JCP&L to Address Gas Plant Clean Up Issues

CAPE MAY — Representatives from Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) will hold a public information session Thursday Oct. 29 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Cape May Elementary School regarding a proposed plan for environmental remediation of the former Cape May Gas Plant site.
The site is the current location of the Wise-Anderson Park and Cape May Dog Park on Lafayette Street. JCP&L informed Cape May officials it has received approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to proceed with the development of a remedial work plan for the site and two adjacent properties.
Residents are encouraged to attend the session to view maps, photos and graphics that detail JCP&L’s proposed plans, activities and work schedule. The city has granted JCP&L’s request to close Wise-Anderson Park and the dog park on or about the weeks of Oct. 26-30 and Nov. 30 to December 16 so that the utility may conduct engineering studies to obtain information to finalize the design of the proposed remedial action.
According to JCP&L, the work will involve collecting soil and groundwater samples and a groundwater-pumping test. The former coal gas plant was owned and operated between 1853 and 1937 by a predecessor company of JCP&L. It produced coal gas to serve the community’s street lighting, heating and cooking needs. The location was closed in 1937.
For more information, contact JCP&L at 800-598-9724.
In 2003, an average of two feet of dirt was excavated from contaminated areas for a soil remediation approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
At that time, soil was removed from crawl spaces on St. John and Broad streets including private homes and the housing authority property. The soil removal also continued up St. John’s Street to the corner of Lafayette Street.
Soil was also excavated in 2003 from the gas plant property next to Wise-Anderson Park.
That year, the city expressed an interest in owning the former gas plant properties for a parking lot or parking garage. At that time, JCP&L spokesman Dan Capriotti said contaminated ground water would have to be remediated before any change of property ownership. He said the remediation would take a number of years.
In 2003, a JCP&L engineer, Colin Sweeney, told City Council remediation involved wet soil, not the aquifer. He said contaminated soil extends to a depth of 50-feet, and predicted soil removal would fill 23,000 truckloads.
Sweeney had classed much of the contamination as “relatively immobile.” In 2003, he said a plume of contaminated ground water extended into Cape Island Creek and crossed Lafayette Street, according to a map displayed by JCP&L. The contaminated ground water was nine- feet below the ground and was flowing from east to west, said Sweeney.
In 2003, JCP&L placed a copies of test boring and monitoring well reports in the Cape May Library. Ground water samples showed excessive levels of benzene and naphthalene and eight other compounds.
A total of seven soil samples were collected from the public housing project on Broad Street from five borings in August 2000. Benzo-anthracene and benzo-pyrene were detected at a depth of one to one and a half feet.
According to that report, benzo-anthracene was detected at 0.95 milligrams per kilogram, which is in excess of the state limit of 0.9. Benzopyrene was found at 2.6 mg/kg, higher than acceptable levels of 0.66 mg/kg.
Additional tests from crawl spaces in public housing were conducted in February 2002 with no samples exceeding state standards for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS).
A property, two houses northwest of the St. John’s-Lafayette Street intersection, exceeded safe levels for benzoflouranthene, benzo-pyrene and benzo-anthracene.
During tests in 2000, nine PAHs were detected in excess of acceptable levels. These PAHs were detected in 24 samples from 20 borings.