Environmental officials say gas leak at south Corbin store a ‘historical’ problem

According to Rodney Polly, a State Environmental Response Coordinator  the gas leak that shut down Circle K in south Corbin on Tuesday could  have been caused by past problems with the store’s underground fuel tanks, but doesn’t expect any major enforcement effort or penalties against the company.

Environmental officials were on scene when the leak was reported Tuesday. They returned to the site Wednesday for further inspection.

"We are just theorizing historical leaks," said Polly. "The way the  material that surfaced around the tank pits looks really dark black  and aged as if it’s been there for a while. I think those tanks were installed around 1980 so the system has been there a long time. I  think Circle K has only owned it four or five years."

Although the leak was the first known leak at the facility, Polly said that in August the London’s Regional EPA office performed an inspection and some of the black materials he talked about were spotted.

On Tuesday a technology company called Pecco of Nicholasville came to the Circle K and tested the tanks and piping but were unable to find any leaks in the system. Pecco pumped nearly 3,000 gallons of liquid, that was mostly made up of water, from the tank pits on Tuesday and continued to pump another 2,000 gallons on Wednesday. After failing to discover the source of the leak Circle K started fuel sales back up at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening. Polly also added that water samples were taken from a ditch line  across the street from Circle K and are being tested.

"It’s not uncommon for tank pits to have water in them," Polly said.  "It’s just uncommon that it leaked out to the surface through the  cracks. I guess the water rose high enough in the water table to force it out of the cracks and the concrete. We don’t have any reason to believe that anything current is leaking. A process will be performed  to try and characterize to see where all the black material is by the  underground storage tank branch."

Officials reported that some of the leaking fuel went into a drain and into a nearby waterway. Corbin Fire Department Firefighters placed floating barriers in the water to stop the progress of the fuel. Officials with the department say they stopped it about 300 yards down the stream.

"Once ERT is out and has ended the emergency and moved to our  database we transfer it over to the underground  storage tank branch and they then handle it through their normal procedure."

Polly said that an emergency declaration letter was mailed to Circle K  by the Kentucky Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday. He did not expect Circle K would be issued a citation for environmental violations or be assessed a fine.