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County hears plan to investigate decades‑old petroleum release at Old Road Shop; cost estimate about $64,433
Summary
A consultant told Madison County commissioners that prior excavations left contamination at the Old Road Shop site and proposed installing seven borings, five monitoring wells and a soil‑vapor probe to assess groundwater and vapor risks. The work is eligible for state reimbursement but will need budgeting and contracting.
Brandon Kingsbury of Tetra Tech told Madison County commissioners that a long‑running petroleum release at the county’s Old Road Shop and Bridges site (recorded as release number 764) remains incompletely addressed and likely still poses groundwater and vapor intrusion risks.
Kingsbury, who said he has worked on the site for about a year and compiled historical Department of Environmental Quality reports from the 1990s and early 2000s, said earlier excavations removed some material but left contaminated sidewalls and that monitoring wells from the prior response network are largely destroyed. "I gave you guys a kind of a summary of maps ... there was multiple excavations done," he said, and added that remaining contamination could include a groundwater plume and contamination beneath the building.
Tetra Tech proposed a work plan that would install seven soil borings, convert five of those borings into monitoring wells and drill a soil‑vapor probe adjacent to the old shop building to evaluate vapor intrusion and chronic exposure risks. Kingsbury said the work responds to a March work‑plan request from the DEQ and that the county could expect two rounds of groundwater monitoring (summer and fall) followed by final invoicing; he estimated the current scope at roughly $64,433 and said Olympus Technical Services was the low bidder for drilling at $9,000.
Kingsbury also said the site is eligible for the Montana Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board, which reimburses eligible response costs. "The site is eligible for the Montana Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board," he said, explaining the county would contract with Tetra Tech, execute the scope and then submit claims; reimbursement processing could push final reimbursement into 2027. He noted the county would have up to five years to submit claims.
Commissioners discussed budgeting for the work and noted the need to confirm how costs would be phased into the county budget. No formal vote or contract approval occurred during the session; Kingsbury said he would be available for follow‑up and would attend a future meeting.
The board asked staff to confirm funding and contracting steps needed to proceed with the investigation and to coordinate with the DEQ and the drilling and laboratory vendors named in the proposal.
