Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

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    GAS STATION CONTAMINATION
December 1, 2009

Agency may sue for Front, Division cleanup

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY and SHERI McWHIRTER

TRAVERSE CITY -- A Grand Traverse County agency may sue to force former gas station owners to pay more than $2 million in cleanup costs at one of the county's top pollution sites at the West Front and Division streets' intersection.

Historical leaks from buried tanks at gas stations on the four corners left gasoline floating on top of the water table and saturated in soil beneath the intersection, said Ann Emington, DEQ senior geologist in its Cadillac office.

A gasoline-contaminated groundwater plume has migrated from the site to within a couple blocks of West Grand Traverse Bay.

The county's brownfield redevelopment authority told its attorney in September to investigate whether it can recover more than $475,000 in cleanup costs for one of the corners. The authority will consider a recommendation from attorney Scott Howard to begin legal proceedings against 23 potentially liable parties when it meets at 8 a.m. Dec. 3 in the Governmental Center.

"From my perspective, it's very much the right thing to do if there are liable parties out there and the contamination is still out there and needs to be cleaned up," Howard said.

Garfield Township Supervisor and brownfield board member Chuck Korn said he expects the agency to take action.

"There's a tremendous expense in mitigating that cloud of gasoline that's headed for the bay, ... and that bay is pretty important to us," Korn said.

Emington said contamination will remain a perpetual problem until all gasoline is removed, both what's floating on top of the water table and what's buried beneath.

The DEQ estimates a treatment system will cost $2 million to install and operate for one year, but will require several years to be effective. Emington said the DEQ already spent almost $2 million before it halted cleanup action in 2004.

Two other treatment systems operate at the intersection, but state and county officials said the efforts aren't adequate.

"It's kind of like making the minimum payment on a big credit card debt; it never gets paid off," Korn said.

The brownfield authority entered the case when a group of Traverse City doctors purchased the old Scamehorn Shell site on the southwest corner and agreed to front an estimated $476,000 to remove soil and sink wells to pump out gasoline.

The brownfield authority will reimburse the doctors by capturing property taxes on the new medical office building erected on the site.

The authority also applied for a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for some cleanup at the intersection.

Howard recommended the authority seek repayment for its costs and seek an injunction to force cleanup that addresses contamination from the other corners, including Total Petroleum, Grand Traverse Union 76 and Finch's Amoco.

The first step is to notify those targeted parties they have 60 days to present evidence that they are not responsible for pollution, he said.

The list of potential defendants includes regional firms Blarney Castle Oil Co. and Schmuckal Oil Co.; large oil concerns such as BP Inc., Shell Oil, Amoco Oil Co. and Total Petroleum, and individuals who have owned or rented the properties during the time leaks occurred.

Howard also recommends the authority ask the county board and Traverse City Commission to join the lawsuit as plaintiffs to avoid "any criticism that the brownfield authority as an appointed board is acting without the advice and consent of the elected bodies."

The authority would not ask the city or county to share in lawsuit costs that Howard said could reach $200,000.

Howard said he expects the DEQ will join the suit, though it showed no interest in initiating legal action.

"I think it would complicate things for them if they don't and tried to sue later on to recover their costs," Howard said. "If they want to get in on this they'll need to do it now."

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