Water,Water,Everywhere But Not a Drop to Drink

This notice from the EPA was just released regarding remediation of leaking fuel tanks in Indiana. The leakage contaminates ground water that is the source of drinking and household use. The toxins in fuel are often carcinogenic and very dangerous. Here is the notice:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 09-OPA128

EPA awards more than $4 million in Recovery Act funds to clean up underground petroleum leaks in Indiana

EPA: Funds help create jobs and protect Indiana's land and water.

Contact: Karen Thompson, 312-353-8547, thompson.karen@epa.gov

(Chicago, Ill - July 16, 2009) In an effort to protect people where they live, work, and play, EPA announced the distribution of more than $4 million to Indiana under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to assess and clean up underground storage tank petroleum leaks. The greatest potential hazard from a leaking underground storage tank is that the petroleum or other hazardous substances seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater, the source of drinking water for nearly one-third of all Americans.

"We're providing immediate growth opportunities for communities across the nation, as well as long-term protection from dangerous pollution in the land and water," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "EPA is putting people to work by serving our core mission of protecting human health and the environment."

This money is part of $197 million appropriated under the Recovery Act to address shovel-ready sites nationwide contaminated by petroleum from leaking underground storage tanks. The funds will be used for overseeing assessment and cleanup of leaks from underground storage tanks or directly paying for assessment and cleanup of leaks from federally regulated tanks where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling or unable to finance, or the cleanup is an emergency response.

EPA regional underground storage tank programs will enter into a cooperative agreement with Indiana Department of Environmental Management in July 2009. The cooperative agreement will include more detailed descriptions of state spending plans.

"The Recovery Act support for underground storage tank cleanup is a great investment in environmental protection and will provide long-term economic benefits for Indiana," said Bharat Mathur acting regional administrator in Chicago.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can visit Recovery.gov to see how every dollar is being invested.

Learn more about EPA's implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: http://www.epa.gov/recovery/

With this EPA notice as background please continue reading to find out how your back yard may be vulnerable to toxic infiltration from leaking fuel tanks even as you read this.

Those of you who live in Door County near Fish Creek and Ephraim should be very happy to hear that a new 12,000 gallon gasoline tank for leaded aircraft gas is in the process of being installed underground at the Ephraim-Gibraltar Airport off HWY 42 and Maple Grove Road.It will replace an 1,100 gallon above ground mobile fuel tank. Once installed this tank will be preparing to leak sometime in the future. This double walled tank is supposedly leak proof. As an engineer and materials scientist this is impossible. All tanks made by man will eventually leak as corrosion, vibration, freeze-thaw cycles and other factors enlarge small inherent defects into small leaks that gradually become larger. This leaded fuel tank will contain enough leaded gasoline to contaminate all water supplies in the Town of Gibraltar (including Fish Creek) and Village of Ephraim when it leaks and contaminates ground water and aquifers, despite the political assurances that you may get to the contrary.

The shore residences will find toxic gasoline chemicals in the bay, as fish and other wild life suffer and die. The EPA and WI Department of Natural Resources had better have an emergency plan in place along with the WI DOT (who authorized and funded the tank with our tax dollars. The fuel in the tank will be dispersed by individual pilots who need to gas up. Spillage will be uncontrolled but supposedly retained by by appropriate barriers. Of course the concrete barriers will also leak and gradually the uncontrolled and unmonitored spillage will contaminate the ground water also. Get your reverse osmosis water purification systems now if you haven't got one yet.

This is another example of "earmark" giveaway of tax dollars to a special interest group who in this case own private aircraft that occasionally fly in and out of Northern Door County, and serves about 35 aircraft owners who hanger their aircraft at the airport. This and thousands of other boutique airports like it are given grants by the Federal and State governments from our collective tax dollars for their own use. The Ephraim-Gibraltar Airport has received well over one million dollars over the past 5 years and is slated to receive about the same for the next 3 years unless the budget axe falls as it should.

This information is presented as a public disclosure that your elected officials generally prefer to keep quite.