A meeting between town officials and representatives of the transport company involved in a 2,300 gallon gasoline spill near Shea and Saguaro boulevards scheduled for early this week was delayed. Staff said it was unclear why the delay was needed.

Town Manager Ken Buchanan told the Town Council last week the meeting was to discuss soil test results and how the clean-up of the contaminated areas will proceed.

Town officials have told the fuel transport company, United Petroleum Transports of Oklahoma, that the town wants asphalt and curbing removed from the shoulder along Saguaro Boulevard and soil underneath removed.

Buchanan told the council test results indicated there was considerable contamination of the soil under the asphalt where the gasoline ran along the gutter between Trevino Drive to a culvert just north of Ledferd Lane.

This is an area the town has concern about because of plans to reconstruct Saguaro Boulevard over the next couple of years.

“We don’t want a class A (environmental) clean-up in association with the Saguaro project,” Buchanan said.

He said that as of last week the clean-up has cost about $500,000 for the transport company and its insurers.

Councilman Tait Elkie asked how the town protects itself from the possibility of contamination when work begins on Saguaro.

Town Attorney Andrew McGuire said the town is looking for “tail coverage” from those involved, although he said that can be difficult when you are working a year or more into the future.

“We will be asking them to continue working with us through our Saguaro project,” McGuire said.

There was good news, Buchanan said, as testing also showed that there is no evidence of contamination in the wash where it crosses onto the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.

A remediation crew has been working since the spill, primarily in a wash area adjacent to the First Baptist Church on Saguaro where the gasoline flowed out of the underground culvert and seems to have concentrated.

Saguaro Boulevard has been lined for a couple of weeks with containers where the contaminated soil was placed. Buchanan said the clean-up contractor just last week received the permits required to transport and dispose of the soil.

About 1 a.m. on Nov. 17, a gasoline tanker had just completed a delivery to the Circle K on Saguaro Boulevard at Shea when the accident occurred. The driver was pulling the truck between McDonald’s and the rear of the Circle K/Senor Taco when the tank struck a post for a gate on a trash enclosure and ruptured the tank.

The gasoline flowed out Trevino Drive to Saguaro and north to the culvert near Ledferd.