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Test Results indicate little contamination at, near gas tank siteThis article was originally published in the the Amador Ledger Dispatch on March 14, 1999, and is reproduced here with its permission. By Diane Smith JACKSON - Analytical results are back on ground water tests collected Feb. 23 at the site of the underground tank removal which has been prominent in the news. The results for 505 Sutter Street, dentist Roland Womack's upper parking area and the lower parking area, where the gas tank was removed are now known. "Analytical results indicate no detectable petroleum hydrocarbon constituents are present in ground water samples collected from monitoring wells at the two parking areas," according to a report released this week by Geotechnical Research and Development of Sutter Creek, a client of Alpha Analytical Inc. of Sparks, Nevada which contributed to the statistics. Across the street at the parking lot of a strip mall where another well was drilled, there was a barely detectable amount of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) a gasoline additive. The lowest meter reading before a concentration is not detectable, is called a reporting limit. MTBE in the groundwater samples registered at 0.71 micrograms per liter (µg/L) - equal to a difference of .2 parts per billion. The MTBE reporting limit (the lowest of a meter reading) is 0.50 µg/L. "Groundwater in the site," the report concludes, "does not appear to be significantly impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons. It is recommended that no further investigation be required at this site." David Mason III of Ione said last week he is happy with the results. "It vindicates me and all the things said by the district attorney's office," he said. Mason, Robert Womack and Mark Sherrill are under a grand jury indictment for the alleged environmentally unsafe removal of the gas tank at the former Jackson Exxon site at 505 Sutter Street in Jackson. The three, approximately 35-foot wells which were drilled to gather samples, cost Mason a total of $15,000. The sampling was also necessary as a state water quality requirement before he could complete the transfer of the property in a sale, Mason said. His sale of the station property for a parking area was contingent on it being usable for that purpose. The test were to determine that. The Sutter Creek lab collected samples for seven tests, all of which were deemed "non detectable" with the exception of the trace of MTBE at the parking lot across State 49/88 from the former service station. MTBE is currently the element in gasoline being considered for ban by the state governor. Copyright © 1999 Amador Ledger Dispatch |
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