Oil Incident
Please see information below regarding the oil incident at the Elementary School. In January 2023, the Town of Leicester published an After Action Report.
Read the School Oil Leak After Action Report/Improvement Plan
For additional details, please view the additional documents at the bottom of the page.
How the oil incident occurred:
- The School Department rented tents from a contractor in anticipation of the Leicester Schools reopening as COVID-19 quarantine measures were relaxed. One of these tents was installed at the Leicester Elementary School.
- Workers from the company installed the tent on March 31, 2021. The tents are anchored by 44-inch spikes, one of which punctured an underground oil supply line which feeds the school’s boilers, which are 24 inches underground.
- Days after the puncture, School staff detected an oil smell in one of the classrooms and began searching for the source.
- A small test pit excavation revealed the leak on April 16th.
- An insurance claim was filed, and the necessary filings with DEP and the Conservation Commission were filed.
- The School was closed on April 26th, as the order increased as the excavation was expanded. Work continues to this day.
Key Information:
- Estimated leak amount: 750 Gallons
- Cost to date: $1,180,422 as of 1/14/22
- Insurance coverage limit: $500,000; balance paid by schools
Payment Process:
- When we became aware of the leak and the potential cost to remediate the oil, we contacted the Department of Revenue. The Town received permission to create an expenditure account to pay for costs associated with the oil cleanup. This account permits deficit spending, which is typical in large insurance cases.
- With a deficit spending authorization, bills may be paid without a funding source until the project is complete, and the total cost is calculated. Upon completion, funds must be raised, transferred, or appropriated to eliminate the deficit and bring the account balance to zero.
- The Town submitted an insurance claim and received a check for the policy maximum of $500,000. It was placed in the Town’s receipts reserved for appropriation account as required by Massachusetts General Law. This amount will be transferred to the deficit expenditure account at the Spring Town Meeting.
- To date, all costs have been paid through that account. No funds have yet been raised, transferred, or appropriated from any school or town account.
- As of 12/9/2022, the cost of the remediation process is $1,495,019. This is not yet the final figure. See attached table for vendor payment information.
- Transfers to cover the outstanding balance were voted on by the School Committee. Funding over multiple fiscal years may be required depending on the project completion date and DOR reporting requirements.
Testing/Remediation:
- Indoor air quality in three rooms near the leak were initially below current DEP twenty-seven (27) year safety standards; remediation measures continue to be administered and indoor air quality testing continues to be done to monitor the levels.
- All work permitted and observed by Conservation Commission and Mass DEP
- A Licensed Site Professional (LSP) is onsite and directing clean-up efforts
- No water quality issues detected in Sargent’s Pond
- A depressurization system has been installed at the school which will act as a vaccum, preventing any soil vapors from entering the school. The sub-slab depressurization (SSD) system was activated on October 15, in accordance with the deadline imposed by DEP. The system has four extraction points (one located in each of Rooms 105, 106, 107 and 109) connected to two blowers located in small sheds outside the school. Recovered soil vapors are vented above the roof line. With the system operating, induced vacuum readings were collected from the vapor pins installed in Rooms 105, 106, 107 and 109. The pins are essentially small tubes that extend through the floor to sub-slab soils. All pins showed satisfactory induced vacuum readings, indicating that the system is mitigating potential soil vapor intrusion into the classrooms. No vapor extraction points or vapor pins were installed in Room 108 to avoid damage to the carpet, but extraction points are located in the east end of Room 107 and the west end of Room 109. Extrapolation of the results from the other rooms indicates that the vacuum induced by these two extraction points extends beneath the full length of Room 108.
On November 11th, three monitoring wells were installed, another round of indoor air quality (IAQ) sampling occured , and restoration work was done in the drainage channel area. Western Mass Environmental (WME) also emptied the frac tank, spread the remaining gravel near the oil tank, and generally cleaned up the area behind the school. Two of the monitoring wells were installed in the excavated areas (one behind the school and one near the tank), and one downgradient of the excavation, near the southeast corner of the school. No contamination was noted during drilling. The wells near the tank and behind the school were left sticking up slightly so that they can be finished at grade by the eventual asphalt and landscaping contractors. The well at the southeast corner was finished flush with grade and is covered by a bolted road box. The air sampling was similar to the prior rounds, except that we sampled in the main office, per DEP’s request, and consequently did not sample in the hallway outside Room 104. The restoration work in the drainage channel involved spreading loam and placing seed (mostly winter rye and some conservation mix) and mulch. Additional planting will likely be required in the spring. The driveway and access road was also touched up to mitigate the minor damage from traffic during the work.
Remaining Work:
There are a number of activities remaining, including:
- Continued operation and monitoring of the sub-slab depressurization system in Rooms 105 – 109.
- Periodic indoor air sampling.
- Two more groundwater sampling events.
- Monitoring / augmenting re-vegetation of the drainage channel area.
- Periodic reporting to the DEP, including monthly Remediation Monitoring Reports, twice-yearly IRA Status Reports, and a Phase I Initial Site Characterization due this spring.
- Paving and landscaping
Supporting Documentation:
