Oil spill could cost Peabody $100G

PEABODY – The recent oil leak at 70 Endicott St. in Peabody will cost the city an estimated $100,000 to clean up, said Community Development Director Jean Delios in a letter to the City Council.”We are pursuing all avenues to try and recover costs associated with this spill including our insurance carrier,” wrote Delios. “Since there are several parties who have expressed strong interest in this property, even in light of the oil spill, we are anticipating that should we proceed with another RFP for sale of the property that any revenue from the sale could be used to cover the cost of the remediation.”The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection first received a call reporting the oil spill on Sept. 16. According to their spokesperson Joe Ferson, vandals broke into the vacant building several nights earlier and stripped copper piping attached to the four 330-gallon oil tanks located in the basement.”At the time of the discovery, two of the tanks were approximately half full and two of the tanks were approximately three quarters full,” wrote Jeffrey S. Kelly of Boston Environmental who helped in the remediation process. “Since the volume of oil present in the tanks at the start of the release is unknown, it is not possible to estimate the actual volume of oil released.”Kelly went on to explain, however, that assuming each tank was full before the leak, an approximate maximum of 450 gallons of oil was released overall.Cleanup of the site began immediately after being notified of its existence. According to Delios, 800 gallons of heating oil remaining in the tanks has been removed. On Friday, Sept. 26 alone, an estimated 200 gallons of recovered free-phase oil and 1,800 gallons of “oily water” were transported offsite, said Kelly.Such a spill could have been avoided had the oil been removed from the tanks when the former school administration building was vacated years ago.”It was our understanding that the School Department has removed the oil from the tanks at this building and reused it for the schools,” wrote Delios.Superintendent Milt Burnett, who was not yet in Peabody at the time, is uncertain as to what happened. He said he was told by Business Manager Mike Musto that such was the case. Burnett’s office is still in the process of locating the paperwork documenting the alleged oil transfer.The Peabody Police Department has been looking into the Aug. 26 arrests of several individuals caught loading a large amount of copper into a vehicle parked up the road at 86R Endicott St. Delios said the copper was traced back to 70 Endicott St. as the copper was labeled with “PMLP.” It is believed that those arrested could be the vandals responsible for the oil leak.