Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 26, 1993 TAG: 9301260238
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
MOVING TANK FARM `NO OPTION'
A spokesman for a petroleum tank farm that has leaked 200,000 gallons of oil said moving the facility out of the city to a rural area faces innumerable hurdles.Seven neighbors of Star Enterprise's tank farm attended Gov. Douglas Wilder's open house Saturday at George Mason University to urge him to pressure the company to move.
Last month, Wilder appointed a commission to look into the problem. The subterranean leak has sent a plume of oil under neighboring homes. Some of the homes have become uninhabitable because of oil fumes and possibility of explosion.
Star Enterprise, a Texaco affiliate, is cleaning up the leak, which was discovered two years ago. The company has settled a multimillion-dollar damage suit with dozens of area homeowners. Many are expected to move after Texaco buys their properties.
Relocating the tank farm, however, is not a realistic option, a company spokesman said.
Star Enterprises "is not open-minded to the idea of relocation," Shawn Frederick said. Oil companies face a "multitude of hurdles" in making such a move, among them paying an estimated $200 million to relocate and finding a community willing to accept a tank farm, he said.
Frederick said Star looks forward to showing Wilder "the positive actions we've taken" in cleaning up the oil, installing safety features at its tank farm and compensating residents affected by the leak.
Wilder agreed to a meeting with local residents in the next several weeks. He also agreed to tour the tank farm.
"We are absolutely devastated by what has happened to our families, to our friends and community," Kathleen Sheridan, leader of the residents' group, told Wilder. "We have to say to the oil companies, `We want you in northern Virginia . . . but you can no longer operate where you are.' "
Wilder and state Secretary of Natural Resources Elizabeth Haskell told the residents that the commission's recommendations for stronger local powers have statewide implications, and they endorsed a yearlong study of the issue.