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Alternate Energy Resources
National Information
Photos/Multimedia
Fence around Alternate Energy Resources site
- Additional Site Photos
Additional Resources
- Site Cleanup Terms - can be found in EPA's glossary
- EPA Guides to Cleanup Technologies
- Superfund Community Involvement (PDF) (17 pp, 130K, About PDF)
Site Summary Profile
EPA ID: GAD033582461Location: Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia
Lat/Long: 33.455606, -082.042408
Congressional District: 08
NPL Status: Proposed: 9/14/05; Final: 4/19/06
Affected Media: Soil, Ground water
Cleanup Status: Study Underway: physical cleanup activities have not yet started
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: Currently unused
Site Manager: Bennett Giezelle (bennett.giezelle@epa.gov)
Site Background
The Alternate Energy Resources (AER) site is a 2.6-acre unoccupied property located at 2936 Walden Drive in Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia. From 1975 to 2000, AER operated as a commercial hazardous waste storage and treatment facility. AER’s waste treatment processes included:
- blending high-British Thermal Unit (BTU) hazardous waste to be used as fuel in off-site industrial boilers and furnaces;
- recycling hazardous waste solvents by distillation; and
- treating used oils, hazardous and non-hazardous wastewater, and non-hazardous coolants.
AER filed for bankruptcy on December 13, 2000.
Threats and Contaminants
The sources of site contamination include:
- soil contamination that is present at significantly elevated concentrations;
- a 3,000 gallon toluene and heptane spill;
- a 500 gallon release from a rainwater collection basin;
- a 13,191 gallon waste oil, inks, and oil processing residues spill; and
- a 70,000 gallon former unlined surface impoundment.
Contaminants of concern associated with activities at the AER facility include trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachlorethene (PCE). TCE and PCE were detected in ground water samples and soil samples at concentrations significantly above background concentrations.
A ground water plume, believed to be caused by AER operations, impacted several domestic drinking water wells located within the Hollywood subdivision, between 0.5 mile and one mile southeast of the AER property. A TCE- and a PCE-contaminated ground water plume is migrating toward the Augusta Utilities Department (AUD) municipal water supply system wells located within two to four miles of the site.
Approximately 13,798 people obtain potable water from the AUD system, and 102 people obtain potable water from private drinking water wells that have a potential to be impacted by the contamination from AER property.Site Cleanup Plan
The Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study have been completed. The Record of Decision (ROD), describing the preferred cleanup approach for the site, was signed on September 27, 2010. The ROD selected remedy is in-situ chemical oxidation and stabilization for shallow soil contamination, enhanced reductive dechlorination for contaminated groundwater, monitoring, and institutional controls.
Cleanup Progress
From February to August 2002, Georgia’s Hazardous Site Response Program contractor:
- Removed 499 drums from the property.
- Removed residual waste from tanks.
- Removed accumulated precipitation from the containment systems.
- Removed chemicals from an on-site laboratory.
- Decontaminated and removed tanks and associated piping for off-site disposal.
- Decontaminated secondary containment structures for unpermitted units, and removed an abandoned tanker truck from the property.
- A consent order for a remedial investigation and feasibility study was signed in October 2006.
- The RI report was approved in December 2008.
- The FS report was approved in November 2009.
- The ROD was signed in September 2010.
Enforcement Activities
A consent order for a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study was signed in October 2006. A Remedial Design/Remedial Action Consent Decree is scheduled to be signed by September 2011.
Community Involvement
EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the AER site to solicit community input and to ensure that the public remains informed about site activities throughout the site cleanup process. Outreach activities have included public notices and information meetings on cleanup progress and activities.
Future Work
The Remedial Design is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2011.
Site Documents
AER de Minimus Documents, April 2011
- Final AER de Minimus Costs Matrix (PDF) (28 pp, 11MB, About PDF)
- AER de Minimus Volumetric Ranking (PDF) (25 pp, 4MB, About PDF)
Site Repository
For more information or to view any site-related documents, please visit the site information repository at the following location. As new documents are generated, they will be placed in the information repository for public information.
Maxwell Library
1927 Lumpkin Road
Augusta, GA 28205
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.