Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

In the past few weeks we have looked at how underground storage tanks, particularly older tanks belonging to gas stations, can and often do compromise the health of the surrounding environment and everything in it, including humans. The Environmental Protection Agency has logged more than 620,000 active storage tanks throughout the United States. Of those tanks, some 480,000 tanks have or have had “confirmed releases.” The problem is so extensive that the EPA established the Office of Underground Storage Tanks to confront it. Since its founding 25 years ago, the EPA’s UST office has removed 1.7 million substandard tanks and completed 377,019 cleanups. Thousands of tanks continue to leak.

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As many has half a million people who lived on or near the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina have been exposed to highly toxic chemicals that infiltrated the camp’s groundwater from 1957 to 1987. The U.S. government and the Marine Corps blame a now-closed dry cleaning company that once operated off-base but in the area of the camp, in addition to toxic chemicals that leaked from underground storage tanks and unsafe chemical disposal procedures on base.

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In the 1960s, during some of the tensest years of the Cold War, the federal government gave fuel tanks and generators to radio broadcasters throughout the country. The program intended to give the radio stations a means to broadcast news and vital information in the event of an emergency. The Federal Communications Commission and the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency managed the program, which involved some 700 stations by 1979, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency was formed. Now, decades later, federal officials believe that hundreds of the tanks are leaking.

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Leaking underground fuel tanks threaten to contaminate drinking water, lakes, streams and homes across Iowa as environmental officials change rules to speed up detection and cleanup.

There are about 6,200 leaking underground storage tanks in the state — and more than 1,500 are considered ongoing contamination risks. Some of the leaking tanks have been problems for more than 15 years. Almost 820 are labeled high-risk.

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