Cleanup continues at a suburban St. Louis QuikTrip service station,
where the Missouri Department of Natural Resources said more than
20,000 gallons of fuel leaked underground.
The leak was discovered Friday, though state officials told the
Associated Press they believe it began earlier last week. Crews were
trying to remove gasoline from the soil and from a waterway connected
to Maline Creek, DNR spokesman Larry Archer said. Potentially explosive
levels of gasoline were present in the sewer system Monday, but action
was taken to vent gas vapors and correct the problem, the report said.
Crews also placed absorbent materials in the waterway to remove
gasoline from it.
State officials believe the leak was in a pump attached to
underground storage tanks, and probably began Dec. 10 or Dec. 11. The
spill did not require evacuations and there were no reports that the
gasoline caused the deaths of fish or other wildlife.
Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip Corp. notified authorities and
began corrective action when the leak was discovered, spokesman Mike
Thornbrugh said. QuikTrip has 489 service stations and convenience
stores in nine states, including 71 in the St. Louis region.
Thornbrugh said QuikTrip officials aren’t certain how much fuel
leaked. He said the underground tanks at the Ferguson, Mo. site hold
16,000 gallons of gasoline, but refuel on a continuous basis. The
station reopened Saturday. It was not clear how long cleanup would take.