| All of the project alternatives considered would traverse the areas containing these sites. Some alternatives would have greater impact with regard to the contaminated waste sites while others would have greater impact with regard to the underground storage tanks.
The Selected Alternative traverses two known contaminated sites: the Southern Pacific Transportation Co. tract and the site occupied by Union Pacific, Georgia-Pacific Corp., and Conco Food Distributing Co., Inc. The possibility that contamination may not be limited to these two sites, but may be prevalent in the general area and thus would warrant additional evaluation has been considered.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LaDEQ) was consulted on November 6, 2001, regarding the contaminated site occupied by Georgia-Pacific Corp., Union Pacific, and Conco Food Distributing Co., Inc. While Georgia-Pacific Corp. has cleaned its portion of the site to an acceptable industrial level, the LaDEQ has not approved Union Pacific’s plan to clean up the Union Pacific and Conco portions of the site. The LaDEQ considers that the proposed roadway would constitute an industrial use and would not require a higher level of clean up than the industrial level remediation contemplated at present.
COMMITMENT:
Special consideration will be made for construction near the area of contaminated waste site(s) along the Selected Alternative alignment. Construction alternatives for the elevated roadway include but are not limited to:
- Excavating to a depth of 15 ft and hauling contaminated soil for disposal to an appropriate offsite location, then backfilling with clean material;
- Excavating to a depth of 5 ft, hauling excavated material to an appropriate offsite location, providing a cap over the excavated area, and replacing the excavated 5 ft with clean material;
- Excavating footing locations only; and
- Drilling (instead of pile driving) and using a slurry seal that would prevent contamination from downward migration.
It is possible that unregistered USTs will have leaked and contaminated the surrounding area. The LaDOTD will ensure that permanent closure of UST’s in the project right of way will follow the procedures set forth in LACXI.905 and LACXI.907 (Louisiana Administrative Code).
A construction plan that includes measures to prevent the spread of hazardous contamination will be developed for review and approval by the LaDEQ.
LaDOTD will ensure that any actions taken with regard to contaminated waste sites will be coordinated with the measures designed to protect the Chicot Aquifer from contamination.
STATUS:
See table below.
WASTE SITES
| Commitment/Mitigation Tasks | When to Occur* | Status | Date Completed | Links to Relevant Resources |
 |
| Design details for area of contaminated waste site(s) near railroad corridor (to be determined during detailed design phase) | F | No Activity | | N/A |
|
| Testing and closure of underground storage tanks to be addressed during right-of-way acquisition). | F | No Activity | | N/A |
| | *Note: P = Preliminary Design Phase, F = Final Design Phase, C = Construction Phase |
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