About two years ago, federal regulators required tank owners to start meeting rules designed to halt the growing pollution from leaky tanks. But the problem is not solved. From Maine to California, the tanks continue to leak. In Prairie Village, leaking gasoline filled a children's library with noxious fumes. And in Oran, Mo., a hazardous gasoline additive called MTBE has tainted the town's water supply for more than two years.
Gasoline contains dangerous additives, including chemicals known to cause cancer in humans.
Exposure to these chemicals in drinking water or in fumes also can pose other health risks, including nervous-system disorders. Petroleum contamination of groundwater, streams and soil can threaten fish and wildlife and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up. Environmental experts say the new laws were written specifically to prevent these kinds of spills and leaks from the 715,000 active tanks now buried in the United States. That is not much less than the number of reports before the laws took effect. But the nation has 350,000 fewer tanks today than it did five years ago.