Trial pending in lawsuit

SANDPOINT — The former owner of a Sandpoint gas station is pushing back against an Idaho Department of Environmental Quality suit alleging that stalled petroleum-recovery efforts are jeopardizing ground and surface water quality.

The department sued Michael Lewis Young of Clark Fork last year, claiming that the recovery system for underground leaks at Gas & Go has failed. The suit seeks to force compliance with a consent order guiding the cleanup of up to $400,000 to restore the contamination recovery system.

Young’s defense counsel disputes that the system has failed and alleges that IDEQ mismanaged a trust account where cleanup funds were being pooled.

“The Plaintiff’s damages are a result of its misappropriation of funds,” Rex Finney said in an answer to IDEQ’s civil complaint.

Young further argues he is no longer the owner of the Fifth Avenue filling station and the statute of limitations has expired in the matter.

The state asserts that Young is responsible for the cleanup regardless of who currently owns the business by virtue of an indemnity agreement.

A 10-day jury trial is set for Oct. 24 in 1st District Court.

The state sued another previous owner in 1991 after petroleum leaks were detected in surface and groundwater. The station overlooks Sand Creek.

The litigation resulted in a settlement agreement, consent order and a trust account to sustain the cleanup, according to IDEQ.

The department asserts that trust account funds were depleted and the recovery system failed in 2008.

IDEQ monitored recovery wells at the site in 2009 and detected the presence of aged petroleum on top of groundwater and dissolved petroleum constituents in groundwater advancing toward the creek, the complaint said.