To the Editor:
My name is Michael, a 13-year old resident in Great Falls and I want to express my concerns over a well known public health issue. The unfortunate toxic leak of MTBE and subsequent cleanup operation at the former Great Falls Exxon site is taking too long and I want to express an idea to help avoid this type of situation in the future. With the availability of new sensor technologies, we should make sure this never happens again. We should require every new gas station to install gas leaking detectors.
With the installation of gas leaking detectors in underground storage containers, the owner and operator of gas stations can be alerted when a leak occurs and start cleanup early, rather than catching it many years later, and spending years to pump out the MTBE and other hazardous toxins as in the former Exxon site. This would save energy, by not having a clean-up pump run 24 hours a day, everyday for 2-3 years. This
is especially important to the neighborhoods and businesses in close proximity to the gas stations who rely on well water. This would also get rid of the unsightly pumping and clean-up equipment behind a chained fence. Having the unsightly pumping equipment centrally displayed at our historic Great Falls downtown area is not a pleasant attraction in the neighborhood.
These are reasons why I think we should have gas sensor technology installed into every new gas station storage containers to avoid the messy situation we are experiencing at Great Falls.
Michael Kee
Great Falls