Soil contamination is the presence of toxic chemicals in soil, in high enough concentrations to pose a risk to human health and/or the ecosystem. Environmental Logistics Co. are the soil remediation experts.
SOIL CONTAMINATION
We are experts in soil contamination remediation.
In urban areas, soil contamination is largely caused by human activities. Soil contamination can result from a variety of intended, accidental, or naturally occurring activities and events such as manufacturing, mineral extraction, abandonment of mines, waste disposal, accidental spills, illegal dumping, leaking underground storage tanks, weather, floods, excessive pesticide or fertilizer use, petroleum products, radon, asbestos, lead, chromated copper arsenate and creosote.
Contaminated lands can pose a variety of health and environmental hazards. Some contaminated sites pose little risk to human health and the environment, because the level of contamination is low and the chance of exposure to toxic or hazardous soil contamination is also low.
Remediation of contaminated sites is propelled primarily by federally mandated programs (CERCLA, SARA, RCRA, UST, the Clean Water Act), and state-regulated programs, including groundwater protection programs and real estate transfer laws.
Environmental Logistics Company has been providing first-class soil contamination remediation environmental services for consultants, industrial, private, and municipal clients in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana for over 19 years. If you have questions or want to know more about our services call or contact us today.
Soil contamination types and extent.
Land contamination can result from a variety of intended, accidental, or naturally occurring activities and events such as manufacturing, mineral extraction, abandonment of mines, national defense activities, waste disposal, accidental spills, illegal dumping, leaking underground storage tanks, hurricanes, floods, pesticide use, and fertilizer application.
Nationally, there are thousands of contaminated sites of varying size and significance in settings ranging from abandoned buildings in inner cities to large areas contaminated with toxic materials from past industrial or mining activities.
Contaminated lands include:
- Sites contaminated by improper handling or disposal of toxic and hazardous materials and wastes.
- Sites where toxic materials may have been deposited as a result of natural disasters or acts of terror.
- Sites where improper handling or accidents resulted in release of toxic or hazardous materials that are not wastes.
Many sites, particularly the largest and most severely contaminated, are tracked at the national level, but many others are tracked only at state or local levels. No single comprehensive data source tracks the full extent of contaminated land in the United States.
In 2008, EPA expanded the scope of its national tracking efforts to include all the types of sites that fall under its purview, as well as estimates of the acreage attributed to those sites. The number and status of contaminated sites changes frequently as sites are newly contaminated (e.g., via spills or natural disasters such as hurricanes), discovered, documented, and cleaned up.
As of 2017, EPA and its partners reported overseeing approximately 640,000 to 1,319,100 facilities to prevent releases into communities.1 Sites are categorized in a variety of ways, often based on the level and type of contamination and the regulations under which they are monitored and cleaned up.
Categories of contaminated lands.
Superfund National Priorities List sites
These sites are seriously contaminated and include industrial facilities, waste management sites, mining and sediment sites, and federal facilities such as abandoned mines; nuclear, biological, chemical, and traditional weapons production plants; and military base industrial sites (e.g., those used for aircraft and naval ship maintenance).
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) cleanup facilities
These facilities are subject to cleanup under RCRA due to past or current treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes and have historical releases of contamination.
Underground storage tanks/leaking underground storage tanks
Businesses, industrial operations, gas stations, and various institutions store petroleum and hazardous substances in large underground storage tanks that may fail due to faulty materials, installation, operating procedures, or maintenance systems, causing contamination of soil and ground water.
Accidental spill sites
Each year, thousands of oil, gas, and chemical spills occur on land and in water from a variety of types of incidents, including transportation (e.g., rail, barges, tankers, pipelines) and facility releases.
Sites contaminated by natural disasters or terrorist activities
Disasters of any sort, naturally occurring or caused by humans, have the potential to contaminate lands and cause problems at already-contaminated sites.
Land contaminated with radioactive and other hazardous materials
Many sites spanning a large area of land in the United States are contaminated with radioactive and other hazardous materials as a result of activities associated with nuclear weapons production, testing, and research.
Brownfields
Brownfields are real property where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the environment, reduces blight, and takes development pressures off green spaces and working lands.
Military bases and defense sites
Some of the millions of acres of land used by the Department of Defense are contaminated from releases of hazardous substances and pollutants; discarded munitions, munitions constituents, and unexploded ordnance; and building demolition debris. Similarly, as part of its defense mission, the Department of Energy owns numerous facilities that have been contaminated from releases of hazardous chemical and/or radioactive substances.
PCB-contaminated sites
Prior to the Toxic Substances Control Act, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were widely used across many commercial industries, and significant PCB contamination resulted from spills and releases, and from the use and disposal of products containing PCBs.
Abandoned and inactive mine lands
Abandoned and inactive mines may not have been properly cleaned up, and may have features ranging from exploration holes to full-blown, large-scale mine openings, pits, waste dumps, and processing facilities