Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Metal remnants of a third fuel storage tank — probably from WWII —  was discovered in Aua village earlier this month.

At around noon on Friday, Feb. 8, the AIr and Land Division of the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency (AS-EPA) responded to the reported discovery, which was made during an excavation by Fletcher Construction, currently carrying out the East Side Villages' Sewer Project.

(Fletcher is subcontracted by the American Samoa Power Authority to install the sewer lines in the East Side villages).

On the day in question, Samoa News understands that an engineer from ASPA contacted AS-EPA officials via email, to notify them of what had been uncovered.

From what could be observed, there was a dugout trench about 15-feet long and 6-feet below ground surface.

Soil contamination was very much visible inside the trench, and the smell of petroleum was overpowering. Next to the trench was a small pit where metal remnants of a fuel storage tank were seen protruding out of the ground.

A metal pipe, about 8-meters long, was extracted from the ground. Still inside was petroleum, which was seeping out from both ends. The metal remnants of the tank appear to extend underneath an existing two-story residential home. There are three other homes and a church in close proximity to the tank.

Samoa News understands that residents at the site have voiced their concerns regarding the buried tank, and the contaminated soil.

Late last year, oil was found in the soil at Aua. The area in question sits in the middle of three homes — one of the houses is actually believed to be sitting on part of an old fuel tank, suspected to be the source of the leakage.

At the time, Samoa News spoke to David Cavagnol, the Hawaii-based regional manager for EERG, a company that specializes in environmental engineering and restoration work. (They are also assisting Fletcher with the ongoing sewer line project on the east side).

Cavagnol said the oil is coming from the location of an underground fuel tank that existed during World War II, one of twelve fuel tanks scattered throughout Aua village.

He said the location is not shown on the map (presumed to be 70 years old).

When asked about ground water contamination, Cavagnol said there is no drinking water lens under the entire village.

"But there's oil in the ground," he pointed out. "Oil generally seeps vertically over time, and water carries it with rain and run-off, and causes it to spread; so there should be some concern about ground water contamination, whether it is brackish like from the ocean — there's a tendency that it is transferred back and forth from the ocean."

It is unclear how long oil has been leaking into the soil in Aua, and no data is available on whether or not any deaths can be attributed to it.

HISTORY

According to information from the AS-EPA, in 1938 and 1939, the United States Navy constructed twelve (12) 10,000-barrel above ground steel fuel storage tanks and a 12-inch pipeline delivery system throughout Aua. 

The above-ground tanks and pipeline were used to store and supply diesel fuel for U.S. naval warships during World War II. The Aua Fuel Farm was dismantled after the war and since that time, residents had reported the presence of subsurface petroleum contamination in the village. In 1989, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) initiated a preliminary assessment of the Aua Fuel Farm and confirmed that petroleum hydrocarbons were present in several areas of the village.

Despite remediation actions by the USACE in 1990, excavations in the area continue to reveal heavy subsurface petroleum contamination.

In 2011, the USACE initiated site investigation activities in the location of the old transmission pipe along the coastline from Aua (Site Work Plan, Aua Fuel Farm, Engineering Remediation Resources Group, March 2011).