The former S. M. Gas and Convenience station located on King Edward Street in Davidson is causing headaches for town officials.
“The concern is the possibility of the underground storage tank leaking and the ground being contaminated,” said Davidson administrator Gary Edom. “At some point in time if the owners decide to walk away from it we get stuck with the clean up. (It could be) a very expensive mess to clean up and remediate.”
As discussed at the monthly town council meeting last Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment has recently released results of precision leak tests of the storage tanks undertaken by the owners of the site determining the tanks are not leaking at this point in time.
Edom said he got the Ministry involved by contacting Arm River–Watrous MLA Greg Brkich a few weeks ago who then relayed the town’s concerns to Ken Cheveldayoff, Saskatchewan Environment Minister. Cheveldayoff replied back to Edom with a letter stating ministry staff has advised him that the owner of the site has conducted tests on the tanks in 2011 and 2012, which determined they are satisfactory.
Cheveldayoff further said that the province does not have any funding available for clean up of orphaned gas stations, but that the Green Municipal Fund managed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities may be an option to consider should this be required.
Edom said when the station was originally shut down about two years ago there was water getting into the tanks possibly because of inadequate filler caps. He said to his knowledge the caps have now been changed.
“That’s the concern,” he said. “If water is getting in, there could be gas getting out. What we’re thinking is if (the owner of the site) walks away from it, it just sits there forever or the town jumps in and has to clean it up.
“These cleanups are darn expensive, so we’re trying to get pressure on these guys while they still own it to do something if something needs to be done.”
The town could end up owning the site because the owner of the property is behind on their taxes, so the town may have to eventually take the title to it. This would mean that taxpayers would be on the hook for the cleanup costs if action were required.
“Right now the Ministry of Environment seems to be satisfied that nothing is leaking out of those tanks, which is everybody’s big concern,” said Edom. “If (the owners) want to let it sit closed, as long as it’s not contaminating anything, it’s their money. But if gas starts leaking into the ground, we have major expenses.”