Our Greenpoint Commitment

New recovery wells dramatically increase rate of product recovery

The Greenpoint Remediation Project made significant progress in 2009: after comprehensive planning and field construction, 10 new recovery wells began recovery operations. As final permits necessary for full operation were under review with various governmental agencies, some of the wells were put into passive recovery operation with existing permits, which increased the total amount of product recovered last year by double of previous year. Now that the 10 additional wells are operating in dual-pump recovery mode, the average daily rate of petroleum product recovered has nearly tripled.

"We are extremely pleased by the strong performance of these 10 new wells," said Steve Trifiletti, Greenpoint Remediation Project Manager. "The rate of recovery confirms that we were able to strategically place the new wells for optimal recovery."

The dual-pump recovery wells bring to 20 the total number of recovery wells in use at the Greenpoint site. Over the span of the recovery project about 40 different wells have been operational. As wells stop to recover optimally because of the plume shrinking, engineers are constantly evaluating how to keep recovery rates at an optimal level and adjust the recovery system which at times includes additional recovery wells. Last year, ExxonMobil recovered 826,172 gallons of product from the subsurface and treated and discharged 226,472,627 gallons of groundwater.

The dual-pump recovery system used in almost all of ExxonMobil's product recovery wells operates by depressing an area of the water table to create a "cone of depression" that draws petroleum products and groundwater into the wells. This type of system recovers significantly more product than is possible without groundwater depression.

The recovered product is pumped directly to tanks where it is stored until it is transported off-site and recycled. The groundwater is pumped to one of two ExxonMobil's treatment facilities, where it is treated by various processes to remove remaining petroleum contaminants, as well as some metals found naturally in groundwater. The treated water is then discharged into Newtown Creek. ExxonMobil has a SPDES permit from the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) that authorizes it to treat and then discharge pumped groundwater into the creek.

To meet the treatment requirements associated with increased volume of water from the operation of the 10 new recovery wells, ExxonMobil conducted upgrades to the off -site and on-site groundwater treatment systems. Upgrades to the off -site system were completed in 2009. Upgrades to the onsite system are expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2010. Currently, the onsite system can operate at full capacity to support all the recovery wells; the upgrades will improve the onsite facility to provide flexibility and maximize how the system runs.

Other 2009 highlights include:

• The installation of soil vapor extraction points at the intersection of Bridgewater Street and Apollo Street along with the pipe manifolds were completed in August 2009 and an interim soil vapor extraction system was put into operation. Construction continued in 2010 on the soil vapor treatment facility. The new soil vapor system will be fully operational by the end of second quarter 2010; the structure itself is expected to be significantly completed by the third quarter of 2010.
• ExxonMobil completed phase 1 of a pilot study of Primawave™, a promising new technology designed to increase the volume of groundwater that can fl ow toward the recovery wells, thereby increasing the migration and recovery of petroleum product. The technology and tool was developed by Wavefront Energy and Environmental Services, Inc. ExxonMobil expects to begin phase 2 of the pilot study during the second quarter of 2010.
• ExxonMobil met all milestones laid out by the NYSDEC schedule for the Greenpoint Remediation Project.
• ExxonMobil submitted quarterly progress reports to the NYSDEC and one annual report covering progress on all technical aspects of the remediation project.
• In March 2009, ExxonMobil submitted to NYSDEC the Comprehensive Remedial Investigation Report on the former terminal property.
• ExxonMobil reported to the state data pertaining to its monthly outfall testing of the treated groundwater that is discharged in accordance with ExxonMobil's SPDES permit.

All of ExxonMobil's reports can be found on the state website: http://www.nysdecgreenpoint.com/PublicDocuments.aspx