During foundation work for a new small business in Coldwater, a UST was discovered. The UST was reported to be 2,600 gallons in capacity and completely full of a liquid presumed to be gasoline. The general contractor for the project contracted Fishbeck to register and remove the tank.
Following an initial inspection of the site, and based on the site history and the location of the tank relative to the former furnace room, it was determined that the UST was actually a heating oil tank that had likely been filled with water when abandoned. Because the UST did not contain gasoline, it was unregulated and did not require registration with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs or a pre-removal notification. While on site, our team additionally oversaw and guided a ground-penetrating radar survey to investigate the potential for other USTs or unknown subsurface structures across the property. Several anomalies were detected during the ground-penetrating radar survey, but none of them were indicative of a UST.
Our team oversaw the UST removal and collected soil and groundwater samples of the area surrounding the tank to determine if a release had occurred. Based on the analytical results from the collected samples, we determined there had been no release from the UST. We prepared a UST site assessment report to document the removal activities and analytical results.
Through the course of this project, a previously unidentified UST was discovered on site and removed. We additionally eliminated all uncertainty regarding the potential presence of any other USTs on site, which could have presented environmental risks
to future development.
