by #KateYoder in @grist:

"Almost every gas station eventually pollutes the earth beneath it, experts told Grist. The main culprit: the underground storage tanks that hold tens of thousands of gallons of fuel, one of the most common sources of groundwater pollution. Typically, two or three of these giant, submarine-shaped tanks are buried under a station to store the gasoline and diesel that gets piped to the pump. A large tank might be 55 feet long and hold as many as 30,000 gallons; a typical tank might hold 10,000 gallons. Leaks can occur at any point — in the storage tank itself, in the gas pumps, and in the pipes that connect them. Hazardous chemicals can then spread rapidly through the soil, seeping into groundwater, lakes, or rivers. Even a dribble can pollute a wide area. Ten gallons of gasoline can contaminate 12 million gallons of groundwater — a significant risk, given that groundwater is the source of drinking water for nearly half of all Americans."

https://grist.org/accountability/gas-stations-underground-storage-tank-leaks-environmental-disaster/

#pollution #groundwater #water #environment #FossilFuels #gasoline #Grist

by #KateYoder in @grist:

"The lawsuit alleges that these companies, along with the American Petroleum Institute, committed negligence and fraud — and created a public nuisance — by concealing what they knew about the dangers of burning fossil fuels. It demands they pay $50 million for past damages, along with $1.5 billion for future damages. On top of that, Multnomah is seeking $50 billion for a fund to upgrade its public health services and 'weatherproof' its infrastructure to withstand extreme weather."

https://grist.org/accountability/multnomah-county-lawsuit-exxon-deadly-2021-heat-wave/

#Portland #MultnomahCounty #Oregon #GlobalWarming #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #climate #weather #lawsuit #FossilFuels #HeatWave #ExxonMobil #Shell #Chevron #Grist