prewitt abandoned refinery

US HWY 66

The Prewitt Abandoned Refinery is a former crude oil refinery located on approximately 70 acres near the town of Prewitt in McKinley County, New Mexico. The Site is located approximately 20 miles northwest of Grants, New Mexico. The Site is bounded on the south by Interstate 40, and on the north by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (AT&SF) Railroad. New Mexico Highway 122 (former U. S. Highway 66) divides the Site into two tracts. The two Site tracts are jointly owned by Atlantic Richfield Company (AR) now part of British Petroleum (BP) and El Paso Natural Gas Company (EPNG). The refinery was in operation between 1938 and 1957. In July 1957, the refinery was shut down and the refinery and accompanying structures were subsequently dismantled. Remnants and debris remained after the refinery was dismantled, including piping, waste pits, a separator structure, and other structural material. The Site was covered with scattered demolished structures and foundations, sparse desert vegetation, and exposed fill. The contaminants of concern in the ground water were lead, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes. The contaminants in the soil were asbestos, lead and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. The remedial actions for surface media were excavation and off-site disposal of asbestos-containing materials, lead-contaminated soil, and separator contents, and removal and disposal of Separator structure. The remedial actions for the subsurface media were Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) of NAPL, contaminated ground water migration control, and ground water remediation by extraction, treatment and re-injection. The surface portion of the Site has been remediated and is available for reuse but is currently only used solely for remedial activities. A fence restricts access to the Site. The Phase II Subsurface Remedy for the E-Sandstone Unit consisted of batch injection of nutrients, initially at six wells, to enhance in situ biodegradation of BTEX constituents in ground water using a nutrient injection system (NIS) constructed within an enclosed trailer. The remedy also included continued ground water extraction at remediation wells as necessary to support in situ bioremediation and to maintain containment of the leading edge plume in the E-Sandstone Unit. There are a few residences to the east and west of the Site. The area in which the Site is located is rural and approximately 75 people live within a one-mile radius of the Site. The ROD for the Site was signed on September 30, 1992.