United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste And
Emergency Response
(5401G)
EPA510-F-01-005
September 2001
www.epa.gov/oust
USTFIELDS PILOTS
Canaan
Belmont
Concord
Manchester
Nashua
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Last year EPA's Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) launched the
USTfields Pilot program, which is helping states address contamination from
federally-regulated underground storage tanks (USTs) at idle or abandoned
commercial properties known as "brownfields." Cleanup of petroleum
contamination is generally excluded from coverage under EPA's Brownfields
program, so EPA provided 10 pilot states with up to $100,000 of LUST
Trust funds each to cover the costs of petroleum cleanups at Brownfields
sites. Using the pilot funds, each state is working with Brownfields
communities to assess, clean up, and monitor petroleum-impacted UST sites.
The cleanup of these sites is removing barriers to their reuse and allowing
communities to return them to productive use.
Background
EPA selected the State of New Hampshire as an USTfields Pilot
to help the state with the environmental problems created by
petroleum-impacted underground storage tank sites. Using
USTfields Pilot funds, New Hampshire is working with eight
municipalities to address their underground storage tank sites.
These sites pose potential health threats and occupy idle land that
could otherwise be used productively. The state will work with
the eight communities to determine their sites' environmental
status and to clean up petroleum contamination. In this fact
sheet, five of these communities are highlighted: Nashua,
Canaan, Manchester, Concord, and Belmont. The State of New
Hampshire has also received four EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot grants to investigate and plan for the
cleanup of brownfields. As a Brownfields Pilot state, New
Hampshire is able to address multiple communities under the
USTfields program.
What follows is a description of how the partnership among
EPA, the State of New Hampshire, and local communities is
removing barriers to the reuse of petroleum-contaminated land at
seven sites in five communities in the state.
Partners
State of New Hampshire
Department of Environmental
Services (DBS)
City of Nashua
Town of Canaan
City of Manchester
City of Concord
Town of Belmont
Town of Bradford
Town of Claremo nt
Town of Greenfield
Petroleum Reimbursement
Fund
ExxonMobil
B&M Railroad
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USTfields PILOTS - NEW HAMPSHIRE
Nashua
The City of Nashua is the recipient of an
EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot. Currently, the city
and state are funding a $36.5 million
project to build the Broad Street Parkway,
which will be a two-mile long, four- lane
road designed to relieve traffic congestion
in the area. There are several underground
storage tank sites that will have to be
addressed as part of this development,
since part or all of the affected parcels will
have to be taken by imminent domain.
The parkway will also increase the
visibility and marketability of nearby
properties, creating opportunities for those
properties that are currently abandoned or
underutilized. The city is focusing its initial efforts on the Whitney Screw site.
A developer has purchased the note on the Whitney Screw property for less than $100,000
and will redevelop the property if the information obtained by the city indicates that cleanup
is manageable. The developer will restore several historically significant existing buildings
for retail and warehouse use. The city has held several community meetings to discuss the
redevelopment plans. There is widespread community acceptance of the proposed building
reuse by a flooring company and a wholesale-retail bicycle company. Site investigation
work has begun under the Brownfields Pilot and geophysical surveys have been completed.
USTfields Pilot work is scheduled to begin the summer of 2001.
Challenges
There have been many problems at the Whitney Screw site. The property has three feet of
floating gasoline product and four abandoned underground storage tanks. EPA Brownfields
Pilot funds cannot pay for the cleanup of the floating gasoline because of the petroleum
exclusion. The state's Petroleum Reimbursement Fund also cannot cover the cost of the
cleanup at this time because the property is not in compliance with underground storage tank
rules. In addition, the former owner of Whitney Screw misled the New Hampshire
Department of Environmental Services (DES) regarding a December 1998 tank upgrade
deadline status. The bankrupt former owner of the property owes Nashua $350,000 in back
taxes and has defaulted on a $2 million note. Under the USTfields Pilot assessment,
however, the DES will assess and remove the underground storage tanks to bring the facility
into compliance. Removal of the tanks will make the site eligible for the Petroleum
Reimbursement Fund, which then will be used to clean up the floating product problem.
This will enable the developer to obtain financing, foreclose on the note, and then start the
redevelopment process.
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USTfields PILOTS - NEW HAMPSHIRE
Canaan
The State of New Hampshire is working
with the Town of Canaan to address
petroleum contamination at five former
service stations in downtown Canaan. The
town has a population of 3,323, many of
whom are concerned about pollution
problems and the economic decline of the
downtown area. These concerns led
community members to form the Friends
of Canaan Main Street and Promote
Canaan to help revitalize Canaan and its
downtown.
During a sewer installation project in
1989, workers found ignitable soils and
underground storage tanks at the former service stations. Addressing these properties was
not a priority until recently, partially due to the low property value of the stations and their
owners' lack of resources. Two of the gasoline stations are near the town's recreational
complex; these two properties will either be acquired by the town for recreational expansion
or used for a restaurant or retail business.
At a town meeting attended by state representatives,
Promote Canaan and Friends of Canaan Main Street
highlighted the town's efforts toward reversing economic
decline and addressing pollution. USTfields Pilot funds
will help Canaan's efforts to clean up the inactive
underground storage tank sites and revitalize the downtown
area. In response to that meeting, the state's Petroleum
Reimbursement Fund helped expedite a major soil removal
at one former service station and soil sampling at the
currently active gas station. Site investigations at three
former stations were completed using USTfields Pilot
funds. Negotiations with the former owner of the Webster
Motors tanks will result in partial cost recovery.
