"Underground tanks could leak fuel; Hundreds need inspections from FEMA" by Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press | August 13, 2008
WASHINGTON - The government owns hundreds of underground fuel tanks - many designed for emergencies back in the Cold War - that need to be inspected for leaks of hazardous substances that could be making local water undrinkable.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has known since at least the 1990s that tanks under its supervision around the country could be leaking fuel into soil and groundwater, according to Associated Press interviews and research.
Many were built to store 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel and placed around the country at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s to fuel electric generators that could sustain emergency broadcasts by radio stations in case of a nuclear attack or other catastrophe. Made of steel, the tanks inevitably rust over time and allow fuel to escape.
Steel tanks left in the ground for decades get holes like Swiss cheese, said Pat Coyne, director of business development for Environmental Data Resources Inc.
The FEMA tanks are part of a larger problem. More than 500,000 leaking storage tanks - most of which are filled with fuel and oil - are buried across the country, according to Environmental Data Resources, based in Milford, Conn.
Because they are underground, leaking tanks can go undetected for years. If diesel leaks into drinking water, affected people could be at a higher risk of cancer, kidney damage, and nervous system disorders, said Rochelle Cardinale, one of the lead coordinators for underground tank cleanup in Iowa. A gallon of fuel can contaminate 1 million gallons of water.
Senate testimony from 1992 suggests FEMA has long tried to avoid having to deal with the tanks. Many of FEMA's out-of-use fuel tanks have not been inspected because officials only recently finished going through decades of paperwork from the different federal agencies that at one point participated in the emergency broadcasting program.
That's a damn weak excuse if you ask me!
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