 NPRA Reserve Pits |
Marsh Creek provided site characterization services at five NPRA coastal drilling sites including at East Teshekpuk Well #1, North Kalikpik Well #1, Atigaru Well #1, Drew Point Well #1, and Tulageak Well #1. Our work at these sites was performed under a direct contract with the BLM and also as a subcontractor for MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. under their ID/IQ contract with the BLM. Our services at these sites included:
- Conducting topographic and bathymetric surveys at each site
- Mobilizing/demobilizing an environmental investigation crew to three sites over more than 100 miles of tundra via winter cat-train to support waste characterization sampling of the reserve pit contents and to identify the horizontal and vertical extent of reserve pit drilling waste at each site
- Supporting U.S. Geological Survey geophysical survey crews during their summer and winter activities to identify areas of buried metal and evaluate proprietary technology for use in other site investigations
- Preparing excavation plans identifying the in-place volumes and horizontal/vertical limits of the reserve pit drilling waste
- Evaluating corrective action alternatives for each site
 East Teshekpuk |
Marsh Creek, under its Government Services Administration contract, competed and was selected by the BLM to complete remediation of the East Teshekpuk #1 test well reserve pit, plug and abandon (P&A) the exploration well, and construct a temporary waste repository cell at another nearby exploration well site- North Kalikpik #1. The project included:
- Preparing planning documents and obtaining seven state and federal permits or authorizations;
- Mobilizing by cat-train our 40-person ski-camp, 15 pieces of heavy equipment, and 100,000 gallons of fuel
- Excavating 1,000 cubic yards of drilling waste and 500 cubic yards of cover material
- Constructing an onsite 3,500-foot ice runway (visual flight rules [VFR]), and providing and installing runway lighting and a weather observation building
- P&A of the East Teshekpuk #1 exploration well
- Constructing 17 miles of ice road across tundra and sea ice
- Excavating over 2,000 yards of material to construct the waste repository cell
- Transporting the drilling waste and cover material from the East Teshekpuk site over the ice road to the North Kalikpik repository cell
- O&M of the waste repository
 Atigaru Point |
Marsh Creek, under cost competitive procurement, was awarded a contract with the BLM to complete remediation of the Atigaru #1 test well site including removal of the reserve pit contents, P&A of the exploration well, and transport of the reserve pit waste to a temporary waste repository cell previously constructed by Marsh Crrek at the nearby North Kalikpik #1 site. The project is ongoing and includes:
- Preparing planning documents and obtaining seven state and federal permits or authorizations
- Mobilizing by cat-train our 40-person ski-camp, 20 pieces of heavy equipment, and 100,000 gallons of fuel
- Excavating 9,000 cubic yards of drilling waste
- Constructing an onsite 2,900-foot ice runway, and providing and installing runway lighting and a weather observation building
- P&A of the Atigaru Point #1 exploration well
- Constructing 21 miles of ice road across tundra and sea ice
- Transporting the drilling waste and cover material from the Atigaru site over the ice road to the North Kalikpik repository
- O&M of the waste repository
 Clean Sweep Program |
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) 611 Civil Engineer Squadron (CES) chose Marsh Creek to support their Clean Sweep program at the Barter Island Long Range Radar Stations (LRRS) using three different PBC contracting mechanisms including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE), and the 3rd Wing Contracting Squadron (3CONS). Our work at Barter Island was so well received that it resulted in additional contract awards for similar services at Bullen Point SRRS and Point Lonely SRRS. Marsh Creek's services at Barter Island LRRS have included:
- Obtaining permits and authorizations from the North Slope Borough, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Mobilizing 150 tons of equipment and supplies via cat-train over 120 miles of sea ice
- Providing and operating a 40-person ski camp facility for 611 CES workers
- Maintaining power generation for the facility
- Leasing seven pieces of heavy equipment to the 611 CES
- Abating asbestos from 15 buildings
- Managing and delivering 30,000 gallons of fuel
- Completing a dive program to remove underwater debris
- Retrieving, containerizing and transporting (via barge then truck) 2,200 tons of debris from over 3 miles of shoreline for disposal in Prudhoe Bay and Anchorage
Dave Longtin
611 CES Project Manager
 Bullen Point |
Following work at the Barter Island LRRS, the 611 CES contracted Marsh Creek to support their ongoing work at the Bullen Point SRRS and Point Lonely SRRS under the Clean Sweep Program. Work at these sites was contracted through the USACE and AFCEE. Marsh creek's services at these sites included:
- Mobilizing and maintaining a 40-person ski camp facility, three pieces of heavy equipment, and 50,000 gallons of fuel at Bullen Point
- Mobilizing and operating an onsite remote field laboratory for analysis of deisel-range organics and polychlorinated biphenyls at Bullen Point
- Conducting a field reconnaissance study to identify temporary waters sources for the camp facilities and for demolition
- Obtaining permits or authorizations including a Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) land use permit, temporary water use permit, and fish habitat permit(s); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service letter of authorization for unintentional and intentional take of polar bears; North Slope Borough administrative approval; and completion of a Coastal Project Questionnaire.
