At the most recent Wells City Council meeting it was reported that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) was going to investigate a historic petroleum release at the Shepherd’s Inn property located at 46 First Avenue Southwest. Part of the process includes performing soil borings in which soil, groundwater and soil vapor samples are collected.

More background on why and what is being looked at has since been made available.

The site of the Shepherds Inn was once a gas station in the 1930s and 1940s.

“The property is going through a possible change of ownership,” Ben Fehr, an engineer and project manager for WSB, an engineering and consulting firm based in Minneapolis, said. “The prospective new owners did their due diligence and hired a consultant to investigate the site.”

When the report showed contamination the results were reported to the MPCA.

“The MPCA found there was no responsible party so then the MPCA took over,” Fehr explained. “They have hired WSB to perform a limited site investigation.”

Fehr noted that there are two tanks still buried at the site.

“They were closed in place, meaning they were filled with concrete which was common at the time they were closed,” he stated. “That happened sometime in the 1980s.”

Fehr said that WSB will perform a comprehensive look at the site to see if anyone in the area is at risk.

“For instance, we will look to see if there are any wells nearby that could be compromised,” Fehr commented. “At this point we are just trying to understand what is happening at the site. Currently, there is no known risk associated with the site.”

According to Fehr, the whole process could take up to one year.

“If no known risk is discovered the case could be marked as closed,” Fehr concluded. “If we find a problem, then other mitigation steps might be needed.”