StarPress Online - 1 Nov 2010 (Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana) BLIGHT WATCH: Contaminated former gas station being cleaned up The property at Walnut Street and Memorial Drive is one of thousands of leaking underground storage tank sites in Indiana. *By SETH SLABAUGH* *? * ? November 1, 2010 MUNCIE -- Portland-based Jay Petroleum is removing an estimated 5,500 tons of gasoline-contaminated soil from the site of a former Sunoco service station at Walnut Street and Memorial Drive. About 275 dump truckloads of soil are being hauled away to a landfill. If you stood for even a few moments and watched the excavation recently, you could detect a strong smell of gasoline. Nearly 9,000 leaking underground sites have been cleaned up in Indiana, and about 2,200 sites remain to be addressed. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management learns of about 180 new sites that have releases each year. "The contractor for Jay Petroleum has demolished the gas station and the Wray house," said Barry Sneed, a spokesman for IDEM. "They will be excavating the two properties to remove an estimated 5,500 tons of contaminated soil, then they will backfill with clean fill." Jeffrey Wray, a computer technician at Ball Memorial Hospital, filed a lawsuit in 2008 claiming the owners of the former gas station failed to warn him that the soil and ground water beneath his house at 1821 S. Walnut St. were contaminated. Wray, Jay Petroleum and Sunoco later filed a joint motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Jay Petroleum operates three dozen Pak-A-Sak convenience stores throughout East Central Indiana and West Central Ohio. IDEM is overseeing the cleanup. The contamination also spread underground to Aunt Millie's Thrift Store, a bakery at 101 W. Memorial Drive, across the street. Sunoco operated a gas station at the northwest corner of Memorial and Walnut from 1953 until 1982, and Jay Petroleum operated it from 1982 through 1988. Jay Petroleum began assessing the site in 2001, when total petroleum hydrocarbons were detected in soil samples. After the tests, the defendants allegedly failed to notify Wray of the contamination. A ground water sample from a monitoring well just outside Wray's basement detected benzene levels of 4,160 parts per billion. IDEM requires closure of residential properties when benzene levels reach 5 ppb. Wray's parents, both of whom died of cancer, lived in the house for many years. Exposure to benzene can cause cancer. Jay Petroleum is applying oxygen replacement compounds while excavating the soil to enhance the biodegradation of any remaining petroleum in the soil, said Mark Breting, a geologist hired by the company. No ground water treatment system has been installed yet. The ground water will continue to be monitored after the cleanup to determine if any treatment is needed. Soil at the site is being excavated to a depth of 12 feet. Since 1988, thousands of leaking underground storage tank sites have been cleaned up in Indiana, while several thousand more remain to be addressed, including several hundred in East Central Indiana. *This story is part of a weekly series looking at blighted properties around Muncie. To suggest a property for the series, e-mail the address and a brief description to seths@muncie.gannett.com or awalker@muncie.gannett.com , or mail it to The Star Press, Local News Desk, P.0. Box 2408, Muncie, Ind. 47307.*