ATHOL – Described as a “time-bomb,” a large underground heating oil storage tank at the Millers River Environmental Center will soon be removed.
David Small, executive director of the Athol Bird and Nature Club – the group that oversees operations at the center – estimated that the 1,000-gallon tank has been there since the 1970s. Small told the Athol Daily News that it’s been a concern for some time, but the club wasn’t able to secure grant funding to cover the removal costs.
“It’s a time-bomb, basically,” Small said. “It’s underground, it’s perfectly functional at the moment, but they don’t last forever. So my interest was to get it out of the ground, to get new tanks installed inside the building that will cover us for any oil needs we have in the future.”
Small explained that last fall, he obtained bids for the installation of a new tank in the building at 100 Main St. in Athol, a former school which was constructed in 1889. Orange Oil was awarded the contract and constructed a double-walled 400-gallon tank in the basement. Rick Sweares of Entech Environmental Technicians will do the excavation and removal of the tank.
“We had to get several different permits to do that,” said Small. “And when they’re all done with that they’re going to clean the tank of any residue, and they’ll probably produce like a 55-gallon drum of sludge or whatever might have been in the bottom of the tank, and that’s going to be transported by manifest to a specific facility. We haven’t got that permit back yet but we expect it at any moment.”
Small said that, in addition to installing the new tank, Orange Oil drained any oil remaining in the old tank into the new receptacle. An environmental inspector was hired to make sure there was no leakage around the tank and ensure there isn’t any contaminated soil. It’s expected that this will be done within the next month.
The total cost of the work by Orange Oil and Entech was estimated at just over $12,000. Small said the town’s Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee, with the support of Town Manager Shaun Suhoski, authorized the use of $15,000 from the town’s reserve fund to pay for the project.
“This is totally a preventive measure,” Small concluded. “We wanted to get it before anything happened. And the new tank installed in the building is a double-walled, self-contained tank that’s state of the art. Before anything happened, we wanted to make everything safe and secure.”
The tank to be removed is buried about 10 feet from the rear of the building, next to the parking lot. Plans currently call for work on its removal to begin on July 26.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.