A Contaminated, Abandoned 

Gas Station Finds New Life in the Sale 

of Cutting-Edge Biofuels

Lane County, Oregon 

Any time that a brownfield is cleaned up and reused, it is a good 

thing—a change that usually benefits the environment, the redeveloper, 

and the surrounding community. For brownfields assessed and cleaned 

up through EPA grants, sustainability in reuse plans is an essential part of 

a project. Better still is when a once-contaminated brownfield is reused 

to promote cutting-edge technology with the potential to reduce pollutants 

on a global scale, and at the forefront of efforts to reduce fossil fuel 

dependency. Such is the case of a brownfield in Lane County, Oregon, 

that had sat idle for nearly 14 years. 

Located along McVay Highway in the City of Eugene, the 0.6-acre site 

seemed destined to remain unused, an eyesore to passing drivers and a 

hazard to the community. From 1986 through 1991, the site had operated 

as a gas station—an activity that had gradually contaminated soil and 

ground water on the property and beyond. The extent of this 

contamination from leaky undeground storage tank (UST) systems was 

discovered in 1991, when utility excavation work along McVay Highway 

uncovered petroleum that had migrated from the property. 

In response to the state’s request to clean up the property, the station’s 

owners ceased operations and declared bankruptcy. Another company 

purchased the site in 1996, but was eventually fined by the state for not 

following through with a promised cleanup. The company hired a third 

firm that removed the property’s five underground storage tanks and 

installed ground water monitoring wells. The firm was not paid for this 

work, and was awarded the property in a legal settlement. However, 

these new owners in turn failed to pay property taxes, and the site’s 

ownership was transferred to Lane County through foreclosure in 2004. 

Lane County had inherited a property rife with problems. In addition to 

its remaining contamination issues, the site had been used for drug 

activity and illegal dumping since the gas station’s closure more than a 

decade earlier. Hundreds of tires and piles of random debris now 

covered the site. 

But it would not be long before the property’s outlook improved 

dramatically. Even before the county took ownership of the site, 

SeQuential Biofuels LLC, an Oregon-based biofuel marketing and 

distribution company, expressed interest in purchasing and redeveloping 

the site. The company had already found success in other areas of the 

state through distribution of their biofuels at operating stations. Bioethanol 

is a blend of 15 percent petroleum gasoline and 85 percent alternative 

fuels such as “E85ethanol,” which is derived from renewable, natural 

products such as corn and sugar cane and produces lower emissions. 

continued • 

SeQuential Biofuels’ new station, with 

photovoltaic arrays that gather solar energy. 

JUST THE FACTS: • The 0.6-acre site had operated as a 

gas station for 15 years—an activity 

that had gradually contaminated soil 

and ground water on the property 

and beyond. 

• After Lane County took ownership 

through foreclosure in 2004, 

SeQuential Biofuels expressed 

interest in redeveloping the property 

as a biofuel service station. 

• The site was assessed and 

cleaned through efforts of multiple 

partners including Lane County, the 

Oregon DEQ, EPA, and 

SeQuential Biofuels. 

• The Oregon Brownfields Awards 

described the project as “...a pivotal 

representation of what tomorrow’s 

brownfields will encompass... and 

the challenges we face as society 

progresses towards alternative 

energy options.” 

This project has created

the first station of its kind in the country—

selling all of the company’s biofuel blends

and featuring solar panels that provide as

much as half the station’s electricity.

The main building includes a natural-foods

convenience store with an “eco-roof” that

uses plants and soil to keep the store cool

during summers. The property also features

“bioswales” in which plants filter rainwater

before it runs offsite.
In March 2005, the property became one of six sites assessed through an EPA 

Brownfields Site-Specific Assessment grant awarded to the Oregon Department 

of Environmental Quality (DEQ). With areas of contamination defined, the 

County removed more than 400 discarded tires, 15 drums of waste material, CONTACTS: and hundreds of items of illegal drug paraphernalia. A further cleanup effort 

was funded by a $197,520 EPA Brownfields Cleanup grant awarded to Lane For more information contact 

County in May 2005; and $50,000 from SeQuential Biofuels, through a loan U.S. EPA-REGION 10 - (206) 553-1200 from the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. More 

than 620 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed and a deeper aquifer Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: 

ground water remediation system was installed, along with ground water http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ monitoring wells to ensure the cleanup’s effectiveness. SeQuential Biofuels then 

leased the property from Lane County and began redevelopment in the Spring of 

2006, under an agreement that ownership would be transferred to SeQuential at the 

end of the remediation monitoring phase (likely during Summer 2007). “The Oregon DEQ 

deserves a huge amount of credit for this project,” explains Brooks Stanfield, Brownfields Grant Manager for 

EPA Region 10 (covering Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). “DEQ’s project managers were the ones that 

dealt directly with contractors, they were very involved in balancing a tight project budget, and they had to 

dovetail site work with an aggressive redevelopment schedule... they were heroic in getting this project 

completed.” 

The result of redevelopment, completed in August 2006, is the first station of its kind in the country—selling 

every SeQuential biofuel (including ethanol and biodiesel blends), and featuring photovoltaic panels above the 

pump stations that provide as much as half the station’s electricity needs through solar power. The main 

building includes a convenience store that carries natural foods and drinks, most of which are produced by 

regional companies. A seasonal, fresh produce stand at the station is stocked by local farmers. The 

convenience store has an “eco-roof” with soil and thousands of plants that keep 

the store cool during the summer. The property also features stormwater 

retention “bioswales” in which plants filter rainwater before it runs off 

the site. 

The new facility has become SeQuential Biofuels’ base of operations 

in Lane County, and is staffed by 15 part-time and four full-time 

employees. Cleanup of the site removed any community fears of 

migrating ground water contamination, in addition to eliminating a 

long-standing roadside eyesore. The project is seen as a win-win 

scenario for all of the partners involved. As said by Jeff Turk, Property 

Management Officer with Lane County, “This is a case where a site 

gets cleaned up, and the potential contamination issues are taken care of, 

and the site goes back to being productive. It now has a business on it 

where taxes are generated, and it’s a good situation overall.” 

The project is already serving as a model for a regional “Brownfields to Biofuels” effort that EPA hopes will 

produce similar results on other idle properties in the Northwest. As described by Brooks Stanfield, “The 

impact of this project reaches beyond this one site and community... we’re now looking at how this idea can 

be expanded and applied in other states.” 

In March 2007, the site’s cleanup and redevelopment was recognized by the Oregon Brownfields Awards, as 

one of three winning projects. The Awards described the project as “...a pivotal representation of what 

tomorrow’s brownfields will encompass, and the challenges we face as society progresses towards 

alternative energy options.” Cleaning up an idle, abandoned gas station site and placing it on the front lines of 

the renewable energy revolution is indeed an exemplary reuse of a brownfield—one that exceeds the already 

high standard of sustainable redevelopment. 

The former gas station along McVay Highway, 

prior to cleanup. 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA 560-F-07-216 

Lane County, Oregon and Emergency June 2007 

Response (5105T) www.epa.gov/ 

brownfields/