Minor growth hiccup relieved following removal of long-buried propane tank Published July 11, 2008 By Holly L. Birchfield 78th ABW/PA Robins Air Force Base, Ga. -- Robins engineers recently unearthed a propane tank that was interfering with a planned constructions project. An underground propane gas tank, which was buried in front of Bldg. 128 in the early to mid 1970s, became of particular concern when plans to change the area's infrastructure surfaced. "The people from the 402nd Maintenance Wing were getting ready to demolish Bldg. 128 and build some kind of new facility there," said Steve Smith, base tank program manager in the Quality Assurance Branch of the 78th Civil Engineer Group's Environmental Management Division. "(The new building) was going to be larger than Bldg. 128. This 10,000 gallon underground propane storage tank was going to fall in the footprint." In addition to the demolition plans for Bldg. 128, the removal was also prompted by Air Force regulations that pushed for the raising of underground propane storage tanks. Mr. Smith, who became involved in the project to remove the tank about a year ago, said the propane gas storage tank was used primarily in the Heat Treatment Shop in Bldg. 140, an area that wasn't using the tank's 10,000 gallons to full capacity. Kevin Bartoe, special operations chief with the Base Fire Department's Fire and Emergency Services, said the tank's removal was part of an environmental initiative to get tanks out of the ground where they can be monitored to know if they're leaking. "It was part of an Underground Tank Standard project," he said. "They were looking at all the underground tanks on the installation and deciding which ones needed to be unearthed and moved above ground." The tank was removed by contractor J2 Environmental and subcontractor TAK, both based in Florida. As an extra precaution, the soil in the area was removed and taken to a special treatment facility where it was burned, Mr. Smith said. The tank's removal caused a temporary inconvenience for workers in Bldg. 128. "The project caused some headaches for the (employees of Bldg. 128) for about a week," he said. "They had to work around the contractor mitigating this and the removal of the tank." Despite the shop's operational difficulties, Joseph Carroll, a fire inspector with the Base Fire Department, said safety came first in the project. "With something like this, nothing happens quickly," he said. "You have to go really slow and plan it out to a tee. You want to make sure everything is safe. I consider this a prime example of the Voluntary Protection Program process and how it works." Mr. Carroll said contractors pumped as much propane from the tank as possible and burned the remaining percentage of gas. Nitrogen was placed in the tank to ensure all danger had been removed before its removal. Mr. Bartoe said a new 1,000-gallon above-ground propane gas tank was placed just northwest of the original location to support heat treatment operations in Bldg. 140. Workers are continuing efforts to fill in and resurface the area where the tank was removed.