Overview:
For several years, Rosalia citizens had talked about “doing something” with the old Texaco gas station located downtown at the intersection of 4th and Whitman Street. Referred to as the Jensen Texaco Station, (originally named Central Service Station) the original building was built and owned by Cecil Palmer in 1923. Several ideas discussed around town were a drive-in hamburger stop, a museum and a visitor’s center. Local attorney Don Sheahan contacted the owners of the property with the idea of donating the property to the Chamber of Commerce if it could be restored and utilized in a positive way for the good of the community. Don also contacted Mike Boatsman of the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) Toxics Cleanup Program about the problems/needs of the underground storage tanks (USTs) buried on the property.
History
October 2001:
Don Sheahan, a founding coordinator of the Rosalia Visitor’s and Interpretive Center Committee, met with the Ecology to discuss what resources might be available to help the community resolve environmental cleanup issues associated with the former Jensen Texaco Site.
This former retail gas station originally opened in 1923 and operated continuously until it was abandoned in the mid 1980s. It was known that there were at least two underground storage tanks (USTs) left in place. It was also suspected that the original USTs may were still on-site. There was reason to believe that historic releases of petroleum from these tanks had contaminated soils at the site. Concerns with petroleum contamination and potential liability precluded this otherwise desirable property from being acquired or restored.
Don was advised that there were no available State resources at that time. However, Ecology was considering nominating sites for grant funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST). The EPA created the USTfields Initiative in 2000. "USTfields" are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial properties where revitalization is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination from underground storage tanks. The USTfields Initiative was launched in November 2000 with the announcement that 10 states had been awarded USTfields Pilot grants of up to $100,000 each from the LUST Trust Fund to assess, clean up, and ready for reuse high priority petroleum-impacted Brownfields sites. In August 2001 EPA announced that an additional 40 USTfields Pilots would be competitively selected.
With the information provided by Don and further developed by Ecology it was determined that this would be an appropriate nominee for one of the 40 available grants.
November 2001:
Ecology nominated 3 sites in the State of Washington for consideration for an USTfield Pilot project grant. The Rosalia site was one of those nominated.
July 1, 2002:
- EPA announced that Rosalia was one of 40 sites awarded an USTfield pilot grant.
- (link to Ecology’s letter of 8/28/2002 or to EPA http://www.epa.gov/swerust1/ustfield/40pr.pdf)
Following the awarding of the EPA grant, Ecology further evaluated the developing plans of the community and identified non-UST related environmental concerns that would not be addressed by the EPA grant. Updated site plans were now considering the removal of an automotive service building constructed at the back of the site in the 1960s. It was determined that this building represented a potential source of contamination that would need to be resolved.
Ecology committed to funding the cleanup of non-UST related contamination at this site through the state’s Clean Sites Initiative. The Clean Sites Initiative money is a limited source of funding dedicated to clean up sites and foster economic development where cleanup efforts have been delayed or otherwise determined to be inadequate.
May 2003:
Ecology prepared a comprehensive bid specification package in May 2003 that provided for the following:
USTfield Pilot Grant Funding
- Removal of all the USTs and associated dispensers and piping on the site.
- Characterization of the extent and nature of any contamination associated with the USTs.
- Excavation and off-site treatment of petroleum contaminated soils associated with the USTs.
Ecology Clean Sites Initiative Funding
- Removal of the adjacent automotive service building, hydraulic hoist and sump.
- Excavation and off-site treatment of contaminated soils associated with service building.
- Characterization of the extent and nature of any contamination associated with the automotive service building.
As a result of the competitive bid process the general contract for the project was awarded in May 2003.
The contractors for the project included:
- General Contractor:
- Pacific Environmental Services
- Airway Heights, WA
- Bill Cusick, Project Manager
- http://home.pes.com/Default.htm
- Environmental Services Contractor:
- SLR International Corp.
- Spokane, WA
- Rob Lindsay, Environmental Consultant
- http://www.slrcorp.com/home.html
- Building Demolition and Trucking
- Piersol Construction
- Rosalia, WA
- Maurice Piersol, Contractor
June 2003:
- Work at the site began on June 5, 2003 and was completed by June 30, 2003.
- A total of five (5) USTs were removed from the site including the following:
- No. Capacity (gal.) Product Date Installed
- 2 4,000 Gasoline 1960s (Closed in approximately 1985)
- 1 1,000 Gasoline 1923 (Likely closed in 1960s)
- 2 300 Gasoline 1920s (Likely closed in 1960s)
A total of approximately 550 tons of petroleum contaminated soils were removed from 3 separate UST excavations.
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