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Court orders owner of old gas station to get the lead out
By adamg on Mon, 06/06/2016 - 10:36am
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today the state can force the owner of an old gas station in Athol to clean up the mess left over from a 1994 gasoline spill despite a state law that exempts "petroleum" spills from rigorous cleanups.
The court ruled that while the loss of gasoline in general into the surrounding ground is covered by the state exemption, the particular tank that leaked contained leaded gasoline, and lead is considered a hazardous substance for which cleanup is required.
The state enacted the petroleum exemption after scientists realized that petroleum spills rarely get into aquifers because the stuff tends to stay put and eventually decomposes into less harmful substances. Lead, however, is not so nice, the court said.
The station owner and the state have been fighting in court since 2008 over the issue.
Neighborhoods:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Complete ruling, Peterborough Oil Co., LLC vs Department of Environmental Protection | 114.42 KB |
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Comments
Lead generally isn't soluble
Lead generally isn't soluble in water. Which is good since it was used to make pipes and isn't mobile in soil, but bad because it makes it hard to wash off surfaces, skin, and textiles.
The court really flunked science class on this one. Lead is far less mobile than petrol! It sticks and stays put to the first surface it contaminates.
No, you flunked science class
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a305866.pdf
Leaded gas doesn't contain lead metal, it contains tetraethyllead, a liquid lead compound that's soluble in gasoline. Tetraethyllead isn't water soluble, but it's degraded in soil to triethyllead, which is very water soluble. This can be degraded all the way down to lead (II) cations, which do stick to soil, but it's not as if they're entombed - they can and are taken up by plants, leach from soil depending on pH, etc.
In any case, your comparison of tetraethyl lead in gas to lead metal in pipes suggests you're being glib or just trolling. These compounds have as about much in common with the lead metal found in pipes as mustard gas has in common with table salt.
Tetraethyl lead is nasty stuff
Do some research on the work of Clair Patterson, a 1950s geologist who for decades conducted a one-man campaign to get the stuff banned. He was opposed, naturally, by "expert witnesses" for the oil companies, with studies that are highly evocative of those funded by tobacco companies suggesting smoking wasn't harmful, or those suggesting that anthropogenic climate change isn't happening. Neil Degrasse Tyson devoted a whole episode of the rebooted Cosmos to Patterson and his work.
For that matter, there's a theory that appears to hold water that the dramatic rise in violent-crime rates in the 1950s-80s, which peaked in 1992, and subsequently dropped dramatically and continues to drop, was caused by people, especially small children, huffing lead fumes from car exhaust. Turns out we gave 2-3 generations of kids subclinical lead poisoning. Among the symptoms of lead poisoning? Poor executive function, poor anger management, and angry outbursts.
The man who developed it
Thomas Midgeley, Jr. was also responsible for Freon.
I hope the law allowing
I hope the law allowing leaking gasoline storage tanks to not be cleaned up was also backed by legitimate science, and not "experts" funded by the oil industry.
except MTBE *does* get into aquifers and is very toxic
n/t
You say 'MTBE in the water'
people go "Huh, what?". You say 'Lead in the water', you've got yourselves a panic.
With apologies to Mayor Vaughn of Amity
How was there still leaded
How was there still leaded gasoline in tank in 1994? That was no longer available at the pump years before that, wasn't it?
I had the same question
So I did a little bit of research. Apparently, leaded gasoline is still used - even to this day -in certain marine and agricultural applications. So it's more than likely that, being an independent station, they would offer leaded gas for those customers who needed it.
You'd think they could phase that out
I hope those smoke-belching fire trucks that go past my house multiple times a day aren't using that stuff.
Of course it could. You would
Of course it could. You would think a lot of dangerous things could and should be phased out, but lobbying leads our country to allow a lot companies to continue to do things that kill and make us sick. Our country is actually debating whether to increase coal mining and every tiny increase in fuel mileage requirements is attacked (or ignored like VW or the SUV/pickup loophole).
I was still common in Europe
I was still common in Europe until very recently. Lead paint hasn't been banned everywhere either.