How do I clean up a brownfield on my own?

Question

My family owns an out of service gas station that they are trying to sell, but no one wants it cause the soil has tested positive for oil, deisel, from when it was in operation. It cost way to much to hire a company. I want to get the knowledge to do it myself. How do I get this knowledge?

Answer 1

The dirt gets dug up and taken to a landfill.  Real high tech stuff.

However, you have to be certified by your state to do the work legally.

Answer 2

I'd contact your state/regional agency who deals with environmental issues. . . usually labeled "environmental quality", "natural resources", or something on that order to find out.  They'll know what you really need to do at least as well as anyone else will since that's one of their jobs to work with, so that's who you want to ask for info.

Depending on the specific circumstances and how the programs work in your area, it could actually be possible to get a little bit of money to help you clean this up.  You should find out how that works when you ask someone for info, too, just in case there's some kind of an assistance fund you can use.

Answer 3

You have to know which soil is exposed and then haul it away to a landfill capable of taking it.

Answer 4

From a technical perspective there are several ways to "clean up" a site.  One method mentioned already is to dig out and haul away the contaminated soil.  This would the quickest and most expensive way.

There several ways to treat the soil in place.  This is called insitu treatment.  The most common is soil venting.  This were the volatile component of the petroleum is removed from the soil.  Another is ground water removal, where contaminated ground water is removed along with some portion of the petroleum.  The third, though less widely used, is bio-remediation where bacteria developed to convert the petroleum to less harmful materials are injected into the ground at once place and the "cleaner" ground water is removed at another place.

The insitu treatments are usually less expensive but take longer and use a great deal more technical processes than excavation.

You can go to a college that has an engineering library and can get the knowledge on how these "cleanup" processes are done.  However there is the question of qualifications required to do the work.  The government agencies that have jurisdiction over cleanup projects nearly always require a licensed engineer to prepare an Assessment and Cleanup Plan and the success of the cleanup most be verified with testing by certified laboratories.