"Buried Gas Tanks Imperil Florida’s Drinking Water" No Publix Gas Station in the Acreage!!

The Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition opposes the gas station proposed to be built in the Acreage. We will be in attendance of the Palm Beach County Commission hearing on 9/29/08, 9am, to challenge zoning the Publix gas station on Seminole Pratt and Orange Drive. Below is an article from the LA Times in 2002 entitled "Buried Gas Tanks Imperil Florida’s Drinking Water". We have long known the risks that gas stations pose to residential wells. Even with improved storage tanks, they cannot prevent contamination, but only prolong its inevitable impacts. The solution to this problem must be holistic, including: keep all urban infrastructure out of rural communities, reducing fossil fuel dependency, improvement of public transit options, and expanding the treatment of already contaminated areas through bioremediation ( for example: http://www.alabastercorp.com/remediation.htm ) and restored wetlands do reduce the existing contamination of our ground and surface waters.

We stand with the residents of the Acreage who are challenging this bad plan. There is no excuse for this proposed gas station!

Buried Gas Tanks Imperil Florida’s Drinking Water
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jul/08/nation/na-leak8
LA Times, July 08, 2002 in print edition A-12

Buried storage tanks are leaking gasoline into 25,000 sites around the state, causing concern that drinking water may become contaminated, state officials said. Florida’s absorbent, sandy soil and residents’ dependence on ground water supplies contribute to the concerns, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said.

Public wells used by 17 million people are within half a mile of leaking tanks.
[There is speculation that this maybe a typo, LA Times may have meant 1.7 million, as there are only around 18 million people in the entire state]

“People don’t realize when they are filling their cars with gas that they are handling a hazardous substance–gasoline is explosive and it can cause cancer,” said Michael Ashey, chief of the Bureau of Petroleum Storage Systems for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Florida ranks third after California and Texas in gasoline use, burning nearly 20 million gallons a day, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. About 22,000 of the leak sites are near gas stations and similar facilities, the department said.

Florida has more leak sites than any other state except California, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. State officials are cleaning up more than 3,000 sites, and more than 10,000 sites are awaiting cleanup.

The state will require double-walled petroleum-storage tank systems to replace the older tanks by 2010. The state spent $151 million last year to expedite the cleanups, but officials say they need more money to reduce the backlog.