Saukville contamination site won’t require remediation

Underground contamination at the corner of Green Bay Avenue and Clay Street in the Village of Saukville left by a gas station there more than 60 years ago doesn’t appear to be spreading and will not require remediation, Ozaukee County officials were told last week.

But supervisors on the county Public Works Committee approved spending $3,100 to sink new test wells to make sure  the contamination doesn’t spread to other properties.

In 2024, the state Department of Natural Resources named the county and the village as responsible parties for the pollution at the corner where the Tesker gas station once stood in the 1960s.

The pollution was discovered in the 1990s during a village utility project.

But the DNR was unable to find an heir or party associated with the gas station and  named the village and county as responsible parties.

The county was named a responsible party because Green Bay Avenue is a county highway.

In December 2025, the county hired Fredonia-based Moraine Environmental to conduct testing and monitoring to determine the scope and severity of the contamination, dividing the $65,000 cost between the county and village.

Last week, the company returned, seeking to install three additional wells, two to  test whether the contamination is spreading to a nearby residential property and one to see if a different Tri-Par contamination plume from across the street has commingled with the Tesker site.

County Public Works Director Jon Edgren said no remediation is needed at this point.

“They believe it is less than they expected. If you’re not moving soil, there’s no need,” he said.

He said monitoring of the site will continue for two to three years to determine if the plume moves.

“This is another step toward closure,” he said.