Gas stations can pose significant hazards to nearby residents. Some of the perils include ground-level ozone caused in part by gasoline fumes, carbon monoxide from car exhaust, groundwater pollution from oil and gas leaking into the ground or from leaking underground storage tanks, and exposure hazards from other chemicals that might be used if the station is also a repair shop.
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Dear EarthTalk: I am looking at possibly buying a house that is very close to a gasoline station. Is it safe to live so close to a gas station? What concerns should I have? I have toddler and infant babies.
-- Ranjeeta, Houston, TX
Despite all the modern health and safety guidelines they must follow, gas stations can still pose significant hazards to neighbors, especially children. Some of the perils include ground-level ozone caused in part by gasoline fumes, groundwater hazards from petroleum products leaking into the ground, and exposure hazards from other chemicals that might be used at the station if it’s also a repair shop.
Ozone pollution is caused by a mixture of volatile organic compounds, some of which are found in gasoline vapors, and others, like carbon monoxide, that come from car exhaust. Most gas pumps today must have government-regulated vapor-recovery boots on their nozzles, which limit the release of gas vapors while you’re refueling your car. A similar system is used by the station when a tanker arrives to refill the underground tanks. But if those boots aren’t working properly, the nearly odorless hydrocarbon fumes, which contain harmful chemicals like benzene, can be released into the air.
Higher ozone levels can lead to respiratory problems and asthma, while benzene is a known cancer-causing chemical, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The quest to reduce ozone levels has led the state of California to implement a more stringent vapor-recovery law, effective April 1, 2009, which requires that all gasoline pumps have a new, more effective vapor-recovery nozzle.
Underground gasoline storage tanks can also be a problem. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are some 660,000 of them from coast-to-coast. Many a lawsuit has been filed against oil firms in communities across the country by people whose soil and groundwater were fouled by a gas station’s leaking underground storage tank. In the past, most tanks were made of uncoated steel, which will rust over time. Also, pipes leading to the tanks can be accidentally ruptured.
When thousands of gallons of gasoline enter the soil, chemicals travel to groundwater, which the EPA says is the source of drinking water for nearly half the U.S. If buying a home, consider its potential loss in value if a nearby underground storage tank were to leak. Gasoline additives such as methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), which has been outlawed in some states, make the water undrinkable—and that is only one of 150 chemicals in gasoline. Repeated high exposure to gasoline, whether in liquid or vapor form, can cause lung, brain and kidney damage, according to the NIH’s National Library of Medicine.
Spilled or vaporized gasoline is not the only chemical hazard if the station is also a repair shop. Mechanics use solvents, antifreeze and lead products, and may work on vehicles that have asbestos in brakes or clutches. Auto refinishers and paint shops use even more potentially harmful chemicals.
In today’s car-centric world, we can’t escape exposure completely, because these chemicals are in our air just about everywhere. But by choosing where we live, keeping an eye out for spills, and pressuring the oil companies to do the right thing for the communities they occupy, we can minimize our exposures.
CONTACTS: U.S. EPA, www.epa.gov; National Institutes of Health, www.nih.gov.
EarthTalk is produced by E/The Environmental Magazine. SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.
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8 Comments
Add CommentThe town I live in is very small and there was an abandoned gas station sitting on an acre of land in the center of town that needed torn down. After they tore the station down, the EPA did their chemical check and they found so much chemical pollution in the ground that they will not allow any one to build a business or home on the property. The EPA said that about six feet of soil had to be removed and replaced and no water storage systems of any kind could ever be installed on the property more than one and half feet under ground. If you have a choice not to live within ten blocks of a gas station...don't. Those deadly chemicals can travel in the soil and water supplies for miles.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMore fear mongering from Earthtalk, I'm not surprised.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisE. Europe for eight years. When the communists controlled E. Europe, they really fouled the place up. I never saw anyplace in the U.S. as dirty as most of the average places in E. Europe. These places are not healthy, but neither I nor my three kids suffered any long term damage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe have become way too nuts about pollution. At the low levels we are likely to experience in the U.S., it really need not be a cause of concern and being afraid to live near a gas station is silly. If you are too afraid of something like this, you are just too afraid.
Way back in the 70's a gas station right next to my grade school exploded. I don't recall if it happened overnight or during the weekend. School was not in session regardless. What we saw the next day was the charred remains of a building. Today the spot the station was built on is a restaurant.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wouldn't mind living within a few blocks of a station but not next to it. More for the noise and traffic than the potential health hazards. Though now I'd had health hazards as a reason not to live next door.
We used to live near a gas station and they repeatedly violated to requirement to use the vapor recovery system. In addition they would occasionally make mistakes. For example they over filled one tank and gasoline was running down the street and into the water drainage system. Further they had a rather large explosion that damaged our house two doors away and destroyed the house closest. I would never live any closer than about two blocks from a gas station again. I could say more but they were especially awful!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe used to live near a gas station and they repeatedly violated to requirement to use the vapor recovery system. In addition they would occasionally make mistakes. For example they over filled one tank and gasoline was running down the street and into the water drainage system. Further they had a rather large explosion that damaged our house two doors away and destroyed the house closest. I would never live any closer than about two blocks from a gas station again. I could say more but they were especially awful!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm moving...and buying a horse!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo shit.
The City of Fullerton, California, changed its own laws to shoe-horn a Shell gas station onto a corner lot immediately next to our home in the early 70s. They waived existing ordinances to allow a gas station less than 500 feet from an existing home; they allowed the station structure to be built up right to the property line; and they allowed the station to be built on a site less than that required for other stations throughout the entire city. Our family was poisoned for a couple of years by gas fumes that saturated our property whenever tanker trucks filled the underground tanks, causing vomiting and nausea. Fullerton did nothing to correct the situation despite numerous complaints; no public agency wanted to get involved; and finally after many complaints to Shell, they raised the vent pipes on the station roof, thereby allowing breezes to carry away the fumes from the underground tanks. I'm an adult now and have had two separate cancers far below the average age; my father had cancer and so did my mother. So far my brothers have not experienced cancer. Shell stinks and the City of Fullerton allowed them to make us sick.
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