Fuel tanks have been in the ground since mid-1980s

By Sheila Harris [email protected]

The DNR is overseeing an active investigation in Monett after a release of approximately 50-gallons of premium, unleaded gasoline at Rapid Roberts prompted a call to the DNR’s Environmental Emergency Response (EER) Spill Line on June 17.

According to the EER’s Incident Report, gasoline was discovered coming up in cracks at the edges of the parking lot after traveling below the concrete from Dispenser One. Bobbi Koepke, with Environmental Works in Springfield (a contractor for Rapid Roberts), was onsite when the release was discovered, and shut off the fuel line before placing a call to the EER.

Steve Makoski, Director of Compliance for Rapid Roberts’ corporate headquarters in Springfield, said that a [distribution] line to one of the gas dispensers appeared to be the source of the fuel release.

“Before we started any excavation work to discover the source of the release, we alerted nearby neighbors and drilled monitoring wells to determine whether gasoline had impacted the groundwater,” Makoski said.

Makoski said that the two, 10,000-gallon fuel tanks at the convenience store had been in the ground since the mid-1980s, but they didn’t appear to be leaking.

According to industry sources, the average lifespan of many of the underground fuel storage tanks (USTs) used before 1988 is 30 years.

“With the cathodic protection we use, tanks can last as long as 40 or 50 years,” Makoski said.

Cathodic protection (CP) involves creating a protective shield for steel tanks using energized ions, Makoski said.

Angela Oravetz, Environmental Program Manager for the DNR’s Environmental Remediation Program, states that there is contamination in the ground at the Rapid Roberts site.

“Water sampling is occurring at the facility as well as at surrounding properties,” Oravetz said.

According to Kristen Doran, Drinking Water Section Chief, with DNR’s Southwest Regional Office, two special samples were collected by her department near the fuel release on August 4, to determine if product had entered into the main waterline of Monett’s distribution system.

“Both of these samples were non-detect for petroleum products,” Doran said.

Doran indicated that additional water sampling will be conducted.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) commonly found in petroleum fuels and solvents include a variety of chemicals: some man-made, and “some which may have short and long-term adverse health effects.”

In southwest Missouri’s fractured karst bedrock, VOCs and other contaminants can enter groundwater and migrate rapidly. Petroleum in groundwater and soil can allow potentially harmful vapors to rise into businesses and homes through pathways created by building foundations and sewer lines.

Monett city utilities superintendent Skip Schaller said he believed gasoline had been leaking at the Rapid Roberts’ site for an undetermined amount of time.

“It appears that some of it [has] migrated off the property,” he said.

Schaller said there’s still “more work to do to determine the extent [of migration],” and that Environmental Works is waiting to receive proper work-zone signage before beginning sampling below Central Avenue.

Underground fuel and chemical storage tanks (USTs) buried before 1988 – the year more stringent tank regulations were implemented by the DNR – are an ongoing source of potential groundwater and soil contamination in Missouri and across the nation.

Prior to 1988, if a gas station or other business with a UST closed, their tanks could be sealed and left where they were, contents and all, according to Ken Koon, former director of the Tanks Section of the DNR.

“No inspection of the site was required, nor were samples of soil and the tanks’ contents taken and recorded,” Koon said.

Those old tanks, Koon says, are subject to corrosion, and exist in unknown condition, without oversight, and are not subject to current regulations (https://tinyurl.com/3p7vypdz).

Missouri currently has no laws which require property owners and landlords to disclose the presence of hazardous waste sites, including old USTs, on nearby properties to prospective buyers and tenants, even though waste from those sites often has the potential for migrating through soil and groundwater — sometimes miles beyond the source of contamination.

Many old tanks now lie buried on private property, where new property owners have no interest in uncovering liabilities that they may have to take responsibility for. Often, the only way to know that something is amiss with an old UST is when fuel surfaces or shows up in someone’s well.

“Then, we might be able to get a search warrant to allow us to look for the problem,” Koon said, in 2024.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 581,000 releases from underground storage tanks have been confirmed across the US, as of September 2025.

Nearly 528,000 contaminated sites have been cleaned up, the agency says, but about 54,000 sites remained to be cleaned up, at that time.

Many other tanks remain underground in unknown condition, says Ken Koon.

Although, in Missouri, there are no laws requiring property owners and landlords to disclose the presence of neighboring USTs and hazardous waste sites, buyers and renters can conduct their own due diligence.

The DNR’s website features an environmental site-tracking tool at https://tinyurl.com/2s4ehpt2. The tool discloses the sites of current and past hazardous waste investigations, as well as reported underground storage tanks – both those currently in use, and tanks which were closed in place, prior to current regulations.

Some tanks have likely not been reported, Ken Koon said.

The EPA maintains a similar mapping tool to track Superfund sites at https://tinyurl.com/msbcph3d.

Residents who suspect that petroleum is impacting soil or water on their property may contact the DNR’s Southwest Regional Office at  417-891-4300.

Makoski says Rapid Roberts plans to replace their old fuel storage tanks with newer, upgraded tanks, when they replace the fuel distribution lines.

Eric Hoyle, DNR Environmental Program Specialist, says the department is currently awaiting “the completion of release investigation and underground storage tank closure activities,” for Rapid Roberts, which were expected to begin the week of September 21.

After the initial investigation and the closure of the old tanks are complete, Hoyle says Rapid Roberts will be required to conduct additional site investigations regarding the extent of the release and any unacceptable risks associated with the remaining contamination.

The Tank Section of the DNR will be overseeing the remediation process.