Gas storage tanks vent out gas vapors which include dangerous chemicals like Benzene. A 2018 study published by Columbia University found that large gas station storage tanks released 10x the previously estimated vapors; 0.21 kg of gasoline per 1000L dispensed. Reference benzene exposure levels were exceeded up to 525 feet from the gas station.
These vapors contain a slew of harmful chemicals in addition to benzene that have been shown to raise incidences of childhood leukemia. The proposed location is ~1400 feet from the St. John’s neighborhood, but with the amount of gas pumps and storage tanks Buc-ees needs and the amount of gas that will be dispensed daily, it is almost guaranteed that the health of gas station workers, nearby residents and even customers will be negatively impacted. Certainly, local cancer rates are likely to rise.
“But isn’t this a concern with any gas station?” I can hear you asking. Well, yes, but consider how many gas pumps and traffic your average gas station gets and how much gas in dispensed at each one. While still harmful, the pollution created at each one is much less considerable than the estimated 13,000 cars daily coming in to fill up. And those already exist. This Buc-ees is being rammed through by the Oak creek Council with no regard to public health.
Let’s do some conservative math. Let’s say a good mix of gas tank sizes comes through, with an average of 18 gallons. Each person is only filling up half a tank. That’s 117,000 gallons of fuel dispensed daily. If we use the rate of vapors released as 0.21kg per 1000L converted to Imperial measurements, we can expect over 205lbs of gas vapors released DAILY. Within 1.2 miles of this proposed location already exists 7 other gas stations.
A Storybrook Farm is much closer to the proposed Buc-ees location. I spoke to the owner at a city council meeting and he expressed concern that his farm is in the low-lying area where these vapors will gather at higher concentrations. This will undoubtedly make his horses sick. If exposed, it is likely the horses will not be able to grow winter coats and thus, not survive the following winter.
Furthermore, it’s not just the gas vapors to worry about. Buc-ees also has car wash and may produce significant runoff from that. Most concerning is that Root river is very close by. This river feeds into Lake Michigan and could have dire consequences not just for Oak Creek, but every city on the coast.
While any gas station does have significant environmental impact, each Buc-ees could be a mini environmental catastrophe with potential to drive up cancer rates and poison local flora and fauna as well as our own drinking water.
Sources:
Siyuan Xu, Junao Wang, Heng Sun, Liqiao Huang, Ning Xu, Yongtu Liang,
Life cycle assessment of carbon emission from natural gas pipelines, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, Volume 185, 2022, Pages 267-280, ISSN 0263-8762,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2022.07.018. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263876222003677)