By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Pembroke officials are urging residents to speak out against a state Department of Transportation fueling facility planned for construction in the aquifer that feeds water to Pembroke, and parts of Allenstown, Hooksett and Concord.

The state is hosting a public informational meeting about the plan on Monday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m., at the Pembroke Academy cafeteria.

Some local officials have been adamantly against the state’s plans for three 10,000-gallon fueling tanks off Route 106 for months, and contend it’s an imminent threat to Pembroke’s public water supply.

“The public’s health is at risk here,” said Pembroke Water Works Superintendent Paul Whittemore. “I’m not going to lay down and say we can’t stop this. I think we can.”

The Route 106 fueling station ­ which would be the largest of more than 90 statewide ­ would be placed at the site of the Department of Transportation’s Mechanical Services Division, just north of the Pembroke town line. The fueling station ­ planned to store fuel for state vehicles ­ would replace a current facility at Stickney Avenue, Concord.

The state is proposing safety measures well exceeding state standards for the tanks including two layers of fiberglass lining surrounded by a concrete vault.

But Whittemore said engineering can’t always protect against human error.

“It’s the operation of the facility that’s going to cause contamination to the groundwater,” he said. “We’re not talking it might contaminate, we’re talking it will contaminate eventually.”

The state has envisioned the Route 106 location for the facility since 2004. Since then, the state agency has fielded complaints from local state representatives in Pembroke and Concord, as well as other state representatives. The governor’s office has been reviewing the plans in recent months.

The Department of Transportation has already had informational sessions with the Concord Planning Board, which can’t enforce its zoning regulations on the state project.

The upcoming meeting with Pembroke is strictly for the state to present information about its plan and gather feedback, said Pembroke Town Administrator Troy Brown, and local boards won’t have an official say on whether the plan moves forward.

Brown said the issue carries significance beyond the town borders.

“What’s to say that other communities aren’t going to need this water supply 10 years from now?” he said.

Thomas Ballestero, a University of New Hampshire professor and engineer who who designed the Pembroke well nearest the proposed fueling facility, warned against the state plan to local officials.

“By allowing the construction of a refueling facility on this formation, we have basically learned nothing from our past mistakes,” he wrote to Whittemore. “In my opinion, it is not a question of ‘if’ a fuel spill will occur, but rather ‘when’ and ‘how much.’”