Remediation of old gas tanks continues
West Milford. Numerous gas stations of decades ago in the lake area are gone but years later cleanup of chemical contaminants that they left in the soil continues to be ongoing.
| 22 Dec 2020 | 02:44
The Flying A, one of the gas stations on Union Valley Road in West Milford Village, is visible in this 1950s photo. The station was located across the road from the West Milford Presbyterian Church property. Photo by Ann Genader.
When automobiles became a regular part of the vacation area scene in the 1930s and 40s numerous stations where customers could fill the gasoline tanks in their vehicles sprung up.
Absent were controls for opening the businesses.
Most of these stations no longer exist with their sites already cleaned up and established for different uses.
However, some locations where the stations were are left with chemical contaminants that are still being remediated before the property can again be used.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection recently informed township officials that Chevron Environmental Management Company (CEMC) is continuing to address the current remediation at 1157 Union Valley Road in West Milford Village where a former Texaco Company Service Station was located.
Clean up of chemical contaminants detected there has been ongoing since 1987 and is expected to be completed by May 2023, with groundwater monitoring at the site, quarterly monitoring of the POET (Point of Entry Treatment) systems at four houses and annual monitoring of 13 private wells offsite of the property taking place.