Source: http://amestrib.com, February 2, 2016
By: Sarina Rhinehart
The Story County Board of Supervisors are calling for swifter action on a leaking underground gasoline tank in Nevada that has contaminated soil and groundwater at the former Dairy Queen building and neighboring properties.
The leaking tank sits under the unoccupied building on Lincoln Way, which was also previously a Kerr-McGee Service Station, which ceased operation in 1982.
The supervisors’ biggest concern with the contamination was its impact on the surrounding area, including a residence directly south of the building.
“I don’t believe that knowing what we know, we can sit ideally by,” Supervisor Rick Sanders said at the board’s meeting Tuesday. “It’s not reasonable to sit back and hope it gets taken care of.”
According to a report from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, there are two chemicals of concern in the area: benzene and ethylbenzene.
The maximum allowable concentration of benzene is limited to .54 parts per million in soil and 290 parts per billion in groundwater. At the site of the former gas station, the levels were much higher: the soil benzene level was at 3.28 parts per million and the groundwater level had rose to 10,800 parts per billion.
The soil concentration of ethylbenzene was at 84.5, nearly 70 points over the maximum allowed concentration.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has linked both of these chemicals to causing cancer in humans following long-term exposure.
Margaret Jaynes, Story County environmental health director, said that while it is not uncommon for old gasoline tanks to leak, the former gas station closed before new regulations went into effect that required tank registration and they discovered this leak as the property owners were looking to sell the lot.
While this issue is under the authority of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the supervisors agreed they need to step in and address this issue as quickly as possible.
“We will have to have more conversations with the DNR,” said board Chair Paul Toot, who also recommended drafting a letter to send to the DNR office.
It is the property owner’s responsibility to clean the contaminated area, but Sanders said it is creating a public health hazard and the board needs to step in to make sure this concern is addressed quickly.
“We have some responsibility,” Sanders said.
Jody Posegate, of Nevada, is the resident who lives in the home directly south of the leaking underground tank, and said that while she was notified of the leak several months ago, she has never smelled anything and is not concerned about the leaking tank’s effect on her property.
“It really hasn’t impacted us at all,” Posegate said. “I’m not going to be digging 10 feet down. The people who buy it, that’s their problem.”
Posegate currently babysits for two of her grandchildren, which was one of the reasons the board expressed concern with fixing the issue quickly.
Posegate said she believes the leak has not really impacted her property because testing in her basement showed normal chemical levels.
Telephone messages left Tuesday at the Iowa DNR Land Quality Bureau, which is in charge of dealing with leaking underground tanks, were not returned.
A telephone message left Tuesday for the mutli-state trust which was created following the gas station’s bankruptcy and which is conducting environmental assessments of the site and neighboring properties was not returned.