Published: September 05, 2008 11:21 pm         

Soil tests performed at gas station

IDEM awaiting test results confirming clean-up.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is awaiting the results of tests performed at a Logansport gas station to make sure the cleanup of a recent spill has been successful.

Soil scientists were at McClure Oil at 300 Burlington Ave. two weeks ago to conduct a soil investigation into a leaking underground storage tank, IDEM public relations officer Barry Sneed confirmed this week.

The leak has been taken care of, and test results confirming that the site has met cleanup requirements are expected in the next few weeks. If the results come back clean, no further action will be required.

IDEM asked for the investigation after a report of a spill, Sneed said in a telephone interview. The spill was caused by equipment failure.

“Petroleum products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel and heating oil are made of many chemicals that have the potential to cause health problems,” according to statements on IDEM’s Web site. “The health effects can range from skin and respiratory irritation, to dizziness and headaches, to cancer.”

Leaking tanks, 95 percent of which store petroleum products, can easily contaminate ground water, the site said. A small town’s drinking water can be spoiled with just three gallons of gasoline.

But Sneed characterized this situation as common and not harmful. Still, there are two groundwater-monitoring wells near the station and Sneed added that if soil contamination had gone any farther, it could have presented a dangerous situation.

Troy Risk Inc., an environmental consulting firm representing McClure Oil, approached the Logansport Board of Public Works and Safety on Aug. 20, asking for right of way access to perform two 16-foot vertical soil borings, according to the agency’s request.

With the board’s approval, the agency did the drilling the next day and submitted soil samples to IDEM.

Troy Risk Inc. soil scientist Jason Shriner declined to comment, confirming only that he did take water and soil samples from the site. Inquiries to the manager at the local McClure Oil station were referred to the company’s headquarters in Marion, but Kelly McClure, the company’s vice president for operations, said she had no knowledge of the soil investigation.

For now, the station has been designated as the site of an active leaking underground storage tank and is in remediation while test results are pending, Sneed said.

Currently, IDEM is monitoring 2,654 leaking storage tanks in Indiana. That number represents sites “in some phase of environmental investigation, clean-up or confirmatory sampling,” said IDEM public relations officer Amy Hartsock.

Brian Rosenthal can be reached at (574) 732-5148, or via e-mail at Brian.Rosenthal@pharostribune.com