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13 September 2007 <br /> AGE-NC Project No. 96-0232 <br /> Page 3 of 4 <br /> standard over-drill techniques (i.e. hollow stem auger drill techniques) following San Joaquin <br /> County Well Standards. <br /> Flag City Chevron ground water monitoring wells MW-8 through MW-13 are continuous multi- <br /> channel tubing(CMT)wells,and appear to be excessively expensive to decommission to meet San <br /> Joaquin County Well Standards.Because wells MW-8 through MW-13 were each installed utilizing <br /> hollow stem auger drill techniques, the boreholes for each CMT wells are not likely to be <br /> perpendicular to the surface (i.e. straight); it is therefore not likely that each CMT well can be <br /> adequately removed by hollow stem auger by standard over-drilling techniques due to the tendency <br /> of the augers to"stray"outside the original borehole. Additionally,it is not cost effective to utilize <br /> other specialized drill techniques, such as sonic drill or drive-casing drill, due to drilling estimates <br /> exceeding $10,000 per well, with no guarantee of success. <br /> It is our opinion that the highest opportunity for successful destruction of the wells will be to hollow- <br /> out (remove) the "honeycomb" CMT inner chambers followed by pressure grouting. AGE and <br /> Geoprobe® have researched the destruction technique and have determined that the hollow- <br /> out/pressure grouting approach will be the most effective decommissioning technique. <br /> The existing inner diameter of the CMT wells are 1.7-inches. AGE proposes to use a specially- <br /> designed Geoprobe® drive-point, approximately 4-inches long from tip to base and 1.5-inches in <br /> diameter at the base, and 4-foot sections of 1.5-inch diameter steel rods to push the drive-point <br /> through the middle chamber utilizing a van-mounted, Geoprobe® 5400 unit. As the drive point is <br /> advanced downward, the middle polyethylene chamber and the six outer polyethylene CMT <br /> honeycomb chambers should be destroyed and displaced along the inner wall of the CMT tubing. <br /> This will effectively hollow out the inside of the CMT well casing. Thereafter,AGE will continue <br /> the abandonment of all six CMT wells (MW-8 through MW-13) by standard pressure-grouting <br /> techniques. <br /> Due to the unorthodox nature of the proposed CMT well abandonments,AGE is seeking a variance <br /> from the SJCEHD to abandon CMT wells MW-8 through MW-13 by the above Geoprobe®drive- <br /> point technique. AGE proposes to perform the abandonment technique initially on a single CMT <br /> well (i.e. MW-10) to evaluate effectiveness. If the technique is determined successful, it will be <br /> applied to the remaining CMT wells. If the technique is determined to not be successful, then a <br /> traditional drill-out(over-drill)technique will be attempted,utilizing a hollow stem auger drill rig. <br /> Following SJCEHD approval of proposed variance and proposed well abandonment techniques, <br /> AGE will submit a detailed work plan,well abandonment permit and site health and safety plan for <br /> fmal approval. <br /> Advanced GeoEnvironmental,Inc. <br />