Contamination Found at Leesburg Gas Station Very Minor, Owner Says
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
LEESBURG – The owner of a Leesburg gas station which was reported to the state as the site of an underground leak said the contamination was minor enough that he doesn’t expect the state to take action. Greg Cobb, who runs Freedom Oil LLC in Warsaw, said Thursday the underground release found when tanks were unearthed beneath Leesburg Freedom Express is only a fraction of what the Indiana Department of Environmental Management considers actionable. The gas station on Ind. 15 was recently torn down to make way for a bigger Freedom Express nearby. Active Environmental of Indianapolis sampled 22 spots in the ground cavity and along the lines of the old gas tanks, Cobb said. No ground contaminants were detected at 21 of those spots. The concentration of leakage in the 22nd sample was only 1.65 mg/kg, which Cobb noted is only a fraction of the 180 mg/kg threshold for IDEM remediation. He added the tank itself tested at only 1.62 mg/kg, which will be submitted to the state in a later report. In addition, Active Environmental found no traces of lead in surrounding water, Sherry Jordan with IDEM’s Leaking Underground Storage Tank program said Thursday. By law the discovery of any released regulated substance at an underground storage site requires Active Environmental to notify the state, which they did Tuesday with the recommendation that IDEM allow the old tank site to be closed with no further action required. Cobb said he’s “99.9 percent sure” that the state will approve the request. “It’s a non-event if you want the truth of the matter,” he remarked. “It’s not even on IDEM’s radar.” He said construction of the new gas station is on track, with the foundation to be installed next week followed by new underground tanks Aug. 6 and the canopy Aug. 19. The new Leesburg Freedom Express will feature a convenience store with Noble Roman’s pizza and eight fueling positions.
