The demolition of the downtown fuel tank farm came to a halt this week after the discovery of asbestos in pipe gaskets, prompting the state Department of Environmental Protection to require testing and a remediation plan.
Costello Dismantling, of Wareham, MA, is the contractor that was hired by the tank farm property owner, Winthrop Nantucket, to complete the project.
“The tank farm (demolition) is stopped currently with required testing being done for asbestos,” said Nantucket fire chief Steve Murphy. “The DEP solid waste division became involved and required this testing on the piping products coming out of the demolition. The DEP is working with the contractor to do all that testing and any remediation plans in order to continue the project.”
Work got underway on Sept. 20, as crews used blow torches to take apart the silos piece by piece, and was proceeding steadily until activity on the site came to an abrupt halt this week. Should the asbestos issue have been known before work began?
“Yes,” Murphy said. “But I’m happy that it was caught in the process of the project so there wasn’t a larger issue that came up down the road. The good thing now is that it’s identified, it’s only been confirmed in one place – the gaskets.”
The aging fuel tanks were previously operated by Harbor Fuel before the company moved its operations out of town to Industry Road, near the airport. In May, Winthrop submitted an application to the Conservation Commission for approval to demolish eight of the 11 fuel tanks. The final three will be removed at a later date after two small new tanks are constructed to service the Boat Basin.
Winthrop trustee Peter Braverman said Thursday that he expects the required testing and development of a remediation plan to add no more than a few weeks to the timeline of the project.
“The situation is not particularly dire, but we have stopped removing the material from the site,” Braverman said. “Rather than getting everything off island and testing everything off island, we stopped it so we don’t have to do it twice, do testing, and figure out the plan. We’re talking about trace asbestos. We didn’t stop the project. We stopped taking down the two tanks, but off-island we have material we have to get to a location. ON the island we stopped so we can take steps, but we will finish, the tanks will be gone and no one will remember this conversation.”
Braverman said there were no further updates regarding the potential sale or disposition of the tank farm property, as the project must be completed first. The town is currently exploring the possibility of purchasing the tank farm parcel once the fuel silos are removed, as it is a key property for the potential redevelopment of the waterfront area known as Harbor Place.
The tank farm property is all that remains of Winthrop’s once sprawling portfolio of downtown island real estate, which it acquired from the late Walter Beinecke’s Sherburne Associates in 1986. In recent years, it has been selling its holdings, including the most recent sale in December 2020 of several downtown properties including Stop & Shop, The Haulover, Fresh, and Hepburn, to Steve Karp’s New England Development.
