Leaking tank removed from Sargent’s Corporation

 September 14, 2006

The Maine DEP oversaw the removal of a leaking oil tank from land owned by Sargent’s Corporation in Stillwater last week. According to Tim Folster of Sargent Corp, the leak was discovered in the outer wall of the double-lined tank during a routine annual inspection.

“As soon as the leak was discovered, the DEP was notified and they managed to removal of the tank,” Folster said.

He added that in the process of removing the tank, the DEP also had to removed some contaminated soil from the area around the tank as well.

“There was a lot of contaminated soil removed from the site,” Cleve Leckey, spokesman for DEP, said. “Quite a bit of it was taken by Thibodeau’s (Construction Company). After he’d taken all that he could, some of it went to Lane Construction.”

Lackey explained that the contaminated soil taken by the construction companies is put into kilns. Once the soil is inside the kilns, the temperature is elevated to a point that causes the contaminants in the soil to evaporate. He said that an unspecified amount of the contaminated soil also went to an unnamed pulp mill and to the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Alton.

“As far as the reason for the leak, no one really knows what caused it,” Lackey said. “It shouldn’t have happened because the tank was double-lined and it was being officially monitored. Whether it’s a problem with this particular generation of tanks, I don’t know.”

Lackey added that the exceptionally large amount of contaminated soil in the area around the tank could be due to the high percentage of clay in the soil. The clay could have been affected by a “drought period” that had affected the local area several years ago.

“We had just come out of that drought period and the clay may have gotten really dry,” he said. “The dryness makes it easier for the contamination to penetrate the clay. If it had stayed wet, there would have been less penetration.”

Lackey said that a portion of the contaminated soil located under a building on Sargent Corporation property was left behind because it was not in danger of “recharging.”

“The rain can’t really get to it because of where it is under the building,” he explained. “The only reason it would have to be removed would be if the building were torn down. Then it would have to be dealt with.”

The leaking tank removed by the DEP was originally installed in 1991. According to Folster, a replacement tank is already in the process of being put into place.

“It’s already out back,” he said.

Sargent Corporation, formerly known as H.E. Sargent, was founded by Herbert Sargent in 1926, and specializes in heavy earth moving, such as site preparation for highways, public works, and airports. In 2000, the Sargent Corporation merged with Sargent & Sargent of Hampden. Sargent Corp employs about 400 workers.