Still no owner for contaminated site

Feb 28, 2008

POWASSAN – Despite Powassan council putting pressure on the municipality’s environmental consultant to move forward with cleaning up the former Suny’s gas station property in Trout Creek, the issue remains stagnant.

In an e-mail message to council presented at its Feb. 19 meeting, Brian Hachkowski, the consultant responsible for the file, said he had been “in routine contact with TSSA (the Technical Standards and Safety Authority) regarding the decommissioning of Suny’s Service Station,” but that TSSA’s environmental co-ordinator Stephen Hoyle had not yet confirmed a meeting date.

“As it now stands, TSSA has spoken to Suny’s Petroleum and Suny’s denies ownership of anything in Trout Creek,” said Hachkowski, “even though TSSA has shown them the file report. TSSA has told me that without anyone admitting ownership, they have no one to write a Ministerial Order to have the tanks removed and clean up the site.”

Council has been working with Hachkowski’s company, Integrated Earth and Environmental, since 2006 to have TSSA remove the tanks, all ancilliary equipment and contaminated soils from the property and to“have the site cleaned up as per their mandate and EPA requirements,” he said.

Council has previously made attempts to involve the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) in the cleanup, but ministry officials have indicated that all such property is under the jurisdiction of TSSA and that the MOE will only become involved if there is evidence contamination from the property is leaching off of the site.

“It appears at the moment that nothing is happening,” said Mayor Bob Young, “but we did give Integrated Earth and Environmental to the end of March for something to happen. If nothing has been accomplished by then, we will have no other choice but to permanently fence off the property.”

While Trout Creek residents have long requested something be done to clean up the deserted gas station in hope of having a new fuel facility move to the location, the costs have been estimated at $250,000. If the municipality were to act to take back ownership of the property for back taxes, it would then become liable for the cleanup costs which would have to come out of the municipal tax base.