Update #21
PSE&G Weekly Project Update – Week of August 19, 2024
The beginning of excavation has been delayed a week as preparations for the enclosure and freeze wall continued. The new start of excavation is on or about August 21st. The Project site is located in the portion of the state-owned parking lot near the New Jersey Department of Labor Building and Division of Taxation Building and adjacent to the helicopter pad.
Weekly updates are posted to the project website: https://jfitchwayproject.com/
Questions? Concerns? Call the Project Information Line at (855) 356-2383 or email us at comments@jfitchwayproject.com.
REMINDER: For the safety of employees and the community, the sidewalk and walking path adjacent to Route 29 (Market Street) and at the PSE&G project entrance has been closed. Please use an alternate route.
*Current site access off Market Street will remain the same for the duration of the project. Trucks carrying soil will be covered and go through a wheel wash before entering the roadway.
Each week, the team will conduct Monitoring & Mitigation Measures
- Dust suppression and odor controls during remediation activities.
- Odor assessment walks twice daily during remediation activities.
- Perimeter air monitoring.
- Vibration monitoring between remedial work and the nearest onsite buildings.
- Run trucks through truck wash before exiting site.
- Soil erosion and sediment controls.
- Site security 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Anticipated Work to be Performed: August 19th – August 23rd
- Start running the enclosure air filtration system.
- Begin excavation beneath the enclosure on or about August 21.
- Continue to run chiller unit for the first part of the freeze wall.
- Continue to install piping for establishing a belowground freeze wall for subsequent areas within the remediation boundary. For more information, https://jfitchwayproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/freezewall.pdf.
- Continue to construct and test water treatment system.
- Remove and load out asphalt at the northern portion of the site.
Work Performed: August 12th – August 16th
- Continued to run chiller unit for the first part of the freeze wall.
- Continued to install piping for establishing belowground freeze walls. Includes trenching outside of excavation limits.
- Continued to construct and test water treatment system.
- Completed truck wash station.
Community Outreach
- Issue 20th weekly update and posted it to the project website.
- Weekly updates emailed to: NJ Department of Treasury (which in turn distributed to the NJ State Department of Labor, Division of Taxation, Hughes Justice Complex, Office of the Governor); City of Trenton officials; Mercer County Officials; community and neighborhood organizations.
Background: The project will remediate impacts to soil from the operations of a former manufactured gas plant (MGP) operated by a predecessor company of PSE&G in Trenton from the late 1840s to late 1890s. Approximately 100,000 tons of MGP-impacted soil will be excavated. Any infrastructure related to the former MGP operations that remain underground also will be removed. Most of the work will be performed within a temporary sprung structure (i.e., tented enclosure). Excavated soil will be transported to a permitted off-site soil treatment and disposal facility. The excavated areas will be backfilled with certified clean fill and restored to the pre-existing conditions. Groundwater encountered during soil remediation activities will be treated and conveyed off site in accordance with permitting.
The project is anticipated to take approximately 18 months to complete. All work is being performed in cooperation with and under the oversight of the Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP), and in accordance with the requirements and guidance of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).