HEALTH CONSULTATION
NEXTEL LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK
NORTH RIVERSIDE, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) requested that the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) conduct air sampling in an office building reportedly affected by petroleum odors. The suspected source of the odors was a neighboring former fuel station, identified as the Nextel Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) site.
BACKGROUND AND STATEMENT OF ISSUES
The Nextel Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) site is on the northwestern corner of the intersection of First Avenue and 26th Street, North Riverside, Cook County, Illinois. The affected office facility, the State Farm Insurance building, is immediately to the west of the site (Attachment 1). A golf course is northeast of the intersection, and forest preserve land is to the south (Gruntman 2001c).
Before 1974, the Nextel property was a fuel station. Later, it was Nick's Drive-In restaurant. Nextel leased the building for a telephone sales office and has been considering buying the property (Gruntman 2001c).
According to Illinois EPA records, on February 3, 1988 a 75-gallon diesel-fuel spill occurred at "Illinois Truck and Bus." The location of this spill was First Avenue and 26th Street, which is the intersection where Nextel is located (Gruntman 2001c); however, the exact location of the diesel spill is uncertain. The small size of the current Nextel property suggests that the former fuel station serviced automobiles rather than trucks and buses. A State Farm Insurance representative said that one of their customers remembered a gasoline station at the present Nextel location (Sramek 2001b). Consequently, more than one source of contamination could exist.
As a condition of the pending sale of the property, on January 7, 1997, Adept Environmental Solutions, Inc. (AES) investigated the Nick's Drive-In property. AES said the former fuel station had two fuel service islands and three underground storage tanks, each of about 2,000 gallon capacity. The fuel station was abandoned before January 1, 1974, and the tanks were abandoned and filled with rocks. AES took four soil borings to 15 feet in depth. In each borehole, they took soil samples at 2.5-foot intervals. They screened each soil sample with a photoionization detector. For each boring, they sent the sample with the highest photoionization detector reading to a laboratory for analysis. The laboratory analyzed these samples for benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes (Table 1). The highest concentrations were in Soil Boring B-4, which was closest to the underground storage tanks. According to AES, the measured concentrations were less than Illinois EPA clean-up levels. They found no evidence that contaminants had migrated to basements, crawlspaces, sewer lines, or utility vaults in the area (AES 1997). No soil borings were taken between the underground tanks and the State Farm Insurance office.
Before the State Farm Insurance office was built, a restaurant occupied that property. The restaurant building and foundation were removed and a wine cellar on the eastern side of the building was filled with pea gravel. This old wine cellar was on the side of the building next to the Nextel property (Gruntman 2001c). According to State Farm, the former wine cellar was along the easternmost wall, where fuel odors were reportedly the strongest. (Sramek 2001b).
The State Farm Insurance building was built in 1988, but the occupants did not experience any fuel odors at that time. In March 2001, the owner and agent of the State Farm Insurance office reported the odor to Illinois EPA. The odors reportedly followed the re-paving and expansion of the Nextel parking lot. The larger parking lot extended to the concrete walkway between the Nextel and State Farm buildings (Gruntman 2001c). According to State Farm Insurance employees, the odors were most intense during the heating season and on Mondays, but less intense during the air-conditioning season. In that regard, it should be noted that the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning ducts were in the building ceiling and not in the slab (Sramek 2001b).
The fire department determined that the petroleum vapors responsible for the odors were not a fire hazard (Gruntman 2001b). A subsequent Illinois EPA investigation in March 2001 found no petroleum sheens or odors in the sewers or catch basins. One sewer on the State Farm Insurance property might have had grease present. An air test with a photoionization detector found volatile organic chemicals at only one corner of the State Farm Insurance office. The odors were the strongest at that location (Gruntman 2001a). In March 2001, Illinois EPA also interviewed the operator of Nextel, who said that they noticed a slight grease or sewer odor upon occupancy, but no odors since then. The Nextel building has no basement (Gruntman 2001c).
Site Visit and Air Sampling
On June 8 and 11, 2001, staff of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) conducted site visits. The State Farm Insurance building was only about 6 feet from the Nextel building, separated by a concrete walkway. Asphalt pavement covered the ground surface over most of both properties. The State Farm Insurance building had a definite petroleum odor, which was strongest by the eastern wall of the eastern office. Because of the odors, State Farm Insurance had not been using that easternmost office. With the retirement of the resident State Farm Insurance agent on August 31, 2001, the building became vacant (Sramek 2001c).
