State to help fund station cleanup

Lawrence Food Mart to receive assistance

The owner of a Lawrence fueling station will receive state assistance cleaning up the environmental mess left behind when three of four underground storage tanks broke through the concrete above them.

Lawrence Food Mart, 3300 W. Sixth St., has been closed since Sept. 23, when heavy rains saturated the ground and pushed three of the station’s four 10,000-gallon tanks toward the surface. The tanks, nearly empty, eventually broke through the surface and drained gasoline into the giant holes left behind.

“It was basically like a submarine going up through the concrete,” said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Watson said the property’s owner, Dale Miller, would receive financial assistance from the department’s Petroleum Storage Tank Reimbursement Fund to help clean up any environmental problems at the site. The money comes from a 1-cent tax on every gallon of gasoline sold in the state.

Underground fuel tanks at Lawrence Food Mart, 3300 W. Sixth St., haven't moved since they broke through the surface after heavy rains in September. The station has been closed since Sept. 23; its owner, Dale Miller, will receive state funding to help with the cleanup.

Miller will be responsible for paying a $5,000 deductible to receive the state assistance, Watson said. The state already has spent at least $30,000 on cleanup efforts, and the department is working to hire a consultant to assess environmental conditions at the site.

The fund will not cover Miller’s costs for the removal, disposal or replacement of the damaged tanks, Watson said – costs she estimates at $100,000, given the site’s size and configuration.

“The applicant has informed us that he has a bid out to replace the tanks,” Watson said.

Miller did not return phone calls for comment Tuesday, and attempts to reach others involved with the Lawrence Food Mart were unsuccessful.