The Alaska Department of Transportation broke seven state laws this summer in connection with its Haines Highway reconstruction project after its contractor SECON excavated contaminated soil associated with the Haines-Fairbanks pipeline fuel spill, and stored it next to the Chilkat River.

SECON dug a 1,200-feet long, 15-feet wide, 4-feet deep trench “directly across from the area of the Haines-Fairbanks Pipeline site which was actively being excavated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” according to a July 8 “compliance advisory letter” to DOT from Anne Marie Palmieri, a program manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

The Army Corps had been finishing up a two-year soil remediation project in an effort to remove about 15,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the area of the highway reconstruction project at 14.5 Mile.

In her letter to DOT, Palmieri said DEC and DOT had been discussing the presence of contaminated soil along the Haines Highway and the potential impacts to DOT’s work “since at least 2011.” She cited a 2019 plan DEC approved with DOT for the removal of soil believed to be contaminated because of how close it was to the Army Corps site.

“The trench advanced in 2022 is located next to the area addressed in the 2019 plan,” Palmieri wrote. “At no time during the highway reconstruction planning process did DOT coordinate with DEC about including the trench on the plans or the potential for disturbing the contaminated soil and or groundwater with this action,” she wrote.

The soil that SECON excavated and stored next to the Chilkat River was sampled in June and found to have “elevated concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbon constituents.” An environmental consultant also noticed “significant visible sheen” on the water in the trench.

On June 27, high water levels associated with snowmelt caused the rising Chilkat River to reach the stockpiled soil.

Palmieri told the CVN that after the river rose, the soil needed to be left in place and allowed to dry before storing it in “supersacks,” large bags designed to store and transport contaminated material. The soil was later covered with a tarp.

“There could have been some migration of petroleum into the river from the placement of this soil,” Palmieri told the CVN this week. “It would be challenging to try to test for that in some type of scientifically defensible way due to dilution of the small amount of petroleum that could have gotten into a large body of water, the river.”

SECON did not receive the supersacks until Sept. 22. Some of the soil has been stored in the supersacks since then, but the rest has been stored under a tarp for most of the summer and fall, including during the most recent storms. It’s unclear if the river contacted the soil during last week’s rainstorms.

In order for DOT to be in compliance with state law, Palmieri told DOT in July to ensure it coordinates with DEC for identifying potential areas of concern, and to submit a cleanup work plan for the treatment and disposal of the contaminated soil. No fines were issued, Palmieri said.

Representatives from DOT and SECON did not respond to questions by deadline on Wednesday afternoon.

The Alaska Administrative Codes that DOT violated included requirements related to soil storage and disposal, cleanup operations requirements and site cleanup rules including:

A responsible person shall, to the maximum extent practicable, prevent, eliminate, or minimize potential adverse impacts to human health, safety and welfare, and to the environment from hazardous substances.

Contaminated soil must be stored at least 100 feet or more away from surface water.

Contaminated soil must be placed on a liner that prevents soil and groundwater below the liner from becoming contaminated.