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DEQ fines owner of ex-gas station By Mark Freeman State environmental officials have fined the owner of a former Phoenix gas station more than $13,000 for failing to decommission three underground oil storage tanks that allegedly have leaked gasoline into nearby soil and are causing a health hazard. The state Department of Environmental Quality has ordered William Boylan, of Medford, to pay his $13,582 fine, start cleaning up the contaminated soil and get rid of the old tanks beneath his property at 3628 S. Pacific Highway, just north of the Phoenix city line. DEQ enforcement orders allege that the property poses a health hazard and that Boylan has resisted agency orders to clean up the property for more than a decade. The property housed a gas station from the 1930s until 1980; since then, it has been a series of small auto shops. Boylan bought the property for $80,000 30 years ago, and he said it would cost about $80,000 to remove the tanks and clean the soil � a cost that would force him to sell the property, he said. Boylan is contesting the fine � but he believes the deck is stacked against him. "They�re not really going to negotiate," Boylan said Tuesday. "It�s their way or the highway. They have the muscle. "I didn�t think they would push it to the point where they would take the property, but they may." The work required by the DEQ likely would cost about $10,000 to $15,000, according to DEQ files. Susan Greco, from the DEQ�s enforcement section in Portland, said Boylan�s Portland attorney has filed paperwork contesting the fine. Greco said her agency likely will schedule a meeting to see if a settlement can be reached. Boylan�s fine, which was reported Tuesday by the DEQ, was the second largest issued in November and one of two levied in Jackson County. Medply Inc., a White City mill, was fined $3,600 for what the DEQ called "systemic failure" to keep air-pollution records required by its state air-quality permit. Under the permit, Medply must show the DEQ that it can operate its veneer dryers at maximum capacity without generating more air pollution than allowed by the agency. The violation does not allege that Medply has been discharging more pollution than allowed. Jason Lang, Medply�s human resources director, said Medply has not kept those pollution records for the past three years, and that DEQ officials only recently asked for them. Lang called the fine "a big joke" and said the company will contest it. Boylan said he has resisted DEQ�s attempts to get him to clean up the South Pacific Highway property since the late 1980s. In 1995, a contractor installing a water line on an adjacent property discovered gas-soaked dirt, and DEQ sought to have Boylan test the soil on his property. He resisted. The agency issued Boylan his first notice of noncompliance with tank decommissioning rules in September 1998, DEQ spokeswoman Marcia Danab said. That order came three months before the December federal deadline for decommissioning old underground tanks. The notice alleges violations of state and federal environmental rules, she said. Boylan acknowledged that there may be some gas spilled on his property over the decades, but that he believes the DEQ is overstating the health risks. "When you�re playing with the guys who own the gym and make their own rules, you shouldn�t play with them," Boylan said. "So I�m not playing with them. "It�s just how bad do they beat you up, and how soon," he said. Claudia Johansen, an underground storage tank specialist for the DEQ�s office in Medford, said neither Boylan nor the agency really knows how extensive the health risks are until Boylan conducts a battery of tests sought by the DEQ for more than five years. A single test done in 1998 shows contamination levels of more than 200 times higher than allowed adjacent to the underground tanks, Johansen said. "We know there�s a problem there, we just don�t know how extensive it is," she said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.