By Bryan Schwartzman
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to penalize a St. Albans gas station $74,000 for failing to properly maintain its underground gasoline containers, a violation of federal law that could spell contamination for the neighborhood's drinking water supply.
The EPA said in a press release that Illy Milkhailov and W.D. Turner, the owner and operator of Mr. T's Service Shop, at 179-01 Linden Blvd., have violated federal law by not checking their underground tanks for leaks in seven years.
Nina Habib Spencer, an EPA spokeswoman, said two separate inspections in March and August 1999 revealed the tanks had not been upgraded to meet more strict EPA standards that were enacted in 1993. Spencer said tanks should be checked for leaks once a month.
She said both Milkhailov and Turner have been unresponsive to EPA inquiries since the initial inspection back in March. She said the penalty and remedy for these types of violations are usually worked out between the two parties, but it is not clear what will happen if the two do not respond to the EPA's complaint.
The EPA is seeking a $74,000 penalty from the station owner and operator.
Neither Milkhailov nor Turner could be reached for comment. A manager of the shop, who only identified himself as Joe, said that the EPA's citation was a mistake.
“We took out the gas tanks six months ago. We don't even sell gas any more,” he said.
He said the owner had contacted the EPA and that the matter had been dropped. But the EPA said it had no plans to drop the issue.
Underground gas leakage becomes particularly
