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MARYVILLE

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News Brief

May 29, 2025 |  By: Gavin McGough

Recent testing shows toxins remain at former Aunt B's Pump and Wash

Following a pause earlier this year, work is moving forward to clean up toxins at the site of the former Aunt B's Pump and Wash in Maryville. In the nineteen-nineties and early two-thousands, a gas station operated at 602 South Main Street. Following its closure in 2005, the site was abandoned, and toxins were detected in the soil and water at the site. At this week's Town Council meeting, Interim City Manager Ryan Heiland says recent testing shows the problem remains.

"After December testing, the underground storage tanks showed high levels of benzene, there have been multiple discussions on how to handle and dispose the hazardous waste in the tanks.", says Heiland. 

The city hired SDS Engineering to remove the tanks. It is using about 200 thousand dollars that the Environmental Protection Agency granted Maryville back in 2023 for the cleanup effort. But Heiland explains funding concerns halted the project earlier this year.

"On February 4th, the city instructed SDS engineers to halt work on the clean-up project due to the terms with the federal funding freeze. On March 18th, we were informed that those funds were still in place and we could still move forward.", says Heiland. 

With work resuming, the tanks are scheduled to be removed in the coming months.