State DEP Requiring Cleanup Of Oil Spill On Marble Way

Nantucket Fire Department officials were called to a Marble Way property last week to investigate a possible oil spill. When they arrived at the short dirt road in the mid-island area they discovered "numerous open and damaged containers" of what appeared to be waste oil, including 55-gallon drums.

The state Department of Environmental Protection was immediately notified, fire chief Michael Cranson said, and the property owner, Lindsay Congleton of Atlantic Landscaping, was contacted.

"There was some evidence that oil had leaked onto the soil from the open and damaged drums," Cranson said.

Mass DEP spokesperson Lauren Moreschi said she was unsure exactly how much oil was spilled, but stated that approximately 150 cubic yards of soil impacted by the spill will be excavated at the site.

Cranson added that the Mass DEP instructed Congleton to employ a licensed site professional to manage and supervise the response and cleanup effort and that a plan to do so had already been submitted to the state agency.

"Everything is being cleaned and/or removed," Cranson said.

The incident occurred on Thursday, March 13. The following day, Congleton and Atlantic Landscaping were sent a notice from Andrew L. Jones, the acting chief of the Mass DEP's Emergency Response Section and Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup. 

"On March 13, 2025, at 10:46 a.m. MassDEP received a call from the Nantucket Fire Department of a release and threat of release of oil at the above-referenced location," the notice stated. "Numerous unlabeled open and damaged containers (5-gallon buckets, 55-gallon drums) of what is believed to be waste oil was observed at the site. This threat of release and release impacted soil. Pursuant to 310 CMR 40.0311(4) and 310 CMR 40.0312(1), this release and threat of release requires notification to MassDEP within two (2) hours of obtaining knowledge, and pursuant to 310 CMR 40.0412(1) this release requires that an Immediate Response Action (IRA) be conducted."

Congleton said this week that as soon as he and the company were notified, they took appropriate measures to immediately address the situation and hired the licensed site professional to manage the cleanup effort.

"My crews were working at the property getting everything cleaned up and organized to move everything off the lot in order to make room for the new structures being built there," Congleton told the Current in an email message. "In the process of moving things around it was discovered that some oil had spilled. A neighbor noticed it before we could report, but thankfully it was reported before any more spilled. Around 10 or 10:30 a.m. I met the fire chief, Kevin Ramos, members of the fire department, as well as John Hedden from the Health Department at the site. They showed me what had happened and explained the next steps. While they were still on site I contacted Raymond Reimold at the DEP and reported the spill. My crews then used heavy plastic as instructed to cover the affected area, as well as fenced off the area to prevent people from stepping in the area. This was completed that same afternoon."

Congleton has hired Bill Kenney, of River Hawk Environmental LLC, as the licensed site professional (LSP) consultant to guide and monitor the cleanup. On Friday, Kenney and Atlantic Landscaping staff excavated the area to remove the contaminated soil, Congleton said, and it is being "safely stockpiled" at the property while samples are being tested.

"Once we have the results, the consultant believes it will be able to be shipped off-island as non-hazardous soils to a landfill on the mainland that specializes in taking in that type of material," Congleton said. "We are also in the process of bringing over someone to remove the oil from the remaining drums and have those taken off-island as well. We are hoping to have someone take care of that as soon as possible, but there are only a couple of outfits that do that so we are working with their schedules. We also need to have a special permit number to have this done which my office has filed for. As you can see, as soon as we were notified of what happened, we jumped right on it and did everything as quickly as possible while following all of the instructions given by the DEP. We are taking this very seriously and getting it all taken care of as quickly and safely as possible."