In June 2001, IDPH collected four samples for airborne petroleum hydrocarbons, using Buck air sampling pumps. The pumps were programmed to operate over the weekend, when the office was closed, but the air handling system was operating. The IDPH Springfield Laboratory analyzed the samples for petroleum hydrocarbons (Table 2), and compared the chromatograms with diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, mineral spirits, and Stoddard solvent. The closest match was for kerosene, but the IDPH laboratory did not find the heavier (higher molecular weight) kerosene components.
Chemicals of Interest
IDPH compared the maximum level of each chemical detected during environmental sampling with appropriate screening values to select chemicals for further evaluation for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health effects (Attachment 2). None of the volatile organic chemicals detected in the soil borings or the State Farm Insurance office indoor air exceeded comparison values (Tables 1 and 2).
Exposure Pathways
The inhalation of volatile organic chemicals is the main route of human exposure. Based on the limited data available, the measured levels of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes in the State Farm Insurance office were not considered sufficient to cause adverse health effects. The odors present could, however, be offensive to people working in the building. Levels can increase or decrease with time. Odors reportedly have been worse during the past winter. During the winter, frozen ground can prevent soil gas from escaping into the ambient air, thus contributing to the reported increase of indoor odors. But during previous winters, State Farm Insurance employees reported no odors.
The human nose can detect mixtures of petroleum hydrocarbons at extremely low levels–in the microgram per cubic meter range. The nose can detect these mixtures at much lower levels than the odor thresholds of the individual chemical components would suggest. In response to odors, some people experience symptoms such as headache and nausea. This is particularly true if the odors are persistent or unwanted. The symptoms generally dissipate after exposure ends, without long-term health consequence.
North Riverside drinking water is from the Chicago municipal water supply (Lake Michigan and deep Chicago wells). Thus contamination of drinking water is not a concern.
The Migration of Soil Gas
Soil gas and water move most easily through sand and gravel; clay inhibits their movement. Under the asphalt, the parking lot had 2.5 feet of gravel, underlain by silty clay. AES found groundwater only in a sand seam of Boring B-2, about 9.5 feet below the surface. The other borings were dry down to a depth of 15 feet (AES 1997). Although we think it is most likely that the contaminants moved as soil gas rather than with groundwater, none of the borings were between the underground storage tank locations and the State Farm Insurance building. Soil gas could readily move through the top 2.5 feet of gravel. Before the expansion of the Nextel parking lot, contaminants could have moved upward into the air, rather than laterally into the State Farm Insurance office. The expanded parking lot could have trapped the contaminants. The contaminants then could have moved laterally into the State Farm Insurance office, causing the odor problem reported by the building occupants.
Kerosene is commonly added to vehicle tanks to aid the starting of diesel engines in cold weather. The odors reportedly coincided with the expansion of the Nextel parking lot. Furthermore, Illinois EPA found no evidence of contamination of catch basins or sewers along First Avenue or 26th Street. These observations suggest a nearby source, perhaps on the Nextel property.
The reported 75-gallon diesel release in 1988 is not considered to be a likely source of the odors. Because kerosene was the closest match for the detected petroleum hydrocarbons, a kerosene leak may be the source of the odors. While the IDPH laboratory did not find the heavier kerosene-range petroleum compounds, these hydrocarbons are less volatile, less soluble in water, and are less mobile in the soil. Also, organic matter in the soil binds the heavier petroleum hydrocarbons more tightly. By being more mobile, the lighter petroleum compounds might be expected to be at higher levels in the State Farm Insurance office.
A sub-slab depressurization system such as that used for radon reduction could further decrease offending odors.
IDPH recognizes that children are especially sensitive to some contaminants. No children were present in the State Farm Insurance office. The building is vacant, so no one is being exposed to contaminants.
Exposure to the airborne volatile organic chemicals measured in the State Farm Insurance building would not be expected to cause adverse health effects. Therefore, the Nextel LUST site poses no apparent public health hazard.
IDPH provided the owner of the building with the results of the air sampling as well as information about a sub-slab depressurization system that could further decrease the odors.
Thomas A. Bagman, Ph.D.
