SKOWHEGAN – Maine Department of Environmental Protection officials have been on site at Route 201 Irving gas station most of the summer, and local officials said Wednesday that the cleanup of a major gasoline leak is far from complete.

“The contractor hired to remove the contaminated soil has estimated that 1,000 tons of material will have to be removed,” Skowhegan Fire Chief Dan Adams said.

The leak was first discovered in April, when regular checks and balances at the station kept turning up missing gas. Apparently, some piping to the underground tank was leaking into the ground under and around the station and into a nearby stream that runs next to the station and Burger King Restaurant.

Adams said Irving Oil Co. conducted test borings earlier this year and dug test pits, tested area wells and mediated the stream contamination.

The oil and hazardous material specialist that is handling the spill, John Andrews of DEP, was away this week but Adams said that the cleanup is far from winding down.

The new tanks have been offloaded at the Irving station on Route 201 in Fairfield, he said, while contaminated soil is removed.

Excavation of the soil around the station may go down at least 17 feet, Adams said.

“It appears a pool of gas is sitting about 17 feet down on a clay shelf,” the chief said Wednesday.

Adams said the DEP is monitoring the cleanup and has approved mediation efforts at the stream, where there is a weir and dam in place.

The station and Big Stop are open during the process, Adams said.

All of the contaminated soil and the two existing underground tanks will be removed eventually, Adams said, and it is hoped that the contaminated soil does not reach under Route 201.