The West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Division of Highways has submitted a voluntary remediation application to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to clean up a former DOH facility in Tyler County.

The site covers 2.87 acres and is at 450 S. West Virginia 2 in Sistersville. The site now serves as a storage facility for the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Petroleum products associated with refueling of DOH vehicles were once stored at the site, but the underground storage tanks have been removed, state officials said. Historic site activities included the maintenance of railroad street cars from approximately 1930 to 1950; storage of fleet vehicles and road construction equipment; maintenance of fleet vehicles and equipment; storage of oil in an above-ground storage tank and 55-gallon drums; storage of oil, antifreeze, and parts washing solvents in the shop building; storage of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene in USTs; fueling of vehicles from the USTs; storage of prime (emulsified asphalt) and tar materials in an AST; storage of road salt, cinders, and stone; storage of calcium and cold mix.

The DOH is working with the DEP’s Office of Environmental Remediation to address environmental conditions at the Tyler County location associated with its historical usage, state officials said. Chemicals of potential concern are chlorides associated with road salt application and storage, PCBs, metals, and volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, state officials said.

The OER and DOH are negotiating a voluntary remediation agreement, which includes provisions for identifying human health and ecological risks associated with current and potential future uses of the site in order to establish appropriate cleanup standards, state officials said. The agreement will include provisions for additional cleanup proposals if necessary to meet those standards.

A final report will be submitted to the OER for review to confirm that the work meets remediation standards, officials said.