Environmental Toxicologist
Illinois Department of Public Health
Adept Environmental Solutions, Inc. 1997. Results of environmental site investigation: Nick's Drive-In, 8400 W 26th Street, North Riverside, Illinois.[LaGrange, IL].
Gruntman, C. J. 2001a. Phone log sheet of June 6, 2001. [Maywood, IL]: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Gruntman, C. J. 2001b. Phone log sheet of May 1, 2001. [Maywood, IL]: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Gruntman, C. J. 2001c. Memorandum to Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land File. 2001 March 30.
Sramek, V. 2001a. Phone log sheet of August 1, 2001 regarding State Farm Building, North Riverside, Illinois. [North Riverside, IL].
Sramek, V. 2001b. Field notes from June 8, 2001 regarding State Farm Building, North Riverside, Illinois. [North Riverside, IL].
Sramek, V. 2001c. Phone log sheet of June 4, 2001 regarding State Farm Building, North Riverside, Illinois. [North Riverside, IL].
This Nextel Leaking Underground Storage Tank Health Consultation was prepared by the Illinois Department of Public Health under a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). It is in accordance with approved methodology and procedures existing at the time the health consultation was begun.
W. Allen Robison
Technical Project Officer
Superfund Site Assessment Branch (SAAB)
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation (DAC)
ATSDR
The Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, ATSDR, has reviewed this health consultation and concurs with its findings.
Roberta Erlwein
Chief, State Programs Section
SSAB, DHAC, ATSDR
Table 1. Concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes (BTEX) in parts per million (p.m.) in soil borings of the Nextel property (Adept Environmental Solutions, Inc. 1997).
| Chemical | Boring 1 Concentration at 5 ft. Depth |
Boring 2 Concentration at 5 ft. Depth |
Boring 3 (depth not reported) Concentration |
Boring 4 Concentration at 12.5 ft. Depth |
| Benzene | 0.07 | 0.44 | ND | 2.9 |
| Toluene | ND | ND | ND | 0.24 |
| Methylbenzene | ND | 3.4 | ND | 1.7 |
| Xylenes | ND | 1.7 | ND | 5.3 |
ND = not detected (detection limit less than 0.07 p.m.)
Table 2. Concentrations of benzene, toluene,
ethyl benzene, and xylenes (BTEX) in micrograms per cubic meter (up/M3)
in the indoor air at the State Farm Insurance office, June 2001.
| Location | Times and Dates of Sample | Concentration of Benzene | Concentration of Toluene | Concentration of Ethyl benzene | Concentration of Xylenes |
| Closed office | 8AM-8PM, 6/9/01 | ND | 29 | 86 | 410 |
| Reception | 8AM-8PM, 6/9/01 | ND | 12 | 16 | 23 |
| Agent desk | 8AM-8PM, 6/9/01 | ND | ND | 7 | 100 |
| Closed office | 6PM, 6/10/01 - 6PM, 6/11/01 | ND | ND | 7 | 150 |
| ATSDR Comparison Value | 32 | 300 (EEG) |
1,000 (RFC) |
440 (EEG) |
ND = not detected (detection limit less than comparison value)
RFC = reference concentration
EEG = environmental media evaluation guide
ATTACHMENT 1: APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF NEXTEL LUST SITE
ATTACHMENT 2: COMPARISON VALUES USED IN SCREENING CONTAMINANTS FOR FURTHER EVALUATION
Environmental Media Evaluation Guides (EMEGs) are developed for chemicals based on their toxicity, frequency of occurrence at National Priorities List (NPL) sites, and potential for human exposure. They are not action levels–they are comparison values. They are developed without consideration for carcinogenic effects, chemical interactions, multiple route exposure, or exposure through other environmental media. They are very conservative concentration values designed to protect sensitive members of the population.
Reference Dose Media Evaluation Guides (RMEGs) are another type of comparison value. They are developed without consideration for carcinogenic effects, chemical interactions, multiple route exposure, or exposure through other environmental media. They are very conservative concentration values designed to protect sensitive members of the population.
Cancer Risk Evaluation Guides (CREGs) are estimated contaminant concentrations based on a probability of one excess cancer in a million persons exposed to a chemical over a lifetime.
Reference Concentrations (RfCs) have been established by USEPA. These are levels in air below which no adverse health effects would be expected.
