Pool owner is casualty of Memorial Day weekend oil spill.

WAKEFIELD, MA…Imagine this scenario. It’s Saturday morning, the first day of a glorious Memorial Day weekend, and you’re preparing for a pool party when you notice an oil slick in your pool. That’s exactly what happened to a Wakefield homeowner last Saturday, May 24.

Kevin Hoag, President of CommTank in Wakefield, MA was contacted on Saturday to check out the situation. Hoag visited Farm Street in Wakefield and found that there really was an oil slick in the swimming pool. CommTank specializes in site remediation but according to Hoag, “This was one of the most unusual situations that we’ve ever encountered.”

The saga began on Friday night when CommTank was called to clean up an oil spill at Old Nahant Road in Wakefield. Apparently, a Lynnfield resident had a relative in Lynn who was having an oil tank removed. With ever increasing fuel prices, this enterprising individual thought he would go to Lynn and pick up the surplus oil to use at his own home.

To transport the oil, the Lynnfield resident disconnected his own oil tank and strapped it to a trailer. After filling his tank with the surplus oil from the relative’s home in Lynn, the spigot on the now full oil tank on the trailer broke off as he drove away, leaving a trail of oil behind on his journey.

With the tank continuing to drip oil, he then drove to his father’s house on Old Nahant Road in Wakefield where he proceeded to back up a 75-foot long driveway that was pitched at a 45-degree angle. As a result, what was once a trickle now became a flood of oil. CommTank was called to the scene by the Wakefield Police Department and Hoag estimates that about 75 gallons of oil was spilled at the site.

Shift back to the pool with the oil slick. The 13,000-gallon in-ground pool had been filled with water from a surface well, drawing water from the same aquifer that the oil had seeped into during the previous night’s spill, creating an environmental nightmare for an unsuspecting homeowner. Cleanup at the pool site will be ongoing for the next two weeks.

The moral of the story – don’t even think about transporting unused oil on your own, no matter how valuable you think it may be. As Hoag points out “This is why licensing and strict regulations are required for the transportation, disposal, or recycling of oil. It’s illegal and dangerous to attempt it on your own.”

Every drop counts at Joslin Diabetes Center!

When Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston realized it had fuel oil left in a 4,000 gallon oil tank slated for removal, the non-profit institution, which has been in Boston for 110 years, knew what it wanted to do.

“We wanted to donate the oil to Citizens Energy so we could make a positive impact on our community,” said Guy Lentini, Director of Facilities at Joslin. “But, we needed someone to help us with the process.”

Lentini found the help he needed when he contacted Kevin Hoag, President of CommTank in Wakefield, MA, which has removed and installed thousands of oil and fuel storage tanks throughout the Boston metro area.

“CommTank was great to work with,” noted Lentini. “They came in, drained the fuel oil in the tank, removed the tank at a reduced rate, and recycled the oil making it suitable for donation. The oil was collected in Boston, taken to CommTank’s headquarters in Wakefield for recycling, and redistributed directly to non-profit organizations under the guidance of Citizens Energy.”

Joslin Diabetes Center is the latest in a long list of clients that CommTank has aided over the years, helping them make a difference with their unused fuel. CommTank has literally recycled tens of thousands of gallons of fuel oil; collecting, cleaning, and filtering particulates out of the oil. CommTank then stores the oil and redistributes it, delivering the recycled oil directly to non-profit organizations in need as designated by Citizens Energy.

CommTank’s Hoag notes, “Few companies have the proper licensing and the facilities necessary to carry out the multi-step operation of recycling fuel oil. We do have that capability and are pleased to aid Citizens Energy in their mission.”

For more information about donating the oil from an unused oil tank, please contact CommTank or Citizens Energy.

CommTank Continues Temple Excavation Project
From the Wakefield Observer
By Gary Band

Wed Jan 09, 2008, 12:52 PM EST
WAKEFIELD - More than one month ago, 750 gallons of oil broke through an old tank in the basement of Temple Emmanuel on Chestnut Street and seeped into the porous concrete and soil below. Since day one, CommTank of Wakefield has been working to clean up the spill and determine the extent of the damage.

Yolanda Zavada is the CommTank project manager in charge of the operation. After collecting only about 20 gallons after the spill, CommTank completed a two-day drilling event two weeks ago and has had a crew manually digging out the contaminated soil ever since.

Using a conveyor belt to move the soil dug by hand by three crew members from a 15-foot wide and five-foot deep hole in the basement to the left side of the temple, 50.7 tons of soil have been removed from the site to date to a facility in Louden, N.H.

At an estimated cost of between $80,000 and $250,000, currently being worked out with the temple’s insurance company, the project is expected to take two months if all the oil can be found at the surface. If not, the location and cleanup process could take up to a year to complete.

Although Zavada says there has been no migration of the oil onto other nearby properties, despite the large amount of soil removed, only 200-300 of the 750 gallons of oil spilled have been found. Zavada says she is most concerned now about where the rest of the oil has gone.

“If it’s not on the surface it has to be somewhere else,” she said, adding CommTank will be drilling down into the bedrock, between 20-30 feet, at the end of next week to see if the oil has moved there. Ground and air monitoring is being conducted and continues to indicate there is no danger to area residents.

If the oil is found in the bedrock, some can be removed and the rest will be treated with a peroxide, at a grade 10 times stronger than the normal variety, that breaks the hydrogen bond, changes the structure and essentially turns the oil into water.

Although the work will continue beyond next month, the temple should be habitable by February.

Oil for YMCA
BOSTON GLOBE

January 13, 2008

CHELSEA
Thanks to Citizens Energy and Wakefield-based CommTank, the Chelsea YMCA has received 1,200 gallons of recycled oil. Citizens Energy began collecting recycled oil six years ago, when CommTank started removing unwanted oil for homeowners at a discounted rate, provided the homeowner agreed to donate the oil. Over the years, the Pine Street Inn, the Malden YMCA, and Somerville High School have benefited from the program. For information about donating oil, go to commtank.com or call 1-800-628-8260. - David Cogger

This Old House
Wakefield, MA (PRWEB) September 30, 2006 -- A worn out 1916 two-family house in East Boston would hardly seem to be the stuff dreams are made of, but for Kevin Hoag, President of CommTank in Wakefield, MA it’s a dream come true. The East Boston house is the site of the current house renovation project featured in the winter segments of the “This Old House” series premiering on PBS in December, and Hoag and his CommTank crew are there to remove and replace 2 oil tanks.

Was it all in a day’s work for Hoag and company who have removed and replaced thousands of oil tanks in the Boston Metro area? “Not quite,” Hoag remarked, “it’s quite an honor to have been recommended and chosen to appear on a segment of ‘This Old House.’ At CommTank we pride ourselves on the clean and efficient workmanship of our crews and it’s great to receive national visibility of our efforts.”

CommTank was recommended for the job by Trethewey Brothers, Inc. of Boston, some of the most recognizable plumbers in the country. They are the plumbing and heating contractors who frequently appear on the Public Broadcasting System's "This Old House" program.

Hoag describes the two 275 gallon tanks installed at the East Boston “This Old House” project site by CommTank as Roth tanks. The design of the tanks minimizes the risk of a costly oil spill and cleanup. Roth tanks are double walled with the inner portion made of seamless high-density polyethylene that is leak proof and corrosion resistant. The outer tank is made of galvanized steel that is also leak-proof and corrosion-resistant, and can contain 110% of the capacity of the inner tank for maximum protection. The tanks also feature a highly visible optical leak alarm.