Evidence of fuel spill unearthed in Manteo, N.C.

The town of Manteo is facing another environmental black eye, and this time it has nothing to do with its troublesome wastewater treatment system.

The state Division of Waste Management notified the town this week that two samples of soil taken on Queen Elizabeth Avenue near the downtown waterfront revealed elevated petroleum hydrocarbon levels for diesel fuel.

"This was just a preliminary examination to see if there is soil contamination," said Scott Bullock, regional underground storage tank supervisor for the division's Washington, N.C., office.

There is no evidence, he said, of fuel tainting public water.

What the state refers to as a petroleum spill, Bullock said, could be related to privately owned above-ground fuel tanks in that area many years ago. But it is apparently now Manteo's headache.

"It is town property," he said. "At this time, we're holding them responsible. They can present evidence to us if they don't think they're responsible."

A complaint of a petroleum odor was reported to the state May 20, Bullock said. The site was investigated June 9. Test results received July 7 were 140 parts per million and 120 parts per million of hydrocarbons in two different samples. The regulatory limit is 40 parts per million. A third sample was within the acceptable range.

The town has 30 days to respond to the Aug. 25 notice with information on the history and characteristics of the site, and any analyses or investigations that have been done.

After the state reviews the report, Bullock said, it will issue a notice for the town to do a more in-depth assessment that will define the vertical and horizontal extent of soil and groundwater contamination, if any. As long as the town complies, he said, it will not be fined.

Mayor Jamie Daniels said such an investigation seems complicated in that part of town, where there's a waterfront business district and private condominiums and apartments.

"I just don't see how it's even possible," he said. "It would be under the buildings, under the streets. For acres. Are we just going to have to drill holes all over the town and analyze it?

"The things they're asking for are very complicated. It sounds very expensive - even if we find nothing."

Town Manager Kermit Skinner said in an e-mail that the problem had been called to the state's attention by the town after a water main broke in May and the petroleum hydrocarbons were discovered.

"We will certainly do everything we can to help remediate the problem," he wrote, "but I find it difficult to understand how the town of Manteo can be held responsible for something that was not caused by the town and occurred decades before the town owned the property."

But resident Malcolm Fearing said he had called the state after repairs began on the line because he feared that pollutants could get into the water.

"You could smell fuel," he said.

Mayor Pro Tem H.A. Creef, a 79-year-old Manteo native, recalled seeing the above-ground storage tanks for oil, gas and diesel - which his family had once owned - and an old gas station decades ago on the waterfront where condominiums are today.

Until the town completes its assessment, Bullock said, the state will not know the problem's extent - or whether it's even an issue.

"We know there's some contamination there," he said. "We just don't know how bad it is."

It doesn't yet compare with the town's other tangles with state regulators. Between January 2004 and March 2008, the state has issued 159 violations and $57,000 in fines for it wastewater treatment facility.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com