TERRE HAUTE —
A contaminated petroleum site at the northwestern edge of Indiana State University’s campus will be transferred to the city of Terre Haute to remove the property from a pending sale.
The Vigo County Board of Commissioners Tuesday voted to assign a certified property lien to the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety for nearly two acres at 531 N. Third St., the site of the former Toney Petroleum Inc.
“The best resolution is for the city to take ownership of the property so that we can finally demolish the building and the remainder of the tank line and clean up the soil. The ultimate use of the property is a parking lot for Indiana State University,” Pat Martin, the city’s chief planner, told commissioners, adding the triangle-shaped lot has few other uses.
A Feb. 3 study from Troy Risk Inc. for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management revealed soil and water contamination at the site.
“Groundwater in one spot is 16 percent diesel fuel,” Martin said. “The direction of the ground water flow is toward the well field owned by Indiana American Water. It is not to the well field, but eventually it will get there,” Martin said.
The study, in its conclusions, states that “groundwater elevation is approximately 35 feet below grade and the nearest drinking water well is 700 feet from the site therefore ingestion of contaminated groundwater is not likely. There is no immediate health risks associated with petroleum contamination on the site.”
The study states that “contaminants in the soil are greater than one foot below surface and two areas of [soil] contamination are within a restricted area surrounded by fencing and containment walls.”
There are four 250,000-gallon tanks that remain in an existing building, Martin said. The city has cleaned out the tanks, but the site remains an environmental problem.
The need for Vigo County to transfer a lien to the city, Martin said, is because the property recently had been removed from bankruptcy and city officials discovered it was on a pending sale list.
Rhonda Oldham, attorney for the city, said the city will follow statutory requirements to obtain title to the property. Oldham said the property has more than 200 judgment liens, such as federal and state tax liens, mortgage liens and general judgment liens.
The city, over the next several months, will work to remove those liens as any lienholder would be responsible for environmental problems if they become owner. Once the city owns the property, it can work with IDEM and the U.S. EPA to obtain cleanup funding and complete cleanup of the property, Martin said.
The city first condemned the site in 2007 and has already spent about $40,000 on cleanup measures there.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@
tribstar.com.
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