 3-0277 .v,. 4 - &2tL. k4vcw,-tA-voc a CMW6 )ZD6r6f a H A LEY & A LD RI CH I NC. Geotechnical Engineers & 12 October 1995 Environmental Consultants File No. 10063-065 Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Northeast Regional Office 10 Commerce Way Woburn, Massachusetts 01801 Attention: Richard Chalpin Subject: Publication of Legal Notice for PIP Site W.R. Grace & Co. - Conn. 62 Whittemore Avenue DEP/NORTHEAST REGION Cambridge, Massachusetts WOBURN, RTN 3-0277 MASS.