Contaminated petrol stations

1.3 Contaminated petrol stations

Since the mid-90s soil contamination has become an increasingly important environmental concern and a topic of interest not only to conservationists but to the public at large. During the last decade the sites of hundreds of petrol stations in Finland have been cleaned and remediated. These measures have been implemented not only at existing petrol stations but also at the sites of those which no longer exist.

[20, 28, 58]

Remediating a contaminated petrol station site is a very expensive undertaking.

During the next twenty years (2005-2025), it is estimated that in Finland the annual cost of the remediation of contaminated land areas will be roughly 50-70 million euros. The total cost of this work will, therefore, reach some 1,2 billion euros. This figure covers not only petrol stations but also sawmills, wood preservation plants, industrial sites, depots, garages, greenhouses and shooting ranges. However, the major share of these costs will be allocated to the remediation of petrol stations. In 2003 petrol stations accounted for 44 % of the total amount of contaminated areas.

[58]

In Finland the estimated cost of remediating petrol station sites during the period 2005-2025 will be approximately 25 million euros. This figure represents about 2 % of the total cost involved in remediating all contaminated land areas. About 500 petrol stations will remediated in Finland during the next twenty years, which amounts to 8 % of the total remediated land area in the country. [58]

It has been estimated that there are around 400 000 contaminated sites in Europe.

The total cost of remediating these will be in the region of 109 billion euros [58].

Soili programme

In Finland the Soili programme was set up specifically for implementing remediation of soil of land on the sites of disused petrol stations. The programme is the outcome of an agreement concluded between the Ministry of the Environment, the Union of Finnish Municipalities, the Finnish Oil and Gas Federation, Esso, Neste Marketing, and Shell. Teboil, SOK and Tradeka have subsequently also become signatories to the agreement. The Oil Industry’s Service Centre together with the environment authorities oversee the Soili programme’s practical activities. [20]

Under the Soili programme work is in progress or has started on remediating over 250 petrol stations in Finland and so far, work has been completed on 230. Soil investigation surveys have also been carried out at a total of 400 petrol stations.

About 40 remediation projects are to be undertaken annually. [20, 28]

The member companies finance the Soili-programme and a special oil protection fund has also been set up which is administered by the Ministry of the Environment.

In recent last years many million euros per year have been spent on surveying, cleaning and reconditioning old petrol stations. During the period 1997-2004, total remediation expenditure under the Soili programme amounted to about 37 million euros. Annual expenditure of the Soili programme for this period is presented in Figure 1.3. [19, 20]

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Year, costs x million euros

€

Fig. 1.3. Annual costs of Soil programme for the investigation, cleaning and remediating of old petrol stations in Finland.

Under the Soili programme the participating oil companies are responsible for covering the costs of soil investigation surveys as well as remediating their own petrol stations and sites. The Ministry of the Environment’s oil pollution fund covers only the costs of remediation projects carried out on disused petrol station sites and on those sites where it is impossible to determine the origin of the contamination.

The underlying principle of the Soili programme agreement is that none of the remediated sites should revert to their former use as petrol stations.

Figure 1.4 presents the annual number of petrol stations in the Soili programme which have either already undergone complete remediation or where remediation is underway.

15

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Fig. 1.4. The amount of annual remediated petrol stations in the Soili programme.

By the end of 2004 there were almost 550 applications to participate in the Soili programme. However, there are still a large number of petrol station sites whose soil conditions have not yet been investigated. [28]

It should be emphasised here that the number of petrol stations that have already been remediated under the Soili programme accounts for less than half the total number of remediated petrol station sites in Finland. In 2003, for which the most recent figures are available, there were a total of 191 remediated petrol station sites.

As Figure 1.4 shows, the number of remediated petrol station in the Soili programme stood at 56, which represents about 30 % of the total. Total remediation costs in 2003 were 9.5 million euros and the Soili programme accounted for about 5.5 million euros of the total amount.

Programmes similar to the Soili programme have also been set up in Sweden and Denmark [29].

Clearly there is a need for greater research and study which, from the economic point of view, should be done sooner, rather than later. While the environmental damage caused by soil contamination at petrol station sites can never be totally eradicated much can be done to diminish the severity of its impact. This can best be achieved

through careful planning and implementing the appropriate measures. Indeed, there is still much room for improvement in this field of environment protection.

It is not the purpose of the present study to investigate in any depth the subject of soil contamination or to perform a chemical analysis of the compounds responsible for such contamination. The purpose in this Section is to demonstrate the importance of finding and implementing better solutions for a healthier environment.