WALLAGRASS, Maine — As remediation crews and Department of Environmental Protection officials continue to clean up the aftermath of a gas spill in the community earlier this month, Wallagrass residents will get a chance on Wednesday night to meet with DEP staff to ask questions about the situation.
Samantha Depoy-Warren, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said recently that DEP staff will be at the Wallagrass Elementary School from 6 to 8 p.m. for an informal drop-in session. Residents can stop in and DEP staffers will be available to meet with individual homeowners and answer questions.
Crews continue to filter well water around the site, and roadside filtration and recovery of the spilled gasoline in ditches downhill of the spill site remain ongoing, according to Depoy-Warren.
The spill took place in early June after a tractor-trailer belonging to the John T. Noble trucking company of Caribou overturned on Route 11. Deputy Mike Montpetit of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department said that a medical problem led the driver of the truck, Joe Nichols, to lose control of the vehicle after it drifted into the soft shoulder of the roadway and became unstable.
The truck was hauling 8,000 gallons of gasoline for Daigle Oil Co. of Fort Kent at the time of the crash. An estimated 5,000 gallons spilled and seeped into the ground when a tank was breached.
The DEP is working with private contractors to collect and treat any gasoline-contaminated water and to pull gasoline from the ground. Officials have said the gas could be in the bedrock above the water table or in another area. Eventually, gas in the bedrock will degrade.
Officials found no traces of contaminants in area wells until last week, until petroleum-based contaminants were found in three wells near the spill site.
The department tested samples of well water in 23 locations. One well adjacent to the spill site was contaminated by petroleum compounds above maximum exposure guidelines. Wells at two other nearby homes showed low concentrations of contaminants at or below DEP action levels. All of the homeowners have been notified, and the DEP is getting carbon filtration systems set up at each home to fix the problem, said Depoy-Warren.
The DEP also has installed state-owned carbon filtration systems at several area homes that are of elevated concern, mainly because of the presence of young children.
The insurance company for John T. Noble has hired a contractor to work on the investigation and environmental remediation at the site. The insurance company will finance the work.
Cleanup crews are finding a number of places where there is fuel in the ground, but they have yet to find a significant deposit.