BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
VERONA -- Jeff Renaker will no longer offer gas at his auto repair business on Ky. 16. The owner of the shop in downtown Verona is following the lead of many privately owned service stations on both sides of the Ohio River.
Mr. Renaker, like so many small-station operators, can't afford the expense, in some cases as high as $100,000, to replace and - or upgrade the older gas tanks in the ground below his business.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an edict 10 years ago that any tanks installed prior to 1988 must be upgraded, replaced or sealed off. Tank owners were given 10 years to complete the work, and the deadline is December.
"My gas pumps are mostly a courtesy to my repair customers and people who live nearby," said Mr. Renaker, third-generation operator of the repair business that his grandfather began 60 years ago."But I can't afford to do what the government is telling me I have to do to keep them."
The EPA regulations state that underground fuel tanks of more that 110 gallons must be made of a material that will not corrode -- either fiberglass or steel that has been treated so it won't rust. The tanks must also have all new fittings, spill containment and overfill equipment that will prevent any spills into the ground as the tanks are being filled.
And the tanks must have electronic monitoring equipment that meets federal regulations and monitors the tanks and lines 24 hours a day. The monitoring equipment alone costs about $10,000, according to industry figures.
Mike Kunnen, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Gasoline Dealers Association, said it is no longer financially feasible for independent dealers to pump gasoline.
"You can't borrow double-digit money to upgrade your pumps and make single-digit profit," said Mr. Kunnen, who has been in the gas station business since 1946 at the same location on Glenway Avenue in Price Hill.
As a result, he has removed his gasoline tanks and, like Mr. Renaker and other small-gas-station owners, will continue to make his living in the auto repair business.
"The big companies like Shell and Sunoco can afford to" upgrade, Mr. Kunnen said. "But we will lose an estimated 60,000 independent gas stations in this country by the end of the year. And the industry doesn't care."
Although removing tanks is less expensive than installing new tanks and equipment, it isn't cheap. Mr. Kunnen said he paid $10,000 to have one gasoline tank removed from his property.
Other examples of independent gasoline service that has disappeared: An empty building at Buttermilk Pike and Hazelwood just off I-75 in Crescent Springs, formerly operated as a gas station and auto repair shop. The tanks have been removed and the property is for sale. Two other corners of the intersection are occupied by large Shell and Sunoco gas station - convenience stores.
The gas station operated for nearly 40 years at Delhi Pike and Pedretti by former Delhi Township Fire Chief Bob Sanker. With gas profits dwindling, Mr. Sanker chose not to spend the money to replace and upgrade his gasoline operation but he did retain his auto repair business.
A study by the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials shows that possibly as few as half of the tanks that must be removed or replaced had not been touched as of the end of June. The official EPA deadline for compliance is Dec. 22.
The study said that of the tanks in the ground nationwide when the EPA program began in 1988, more than half had been closed with $17 billion spent on cleanup.
Kentucky gas station owners can receive some reimbursement from the state's Office of the Petroleum Storage Tank Environmental Assurance Fund under the Small Owner's Tank Removal Account.
But as the result of a bill passed during the 1998 legislative session, the fund no longer reimburses many applicants for costs related to the removal or actions incidental to the removal of tank systems.