Challenges
Several downtown businesses have had difficulty obtaining
financing for their redevelopment efforts because of
concerns about the downtown pollution problems. The
cleanup of underground storage tanks will help remove the
stigma of petroleum contamination, thereby improving investment opportunities.
Until the mid-1980s, most
underground storage tanks
(USTs) were made of bare steel.
which is likely to corrode over
time and allow a tank's contents
to leak. Faulty installation or
inadequate operation and
maintenance can also cause
tanks to leak. The greatest
potential hazard from a leaking
underground storage tank is that
the petroleum or other
hazardous substance can seep
into the soil and groundwater,
the source of drinking water for
nearly half of all Americans.
Leaking tanks can present other
health and environmental risks,
including the potential for fire
and explosion.
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USTfields PILOTS - NEW HAMPSHIRE
Manchester
New Hampshire is working with
the City of Manchester to clean up
an underground storage tank site
near Manchester's key riverfront
millyard district. Manchester is the
largest city in New Hampshire with
approximately 106,000 residents.
Manchester is home to the New
Hampshire Symphony, the
Manchester Historic Association,
and other cultural venues. The
construction of a new Civic Center
is nearing completion in downtown
Manchester. The Rubenstein
parcel is a critical component of
Manchester's solution to a severe
millyard and Civic Center parking
shortage and would also provide additional parking for the nearby Singer Family Park. The
Rubenstein family, former owners of the parcel, donated the land to the City of Manchester.
The parcel formerly contained an aboveground tank as well as underground storage tanks and
is contaminated with petroleum and chlorinated organic contaminants.
Accomplishments
As part of the USTfields Pilot Initiative, the city determined that the best approach to
completing environmental work at this site would be to convince the original owner of the
tanks, B&M Railroad, to conduct the initial site investigation work. Completion of the site
investigation would then trigger coverage of the site under the state's Petroleum
Reimbursement Fund. B&M Railroad agreed to partner with DBS and the City of
Manchester and completed its site investigation work in the fall of 2000. The city agreed to
finish the remaining environmental work. As part of this work, the city completed the
removal of contaminated soil during the summer of 2001 and has filed for reimbursement
from the Fund. The USTfields Pilot expedited the approvals and environmental reviews to
mesh the environmental work with overall project reuse deadlines. The city finished grading
and paving the parcel for a parking lot to help alleviate a parking shortage and has already
leased some of the parking spaces. The lot also provides parking spaces for special events
held at the Singer Family Park.
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USTfields PILOTS - NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord
New Hampshire is working with the
City of Concord's Opportunity
Corridor Brownfields Demonstration
Pilot and ExxonMobil to assess and
clean up a former gas station. Concord
is the state capitol and has a population
of approximately 37,000. It is
recognized as one of the most
desirable communities in New
Hampshire in which to live and work
because of its low unemployment rate,
excellent public and private schools,
and vibrant cultural community.
An underground storage tank site in
the city, the South Main Mobil Station,
operated from the early 1940s until it closed in the 1970s. It has been boarded up ever since.
A pump-and-treat system was installed shortly after the station closed, but it no longer
operates. The station is near exit 13 off of Interstate 1-93, and recent changes to the Interstate
exit have made the station more noticeable. Concord would like to create an aesthetically
pleasing entrance to the city by cleaning up and redeveloping this site. The city has already
invested in improvements to the landscape near this prominent southern gateway to the city,
including placing period-style street lamps near the station.
Accomplishments
As part of the USTfields Pilot Initiative, DES contacted ExxonMobil and created a
partnership focused on accelerating the cleanup of the South Main Mobil Station. As part of
the cleanup effort, the existing structure has been demolished and oxygen-releasing
compounds will be injected below the water table in August 2001 in order to accelerate site
cleanup. The public's reaction to the demolition was overwhelmingly positive, and area
residents are now enthusiastic about the project. A city manager explained to the Concord
Monitor, "We had this wart right in the middle of all the good work that's being done."
(http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/local/gasstationgone.shtml\ With the help of the USTfields
Pilot that "wart" is being removed.
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USTfields PILOTS - NEW HAMPSHIRE
Belmont
New Hampshire is working with the Town
of Belmont to clean up the Belmont Gulf
Service Station. Located on the town's
main street, the station has been
abandoned for over a decade.
Underground storage tanks and buildings
have been removed, but debris, rubble, and
buried solid waste still remain. The
current owner has not paid property taxes
since the late 1980s and failed to
reimburse the state for a 1996 emergency
drum removal. Based on the progress
made at the site under the USTfields Pilot,
the Town of Belmont has taken the
property for back taxes. The town will
convert the service station lot into a parking lot to provide access to the adjacent land-locked
forest.
Accomplishments
Using USTfields funds, DES completed the site investigation. During the site assessment,
DBS removed all underground piping and underground storage tank related equipment. A
contractor who removed underground storage tanks in the 1980s provided the town with
information regarding two remaining tanks buried on the property. Based on this
information, DES's contractor found a buried underground storage tank that still contained
gasoline. The existence of the tank will make the site eligible for the Petroleum
Reimbursement Fund. Fund eligibility is key to long-term management of the site based on
the area of gasoline-contaminated soil found during site
investigation. As a part of the USTfields Pilot, the tank
was removed from the site in the summer of 2001 and soil
borings will be completed in the fall of 2001 to investigate
a small gasoline contaminated soil source area.
EPA Region 1
Bill Torrey
(617)918-1311
torrey.bill@epa.gov
New Hampshire
Department of
Environmental Services
Gary Lynn
(603)271-8873
glynn@des.state.nh.us
For more information
about USTfields Pilots,
visit the EPA Web site at
www.epa.gov/oust/ustfield
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