Andy Asberry wrote:

In 1984, I was operating a service station I leased from the oil
company. They owned the building, the tanks and the gas in them. I
paid for gas through the pumps.

At that time (maybe still) the state required pressure testing of the
tanks at regular intervals. This time the tank failed. Before they
could release the pressure, 700 gallons of gas seeped into a 4 foot
storm drain 30 feet away. It dumped into a creek a half mile away
through a residential neighborhood. Major cleanup; major evacuation.

Yikes! I assume the tanks were underground, where did the leak occur? How did
it get to the storm drain, or did not just migrate from the tank directly to the
storm drain well? Was it leaded gas?


Contaminated soil was hauled away in sealed drums at $455 each.
Excavation equipment without electrical systems was used to dig the
soil out and later at the evaporation site to turn the soil daily.
They were started with APU carts at least 200 feet away. Operators
wore hazmat suits and respirators.

There is now a car wash on that site. Behind it is a 36" ventilation
well with a suction fan on a 25' stack. I'm told the air/fuel mixture
coming out is still combustible twenty-one years later

I'll bet it is! There are a few gas stations in my town that have histories of
leaking tanks many years ago, and are still being remediated today. One leaked
while it was a Chevron station, I don't even recall Chevron ever being in this
part of the country (Massachusetts). The environmental engineers were able to
track which plume was which by looking at what additives were in each brand of
gasoline.