Proper Fuel Station Procedures

Gas Spill

The author of this report has been asked to consider the situation of a filling station that is present at a manufacturing operation. Indeed, many manufacturing plants have on-site gas fill-up facilities known as AST's. This prevents the need to get fuel from external fueling stations. One of the downsides is that there can be leaks of varying sizes and due to various causes such as line rupture, faulty connections and so forth. The author is specifically asked to consider that there is a spill of about one hundred gallons. It is asked whether any action needs to be taken regarding the fuel spill, whether it can be ignored, what conditions would trigger an environmental action and what actions should happen overall. While one hundred gallons is not a ton for a manufacturing site, the spill should absolutely be dealt with.

Analysis

First of all, the spill cannot simply be ignored. While one hundred gallons of fuel being spilled is probably not the biggest emergency, it should not be disregarded. One important factor is where that fuel went. If there is direct access to the dirt/earth around the area where the spill occurs, then that is cause for concern because the fuel could leak into the groundwater supply. It would be a localized spill and one that is not terribly huge but fuel is combustible, toxic and can cause cancer so it is definitely not irrelevant. As the author would commonly point to, there should be contingencies for such a thing. It would seem that spills, both small and large, are known to be issues and thus the filling area could be constructed in a way so as to contain or even capture the spilled fuel in a way that it does not reach the earth and is instead directed to a waste pool of some sort where it can eventually be dealt with in an environmentally friendly way.

However, if it does reach the ground and the 100-gallon threshold and/or what precisely is being spilled matters, then the proper state and federal agencies like the EPA and OSHA should be notified (EPA, 2016; OSHA, 2016). If it were to come to pass that the incident was not reported officially and someone let the proper agencies know independent of that, the blowback against the managers and owners of the facility would be withering. Having a spill that requires reporting is one thing but having one but willfully not reporting it (out of ignorance or out of malice) would land the plant into a ton of trouble. Further, any required and mandated remediation of the problem should be done so as to do the right thing and be in compliance with the directives and requirements involved. However, the author would come back to the fact that the plant's filling area should take the possibility of spills into account and thus be made in a way so that spills are dealt with in a way that does not impact the environment. Reporting to the proper authorities may still be required but those agencies will certainly be much gentler in their reaction if the plant and its fueling station is able to self-rectify the situation without having to resort to environmental remediation and fixes. Much like many devices will automatically shut off if they overheat or get beyond certain other levels, there should be an infrastructure in place to deal with spills such as a drainage pond or another mechanism to capture spilled fuel.