On September 26, 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that CityServiceValcon, LLC and Thomas West Fuels, Lubricants & Chemicals, LLC were fined for violating National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA reports that the companies failed to practice proper management of unloading gasoline at the Nez Perce Express in Lewiston as well as the TP Gas Station and Convenience Store on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.  The illegal unloading into storage tanks occurred between January of 2011 and January of 2012. 

The EPA is forcing CityServiceValcon, LLC to pay a $48,000 fine.  Thomas West Fuels, Lubricants & Chemicals, LLC is required to pay a $45,600 fine. 

The EPA also announced that Nez Perce Express and TP Gas Station and Convenience Store failed to install required vapor recovery systems.  Since these systems were never installed, about 10 tons of vaporous volatile organic compounds leaked at Nez Perce Express and about 5 tons leaked at the TP Gas Station and Convenience Store. 

The EPA states that the gasoline vapors can result in “ground leave ozone,” which is a pollutant in the air that leads to health problems like asthma, decreased lung capacity, and susceptibility to pneumonia and bronchitis.  The EPA required both convenience stores to install new vapor recovery systems, and the gas stations have since installed the equipment. 

Ed Kowalski, the Director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement in the EPA’s Seattle Office, stated, “Gas tank trucks and gas stations must both comply with EPA’s hazardous air pollutant regulations when the tank trucks are delivering gasoline to the stations.  Gas trucks and gas stations must have the require vapor controls to prevent harmful vapors from being released.”

Source: Environmental Protection Agency