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LAW OFFICES OF COON 6c SANFORD P.O. BOX 25918 6 CHANDLER'S WHARF SUITE 2O2 GALLOWS BAY, ST. CROBC U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS OO824-O918 JOHN R. COON MICHAEL J SANFOBD 809-773-3681 8O9-778-81O4 FAX WILLIAM S. H. CHAPMAN June 3, 1993 Mr. Carlo's E. Colon-Franceschi Goldman Antonetti Cordova and Axtmayer P.O. Box 70364 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-0364 Re: Site Access Notice Four Winds Plaza, Tutu St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands i Dear Attorney Colon: As you may be aware, the undersigned represents Western Auto in the litigation and administrative proceedings related to the alleged contamination of the Tutu aquifer on St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Attorney John K. Dema of St. Croix has been kind enough to forward to me a copy of your May 19, 1993, letter advising Four Winds of the intentions of the Tutu Environmental Investigation Committee ("TEIC"). Your letter to Attorney Dema states that you intend to drill a shallow monitoring well (referred to as "Proposed MW 16") in the immediate vicinity of the bays located at the rear of the Western Auto retail store. I have also been furnished by Attorney Dema with a copy of his letter to you of May 20, 1993. After having reviewed this correspondence, and after having spoken at some length with our experts from ENSR about your proposed drilling, I must conclude that I share many of the concerns set forth in Attorney Dema's correspondence to you. , TUT 006 1483 *64788* 64788 Colon-Franceschi/MW 16 June 3, 1993 Obviously the most disturbing problem is posed by the likely existence of perched water sitting above and separated from the aquifer in the area proposed for^the placement of MW 16. The concerns raised by Attorney Dema's May 20, 1993, letter are well founded. Objective evidence supporting the existence of such a shallow reservoir may be found in the reports and field notes of Caribbean Hydro-Tech from November and December of 1992. These reports indicate that while Caribbean Hydro-Tech was drilling shallow test holes for Four Winds in an attempt to locate and establish''the orientation of Underground Storage Tanks in the back parking lot, a soil of densely compacted clay was repeatedly found very near the land surface. In addition, water was repeatedly encountered within inches of the land surface. The existence of these factors strongly suggests the presence of entrapped or perched water in the vicinity of the area proposed for the drilling of MW16. It is axiomatic that the ill-advised drilling of a monitoring well to a depth of twenty feet in this area will certainly work to drain any water and contaminants entrapped in the surface zone directly into the aquifer. This does not strike me as a good idea. It would seem that a better plan might be to perform a preliminary survey of this area before "TEIC" drills MW 16 so that the surficial dynamics could be understood prior to drilling. I would agree with Attorney Dema's suggestions set forth at page 2 of his letter to you with respect to the issues which such a survey should address. Furthermore, any drilling should be done in a manner which insures that the perched water is not drained into the soil underneath the compacted clay layer. Finally, I would request that TEIC give some thought to placing a monitoring well up-gradient from MW 16 for the purpose of determining water quality and soil contamination levels in that area. This would obviously be helpful in an evaluation the source of any amounts of contamination which may be detected in the vicinity of proposed MW 16. TUT OO6 1484 Colon-Franceschi/MW16 June 3, 1993 As you are probably aware, the ownership and responsibility of and for these tanks are matters still in dispute between Western Auto and Attorney Dema's client. While we understand that we may not have standing to object to TElC's procedures with respect to the drilling or placement of MW 16, we hope that you will take our concerns into account. Furthermore, We would request that you provide us with your specific schedule for the drilling of MW 16 and arrange for representatives of ENSR, on our behalf, to obtain split samples 'of any substances obtained by your representatives during the drilling and subsequent monitoring of this well. Thank you for your attention and cooperation and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call. Vary truly yours, John R. Coon cc Andrew Praschak, Esq. Carolyn Kwan, ERA Region II John K. Dema, Esq. Barry Huffman, Esq. TUT O06 1,485