During a period of growth and acquisition, subsidiaries of El Paso inherited assets located on sites that are subject to environmental remediation. These sites include retail gas stations, textile mills, gas processing facilities, terminals, refineries, and mineral mines. As the current or former owner of these sites, we take the responsibility of cleanup and revitalization very seriously. In fact, since 2005, El Paso has received regulatory approval to close 267 sites across the country, which includes 21 site closures in 2010.
Environmental Reserve Liability Trend
The cleanup requirements for these sites vary greatly depending on the type and scope of contamination, local geology, and state and federal regulations. We’re actively engaged in these remediation projects and have made steady progress in their successful completion. Through responsible management of our liabilities from pre-existing pollution conditions, we have seen a steady decline in our environmental reserve liability. This trend is just one measure of how accurately we value and report cleanup costs.
Practicing Green Remediation
El Paso developed the SMART (Sustainable Management and Alternatives for Remediation Technologies) tool in 2009 to promote remediation processes that leverage sustainable best practices and save resources through efficiency. SMART is aligned with the EPA’s Green Remediation initiative (www.epa.gov/superfund/greenremediation), which defines green remediation as the practice of considering all environmental effects of remedy implementation and incorporating options to minimize the environmental footprints of cleanup actions.
Our SMART tool assists our team throughout the lifecycle of our remediation projects by identifying best management practices (BMPs) in the EPA-defined areas of green remediation to help protect the environment during site activities. We use the SMART tool across our portfolio of environmental sites, implementing BMPs at active remediation sites and long-term monitoring sites.
Our remediation efforts in 2010 at a former oil refinery in Kansas illustrate the environmental benefits realized through the use of the SMART tool and its BMPs when planning for site work. The refinery operated from 1917 to 1993 and resulted in releases of oil and other petroleum products into the soil and groundwater. Through the SMART process, numerous BMPs were implemented during remediation activities, including the following:
- One remediation goal at the Kansas refinery site was to remove oil in the subsurface before it migrated to a nearby river. An interception trench was excavated to collect and convey contaminated subsurface liquids to an above-ground treatment system. The excavation for the trench also serves a second purpose at the site by forming a basin required for the collection and management of stormwater. By incorporating the excavation into both the groundwater remedial action and stormwater control plans, the BMP of minimizing soil disturbance at the site was attained.
- Another SMART BMP was used to address remedy measures for the oil-impacted soil excavated from the trench. Rather than transit the soil offsite to a disposal facility, our approach was to spread the approximately 21,500 cubic yards of soil on-site in the former processing area of the refinery, and to landfarm it to allow natural biological processes to address the contamination. Disposal of this soil at an offsite facility would have required approximately 1,270 truckloads, equating to about 54,600 gallons of diesel fuel due to the long distance between the site and an approved disposal facility. Consequently, implementing this landfarming BMP reduced air emissions by 545 metric tons of CO2e.
- Prior to landfarming the contaminated soil at the site, approximately 20,500 tons of remnant concrete foundations from the refinery were removed and crushed on-site for future use in the remediation process. The crushed concrete will be used as base material aggregate for the engineered wetlands that will serve as the long-term treatment mechanism for extracted groundwater. The reuse of site demolition material in this manner is another BMP identified by the EPA. Reuse of the crushed concrete on-site eliminated the need to haul the remnant concrete foundations to a landfill and import virgin aggregate from a local quarry via trucks, which resulted in approximately 2,650 gallons of diesel fuel saved. Reducing these truck trips equates to a reduction of 27 metric tons of CO2e.
Mitigation and Mitigation Banking Activities
We participate in mitigation and mitigation banking to address any impacts to wetlands and streams as a result of activities related to our pipeline projects.
- In 2011, in association with additional impacts on temporary workspace for our South System Expansion III project, El Paso purchased 0.26 credits from the McLemore Mitigation Bank, Alabama, at a cost of $9,100. No credits were purchased in 2010.
- In association with our 300 Line Project, we have committed to mitigate 68 acres of mature forested lands in the New Jersey Highlands Region’s Lombardi Parcel, which is more than twice the size of actual project impacts. Tennessee Gas Pipeline will fund $471,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