- Leasing and mobilizing six pieces of heavy equipment via winter cat-train across sea ice and tundra for work at both Bullen Point and Point Lonely
 Kalakaket |
The USAF 611 CES selected Marsh Creek to provide support services for their demolition and remediation program at the Kalakaket Creek Radio Relay Station (RRS) near Galena, Alaska, through a USACE contract. For this project Marsh Creek's services include:
- Leasing to the USAF two Volvo EC210 excavators, a Volvo L220 E/F loader with fork/bucket attachments, a VR8044 squirt boom, and a John Deere 650 dozer
- Constructing a 20-person soft-side camp including operations and maintenance for up to five months
- Mobilization of the above equipment and camp plus 37 connex shipping containers, a mini excavator, three 10-ton end dumps, a 1-ton pickup, a 924 Cat Loader, and miscellaneous materials and supplies from Nenana to Galena via barge followed by overland winter cat-train transport to Kalakaket Creek RRS
- Asbestos abatement from the communications facility, vehicle maintenance shop, water pump station, warehousing supplies facility, and water fire pumping station
- Onsite chemical laboratory facility for analysis of fuel hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
- Clearing, grubbing, and preparation of an onsite runway overgrown with trees and shrubs
- Design and permitting of an onsite monofill for disposal of building demolition debris
- Demobilization of above equipment and materials via overland cat-train in February 2010 from Kalakaket to Galena followed by barge to Nenana on the first available spring barge
 Nikolski |
Marsh Creek, as a subcontractor to BEM Systems, Inc., under their Worldwide Environmental Restoration Contract (WERC), was selected by AFCEE to provide performance based remediation services to achieve regulatory closure of 11 sites at the Nikolski Radio Relay Station (RRS). The Nikolski RRS is on Umnak Island in the Aleutian Island chain, west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, with the only access being via air or water. The site was one of 18 Distant Early Warning (DEW)-Line Stations constructed in Alaska between 1950 and 1959.
The objective of this project was to complete remedy selection and implementation for the 11 sites to render the property suitable for future use by preventing exposure to contamination that may result in unacceptable risk to human health and the environment. Marsh Creek's scope of work for this project included:
- Decommissioning, transporting and disposing of 7,800 feet of POL pipeline
- Decommissioning, cleaning and removing one 340,000-gallon, two 200,000-gallon, two 6,800-gallon, and two 1,300-gallon aboveground fuel storage tanks (ASTs)
- Decommissioning, cleaning, and removing of two 20,000 gallon underground fuel storage tanks (USTs)
- Demolition and removal of a light vault building and associated communication cable
- Cleaning and in-place closure of two septic tanks
- Removing and disposing of two abandoned bulldozers and one grader
- Removing and recycling of 60 tons of steel
- Removing and treating onsite more than 5,000 gallons of oily wastewater
- Excavating and treating offsite 225 cubic yards of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil
 Umiat |
The USACE selected Marsh Creek to provide remediation services at a remote exploration drill site, Test Well No. 9, in foothills of the Brooks Range in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska near former Umiat Air Force Station. Test Well No. 9 was drilled by the U.S. Navy in the early 1950's. Marsh Creek's scope of work for the Umiat Test Well No. 9 project includes:
- Writing a Work Plan, Sampling and Analysis Plan, Quality Assurance Project Plan, Contractor Quality Control Plan, Site Safety and Health Plan/Accident Prevention Plan, Waste Management Plan, and an Environmental Protection Plan
- Obtaining permits or authorization including Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) Division of Mining, Lands and Water, land use and temporary water use permits; ADNR Division of Coastal and Ocean Management Coastal Zone Consistency Determination; Alaska Department of Fish and Game fish habitat permits; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service letter of authorization for unintentional and intentional take of polar bears; North Slope Borough administrative approval; Bureau of Land Management right-of-way grant; and work plan approvals from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- Mobilizing five pieces of heavy equipment, two pickup trucks, a warm-up shelter/job shack, two diesel-fired heaters, three light plants, a 20-foot long tool shed, and 103 steel shipping containers (20-foot long) more than 130 miles via overland winter cat-train
- Excavating and containerizing 1,400 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated soil in Supersacks and placing the Supersacks in 20-foot long steel shipping containers
- Operating an onsite remote field laboratory for analysis of diesel-range organics and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to guide onsite excavation of contaminated soil
- Collecting confirmation soil samples for analysis of DRO and PCBs in a fixed chemistry laboratory
- Transport of 103 shipping containers via overland cat-train followed by truck, marine vessel, and railcar for disposal at the Chemical Waste Management Landfill of the Northwest in Arlington, Oregon
- Completing site rehabilitation
 J.W Dalton |
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) selected Marsh Creek to complete the J.W. Dalton #1 test well reserve pit remediation and plug and abandonment (P&A) project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) after 345 feet of shoreline eroded in the 4 weeks before freeze-up of the Beaufort Sea. A late winter authorization required this emergency response project be completed in just 2 months. Such a project would normally require two winter seasons to complete characterization and removal of the reserve pit drilling waste and P&A of the well. Project activities and milestones included:
- A lake survey for temporary water sources
- Writing planning documents and preparing and submitting seven applications for permits or authorizations
- Mobilizing by cat-train a 40-person camp, 15 pieces of heavy equipment, and more than 75,000 gallons of fuel
- Constructing and maintaining 8.8 miles of ice road
- Characterizing reserve pit drilling wastes by collecting and analyzing more than 50 samples
- P&A of the exploratory well and transporting 9,300 gallons of diesel recovered from the well offsite for energy recovery at an Anchorage facility
- Designing, constructing, and providing operations and maintenance (O&M) for an interim drilling waste storage facility approved under Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Solid Waste Regulations
- Excavating and hauling 2,900 cubic yards of drilling waste to the interim storage facility.
