Former Flying A: Sterling Savings cleans up soil mess left by gas tanks

A 3 kings excavator digs up contaminated soil

Excavation crews from 3 Kings of Battleground have been called in to clean up soil under the Sterling Savings parking lot in Colfax. The soil was contaminated with oil by a service station that used to be on the bank site.

The soil appears to have been contaminated by a pair of gas tanks that were filled in and left underground when the service station shut down.

An 8,000-gallon tank sits beneath the south foundation of the building. Because of its location, the tank will not be removed. Workers for 3 Kings said it will be filled in with a sand and gravel composite mix to add stability.

Environmental engineer Peter Trabusiner said the oil contamination could seep into groundwater and poses a potential threat to fish in the nearby Palouse River.

Trabusiner is managing the project for Blue Mountain Environmental Management of the Tri-Cities, which has been hired by Sterling to oversee the cleanup.

Doug Ladwig, an eastern region site manager with the state Department of Ecology, credited Sterling with taking the initiative to clean up the site.

Ladwig said contamination was discovered on the site while crews were monitoring a contamination clean-up site across Main Street. Clean up of that contamination site was completed by Time Oil, Cougar FoodMart and the Colfax Grange Supply.

Ladwig said contamination of the two sites did not appear to be related.

Samples from monitoring wells between the two sites showed the two contamination sites were not linked.

Trabusiner said the tanks were still in solid condition. A larger 10,000-gallon tank, which was underneath the exit lane of the bank’s drive-thru window, was dug up and cut into scrap.

When the gas station closed down, the tanks were filled with sand and water. The remaining gas in the tanks likely seeped out through pipes and into the soil.

The original station on the site was a Flying A, but was later leased to Mobil Oil, which then leased the station to local management.

Don Maier, now of LaCrosse, operated the station for years before handing over the reins to Bill Hubbard, now of Lewiston.

Hubbard told the Gazette Monday he sold the business in 1973, and it was turned into a Goodyear Tire store for a few years before it was converted into a bank in the late 1970s.