Out of order signs pop up at Vermont gas pumps

[Rhiannon12866]

BURLINGTON, Vt. Some businesses in Vermont have stopped selling gasoline as they decide whether to replace their underground tanks.

As of January first, 26 Vermont facilities still needed to replace 61 single-walled tanks as part of a 2013 law.

Replacing the tanks could cost between $100,000 to $200,000 thousand dollars to replace tanks that work perfectly fine.

Charlie Handy's family has owned Handy's Service station in Burlington for almost 50 years.

"Now I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to do the tanks. Or if it's not worth it for me to do the tanks," Handy said.

The business has single- walled underground gas tanks.

Handy has to switch them out with double- walled tanks if they want to remove the out of order bags.

The Department of Environmental Conservation said it's a safety issue. Gas in single walled tanks is more likely to leak into the soil or ground water.


More (Includes video): http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Out-of-order-signs-pop-up-at-Vermont-gas-pumps-479806073.html

[sprinkleeninow]

1. This has happened where we are. Some stations closed up and have been left

for ages rundown bc of the $$ to remove the tanks. Unless someone wanted the property badly enuff at a most likely dirt cheap figure.

I can understand this regulatory enactment as stipulated. Imagine the pollution and mess of a leaking tank. Even if empty, it takes a special removal process I do believe.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. The cost of replacement sounds prohibitive for small locally owned businesses

And there have to be a lot of them, like the owner quoted in the article. This is going to put a lot of them out of business. And it's not like just any business could go in its place - there are gas stations in my area that have been simply abandoned - because the ground around the tanks is contaminated - what a mess!

[sprinkleeninow]

3. Yes, one has been sitting in our city for years, right on a main drag. Every time I drove by it

was more and more ramshackled. A real eyesore. But I knew why it sat for so long.
Now the lot is being improved. Haven't gone by in a while to see what's going in there.

Peace-filled dreams for you, yours and your little ones! 💛

[Rhiannon12866]

4. I can think of three of them, offhand, that I see in my travels

Two of them have been just sitting there for years. I don't know who owns the properties, but I imagine the cost of the clean up is prohibitive.

Sleep well, my friend - and hoping that better weather is coming eventually!

[modrepub]

8. Feel Sorry for The Small Businesses

but the cost of a cleanup is probably a LOT more than installing safer and newer tanks. My guess is if you have a leaking tank and it contaminates someone else well the owner won't be able to afford to remediate and will probably walk sticking the state with the bill. Unfortunately this is another instance when smaller businesses will have to get bigger to survive (see Sheetz and Wawa or some other big convenience store model).

[alwaysinflux]

5. Isn't trump just gonna reverse this w/an EO?

[Rhiannon12866]

6. I'm sure he'd get Scott Pruitt right on it

But the Department of Environmental Conservation is a state agency - not that he'd know that.

[TheSmarterDog]

7. If they're more likely to leak, then they don't work perfectly fine.

[packman]

9. I know this regulation killed 2 gas stations in my old home town

Both stations were there , I believe, since the town was laid out and cars appeared on its streets. One of them was an old horse stable. Neither of them could afford to have the tanks dug up and replaced since they were barely hanging on and having a hard time competing with the stations in the outskirts of the town which offered gas a few cents cheaper. One station tanks were leaking gasoline under the ground and it was in danger of exploding a store downhill from it.