18,000 Gallons of Fuel Leaked Under Board of Education Bus Garage

Thousands of gallons of diesel fuel leaked in an underground vault at the Connecticut Board of Education bus garage in Newington last December, the town said on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday, the town said it will allocate $5 million in emergency funds to remove contaminated soil from the site. 

When a resident reported an odor to town officials on Dec. 27, the town manager's crew found the source of a diesel fuel leak at the bus garage on Garfield Street. 

After the town crews stopped the flow of fuel, environmental remediation specialists were hired and found that a significant breach in the underground fuel delivery system caused the release of approximately 18,000 gallons fuel to leak, town officials said. 

"There is no further threat of additional contamination to the environment because the leak has been contained, however, there still exist pockets of diesel fuel within the waterways that may gradually appear on the surface. There are booms of absorbent material in the brooks to catch the residual fuel," Ben Ancona, the town attorney, said.

The Connecticut Board of Education garage may need razing to excavate the contaminated soil. More than 6,000 tons of contaminated soil has been removed as of Tuesday. 

The town council voted to allocate emergency funds by seeking short-term financing.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection continues to remain on scene.

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