Levant gasoline cleanup almost complete, state says

LEVANT – More than three years after an estimated 200 gallons of gasoline leaked into the ground at a now-abandoned Route 222 convenience store, the cleanup effort is just wrapping up.

Paving crews will get to work next week in one of the final steps of a process to remove contamination from the 2002 spill at the former Piper’s Country Store, according to Jean Flannery, project manager for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“This one’s actually gone pretty efficiently,” Flannery said Wednesday, adding that some gasoline contamination cleanups take five to 10 years.

DEP crews have worked at the site three or four times a month since the February 2002 spill, when officials blamed an ice buildup for breaking a valve on one of two 5,000-gallon tanks at the store.

The owner at that time was Jeff Canwell. The store has since been abandoned, but some food remains inside.

Both tanks, a pump island and underground piping have been removed, and testing of area residential wells for MTBE confirm the water is satisfactory to drink, Flannery said.

MTBE, or methyl tertiary-butyl ether, has been widely used as a gasoline additive to increase octane levels.

Water quality was checked in about three dozen homes in the area, including at developments on the Black Stream Road and Sunny Acres Drive, on either side of Route 222. The water in the vast majority of those wells tested satisfactory for drinking, though three wells were replaced, Flannery said.

Trace levels of MTBE have been detected at one well that will continue to be monitored for the next six months, she said. The contamination could have originated from the convenience store leak or another source, such as an overfilled lawn mower, she said.

“It may or may not be related to the spill,” Flannery said.

On the store property, tests of the ground under a cement dike came back with the surprising results that no soil required removal, Flannery said.

“We were really expecting there to be something left,” she said.

In 2002, an estimated 320 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed, Flannery said.

Soon after the DEP finishes work on the site, the New York bank foreclosing on the property likely will put the store back on the market, she said.

Vacant for more than two years, the abandoned store still contains packaged food and other debris.

Worries about the smell and potential safety risks prompted Town Manager Scott Pullen, who is also Levant’s health officer, to contact the state Bureau of Health and Department of Agriculture.

Those state departments have yet to perform any work at the store. The DEP, however, is happy with its cleanup effort, Flannery said.

“Everything went well,” she said.