Source: http://www.oregonlive.com, July 25, 2014
By: Kelsey O’Halloran
Bob Huston knows doing the right thing can be costly.
But in the Banks School District Superintendent’s case, doing the right thing is going to cost $30,000 or more.
The district’s construction crew three weeks ago unearthed a 1,000-gallon fuel tank while building a concrete plaza near the high school stadium.
The district had no record of the tank, and no idea how much gasoline had leaked into the soil around it in the decades since it was last used.
Initial estimates for removing the fuel tank and pulling any gasoline-contaminated soil from the area were as much as $12,000.
Now 100 tons of contaminated soil later — and with 100 to 200 more to come out July 25 — Huston said cleanup estimates are pushing $30,000 or more and don’t include the cost of replacing clean soil in the area.
He said the tank is likely 60 to 80 years old, and may have been used to fuel driver education cars at the school, or to fill up tractors farming nearby fields.
“We’re frustrated at this point,” Huston said. “Our goal was to have it done Aug. 25.”
He said the gasoline that leaked from the tank seems to have spread toward the track, forcing crews to remove the wooden footings that were recently put in place for pouring concrete.
He hopes to finish the cleanup and continue with regular construction on the $200,000 plaza, a simple concrete platform near the grandstands and bathroom, in the next week.
Huston said Banks High School and the surrounding area receives city water, so no wells are at risk of gasoline contamination.