By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

Cumberland Farms has agreed to pay nearly $700,000 in penalties and mitigation costs associated with its underground oil tanks at 45 Maine stores.

At its meeting Thursday, the state Board of Environmental Protection is expected to approve a consent agreement detailing the penalties and other steps Cumberland has to take.

Diana McLaughlin, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Monday that the agreement wraps up enforcement actions that began in 2003. That’s when Cumberland Farms Inc. was found to be in noncompliance with state law requiring annual inspections of underground oil storage facilities.

The law is designed to prevent or detect oil leaks.

McLaughlin said that while “no catastrophic leaks” occurred, the fact that 45 stores were involved – each constituting a single violation of state law – “is significant.”

Among those that didn’t meet the reporting requirement are stores in Brunswick, Gray, Paris, Norway, Lewiston, Mechanic Falls, Auburn, Winthrop, Livermore Falls, Farmington and Sabattus.

The consent agreement – which was drafted by Andrew Flint, another DEP specialist, according to McLaughlin – requires Cumberland to pay a civil penalty totaling $209,500. Of that, $69,900 will go directly into the state’s groundwater oil cleanup fund.

The remaining $139,600 will be applied toward a total of $622,296 that Cumberland Farms has agreed to spend to replace nine, single-walled underground storage tanks at three different store sites. The tank replacement work is a supplemental environmental project approved by the state as part of the overall consent agreement, McLaughlin said.

She added that these tanks are in what the DEP has determined to be sensitive geologic areas.

“This is a win-win situation,” McLaughlin said of the agreement that was negotiated by the DEP staff. Cumberland now complies with the reporting law, nine of its older tanks are being replaced with double-walled tanks and improved monitoring systems, and geologically sensitive environmental areas are being protected.