'Huge' underground storage tanks being removed at vacant Quin-T property in east Erie

Kevin Flowers, Erie Times-News
·2 min read
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Demolition crews have begun removing two 30,000-gallon underground storage tanks at the former Quin-T Tech Paper and Boards property near East 16th and French Streets — a vacant industrial site where hazardous/toxic material sat abandoned for decades.

A 30,000-gallon tank is one of two being removed from the former Quin-T Tech Paper and Boards property near East 16th and French streets in Erie.
A 30,000-gallon tank is one of two being removed from the former Quin-T Tech Paper and Boards property near East 16th and French streets in Erie.

The work began on Tuesday, and full removal of both tanks and related site work is expected to take about two weeks, said Tina Mengine, executive director of the Erie County Redevelopment Authority.

The Redevelopment Authority is spearheading demolition/cleanup efforts at the property. The authority purchased the Quin-T property, at 140 E. 16th St., in 2021.

Mengine said each of the tanks is nearly 11 feet wide and 46 feet long, and they contained enough “sludge and oil to fill a couple of 5,000-gallon tankers."

"They are huge," Mengine said.

Both soil and groundwater testing is being conducted near where the tanks are located, Mengine said.

The tanks will be dismantled and discarded, Mengine said.

“This is the last major piece of demolition at Quin-T,” Mengine said. “From this point forward it’s all remediation, getting the site cleaned up and ready for redevelopment.”

The Quin-T plant closed in 2005. Demolition work and environmental remediation, including asbestos removal, began in April 2021.

Slightly more than $1 million in taxpayer dollars have so far been spent on demolition and environmental cleanup.

The Erie Times-News reported in July that tons of potentially dangerous materials were left inside both the dilapidated, unsecured Quin-T site and another vacant industrial property the county Redevelopment Authority owns, the former Erie Malleable Iron site at 603 W. 12th St.

Danger Zones: Asbestos, toxic chemicals among hazards left at Erie's Quin-T, EMI sites

Materials left behind at the properties included asbestos and chemicals/substances that have been linked to various cancers.

The EMI site is currently being demolished. The publicly funded cost of demolition and cleanup there exceeds $2.2 million.

Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie, PA, Quin-T site: 30,000-gallon underground tanks being removed