I found a website that has a timeline of the 2006 gas leak (https://dnr.mo.gov/waste-recycling/investigations-cleanups/regulated-storage-tank-closure/zill-llc-property). It includes links to reports, sampling data from the site, specific dates of events, and MDNR reports that have been made.

I learned that in 2003, Inner City Oil Company owned the site before Zill and removed a UST. It is unclear whether there are any new UST that were installed or if there are other UST underground. Additionally, the tank was not compromised but there were low concentrations of TPH-GRO and TEH detected in one of the samples. In 2006, Zill owned the site and removed 3 old UST. They also added 2 new ones. During the 2006 removal, they found that one of the old UST that was leaking. This resulted in a site investigation as well as an emergency clean-up process that prompted the removal of over 800 tons of soil. Due to poor investigation and clean-up from 2006, there have been continued complaints that have been filed in 2018.

I’m not sure how to read and analyze the soil and water samples to quantify the contamination of the site, but it’s clear that there are dangerous concentrations of benzene and petroleum in them. There has not been any recent data on this site since 2017.

My next steps in this project are to dig deeper into the history of the site to identify previous owners of the site and clarify how many UST was at the site, how many have been removed, and how many are still underground. I hope to find the 2003 and 2006 closure reports for the site to get more information on this.

Additionally, I hope to find more information regarding different lawsuits that have been filed against Zill. Specifically, the one in 2011 that resulted in a $23,000 payout to the state and the case in 2015 where the courts voted in favor of Zill.