To effectively determine the fate of spilled fuel in the subsurface environment and successfully identify source(s) of spilled petroleum products is, therefore, extremely important in many liability cases. Given the frequent change of ownership and switch of fuel suppliers in many service stations, determination of liability to clean up the fuel-contaminated site will normally require the aids of environmental forensics. Combined and integrated multiple tools are often necessary under such situations. Development of hydrocarbon fingerprinting techniques will continue as analytical and statistical methods evolve. It is anticipated that these developments will further enhance the utility and defensibility of oil hydrocarbon fingerprinting. In particular, diesel fuel contamination is the focus of this study. The objective of this project was to integrate forensic techniques from different aspects, to develop the blueprint of environmental forensics, and to employ various statistical and numerical analysis tools to assess temporal scale when diesel fuel spills occur. Validation and modification of empirical equations developed in our previous work was also performed. There are three major tasks: (1) to develop the blueprint of environmental forensics in terms of soil and groundwater contamination, (2) to provide the procedures and guidelines may be required following the current environmental regulations, (3) To verify the empirical equations to predict the spill time of diesel fuels. In order to validate and modify the empirical equations developed in our previous project, two diesel contaminated gas stations were selected. A gas station was operated by Formosa Petrochemical Corporation and B gas station by CPC Corporation, respectively. Seasonal soil sampling was performed in two sites at three sampling points with different depths. Groundwater sample was collected from one monitoring well. Total petroleum hydrocarbon, characteristic compounds and biomarkers were identified in each sample. Diversity of microorganisms in the subsurface environment was analyzed by next-generation sequencing. By using the empirical equation it was found the fuel leaking time was estimated about 5.39 years in A gas station and 3.33 year for B gas station. Previous work and case studies related to assessment of the value of environmental evidence in the investigation of crime, identification of environmental legislation and examine its application to examples of environmental pollution, analytical sciences used in the detection and investigation of crimes against the environment were generated to fulfill the need for future development in the aspect of soil and groundwater contamination. Environmental forensics has been an integral tool for site assessments and other environmental investigations. Significant advances have been made over the past 20+ years with regard to detailed compositional analysis of various contaminants, often referred to as “chemical fingerprinting”. In addition to analytical testing, there is a multitude of graphing and statistical methods which are employed due to the fact that most site assessments have multiple possible sources of the contaminant in question. Also there may be need from the legal aspects, therefore, the blueprint for future development of environmental forensic in the aspects of forensic technique development, regulation establishment, and operation procedures were organized in this project for purpose of environmental administration.

Environmental Forensics, Diesel Leaking age dating, Development Strategy Planning