Pre-construction activities may start at Harbor Point – with groundbreaking of the sealed cap for the Exelon Tower expected next month – under the latest decision by the Environmental Protection Agency and Maryland Department of the Environment.

The agencies, as expected, announced approval of the project’s air monitoring plan today.

The plan was ratified after regulators required revisions to the developer’s proposed construction to include testing methodologies sanctioned by the EPA and ASTM International, a leader in testing standards, Jay Apperson, MDE spokesman, said this afternoon.

The standards were devised to ensure strict construction standards at the proposed $1 billion office, apartment and retail complex along Fells Point’s western shoreline.

Limiting Release of Hazardous Dust

The approval is in accordance with the requirements of a consent decree between the agencies and Honeywell International, owner of the now-razed Allied Chemical factory where thousands of pounds of toxic hexavalent chromium were buried and sealed in the ground.

The Beatty Development Group will penetrate the five-foot cap with more than 1,100 piles and several open pits to construct the 22-story Exelon Tower.

Over many months of back and forth, the developer submitted plans to the EPA and MDE on how the excavation would be handled to limit the release of dust containing chromium. Some of the contaminated soil will be trucked out the site in sealed containers.

Air monitoring of the construction will be done by the developer’s contractors under the supervision of the agencies. State inspectors will be on-site during key construction activities, Apperson said.

“The purpose of the construction air monitoring program is to provide confidence that construction activities do not increase the ambient air levels of hexavalent chromium to levels that might affect public health,” Apperson said.

“The approved construction air monitoring plan includes a framework to establish an ‘action level’ for dust that indicates when levels of hexavalent chromium in the air might be present and could affect public health. The agencies are reviewing results of pre-construction, on- and off-site air monitoring for particular matter and hexavalent chromium to determine an appropriate action level for dust.”

Important Milestone

If monitoring shows that dust levels have elevated, a series of steps will be taken, including the suspension of construction, as the “disturbed area” undergoes watering and other dust-suppression treatment, Apperson said.

Off-site air monitors will be located at the Baltimore Aquarium in the Inner Harbor and at the Oldtown Fire Station.

The agreement marks an important milestone for developer Michael Beatty. The Exelon Tower was originally scheduled for a June 2014 opening, but is many months behind schedule.

The waterfront development – to be underwritten with $107 million in city bonds for construction of public parks, roads and other infrastructure – has been highly controversial. A leading critic, Stelios Spiliadis, has installed his own sampling system to monitor air quality at his hotel opposite the construction site on South Caroline Street.

The Beatty Group is required to make results of the air sampling available online. MDE will also post results on its website, Apperson said.