The removal of the old underground gas tanks from the old Clark gas station at the corner of State Road 106 and State Road 331 in Bremen has revealed a unique issue.
Bremen Director of Operations Trend Weldy said the demolition company found some other type of material to remove.
“You’ve got to go way back into the early 1900s – it’s called a coal tar pit,” explained Weldy. “It’s where they brought in old coal tar. Before they had electricity, they lit the streets with this coal tar. They’d burn it in lamps to make light for the streets. I guess this was a small storage facility they had there. The demolition guys found it and had a little bit of stuff in it. IDEM is trying to figure out whose it was and who’s responsible to try and help pay for the removal of that. We think it’s probably NIPSCO.”
Until that problem can be solved, the demolition process is on hold.
The demolition of the building and canopy is complete. The final process will be the removal of all tanks and materials to clear that property. The Bremen Town Council has not formally decided on a use there, but a lighted informational sign is one use discussed by the town council.
