Tahoe Tom’s at center of MTBE issue — again
By Kathryn Reed
Years after MTBE was used in South Lake Tahoe it continues to turn up in well water.
The latest incident involves Tahoe Tom’s gas station near the state line. The former owners – Mohammad Ahmad and the Thomas E. Erickson Trust – have never fully cleaned up the contaminated groundwater even though multiple complaints have been filed against them dating to 1991.
Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board said samples taken from a well used by the Mark Twain Hotel on Park Avenue “revealed the presence of the contaminant MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) at concentrations above the drinking water standard for taste and odor.”
Lahontan officials were not available for comment.
Cindy Black, manager of the hotel, told Lake Tahoe News their water is fine to drink or to shower with. She said the water is tested all the time.
“In the summertime there is more usage so the water level goes down so it looks like (MTBE) is higher,” Black said.
Several properties on the California side near the state line have individual wells. Others use Lakeside Park Association water. That water comes directly from Lake Tahoe.
MTBE is a volatile organic chemical that was added to gasoline starting in the 1980s. In the 1990s it was found to be contaminating groundwater. It has since been banned – from California in 2004 and Nevada in 2007.
It was such a problem locally that 13 of South Tahoe Public Utility District’s wells were put out of service because of the contamination. The district sued the oil companies, winning a $69 million judgment in 2002.
“MTBE in aquifers has reduced over time, however the drought appears to be increasing groundwater concentrations of residual petroleum left in soil,” Lahontan said in a press release.
Lahontan, again, is going after the former owners. In 2009, those parties were ordered to pay a civil penalty of $412,900. They never did.
It is not known why Lahontan thinks any enforcement action now will make any difference or get a different result from the prior owners.
“The current owner has gone out of his way to help try to clean that up even though it is not his responsibility,” Mehrdad Javaherian, consultant for the owner Lake Tahoe Investments, told Lake Tahoe News. “Historically the other operators released gasoline. That gasoline had MTBE. That is in the ground. The rate of migration of that gasoline depends on the direction and hydrologic gradient of the water. That can be impacted by drought.”
Lahontan has added Lake Tahoe Investments as a responsible party to the cleanup.
I was told that the Sheriff used to drop in, now and then, at Tahoe Tom’s, and collect whatever was in the cash register, to help pay off the fines/assessment. I don’t know if this is true, partially true, or wrong.
Close it. Level it. Take out the tanks. Clean up the dirt. Make those responsible pay. That place is a blight in more ways than one. Make it a small park for the stateline area.
Correct, Bob
Property should be sold by the state for fines due and cost to clean up/remove the tanks. Previous owners wages should be garnished,liens put on properties till judgement satisfied.
So SLTEXPAT, where does the money come from to buy it? The city would be better off using that money to fix our roads dont you think? Now if someone came in and redeveloped that site and turned it in to something different at no cost to the taxpayer that would be wonderful. Which is more likely than the city buying it.
The money should come from past due fines interest and penalties. They don’t pay their fines, repo the property. Sell it at auction and get an operator that follows the rules.
Joby—
Very simplistic and silly. You can’t “repo” something you never had in the first place. Were you maybe thinking foreclosure through liens? Who would buy something with this much owed against it? Maybe give it away after spending tax dollars taking possession?
At the end of the day, it must be realized that Lahontan’s penchant for fining someone ridiculous sums for some violation doesn’t work. If the perps had that kind of money they would likely clean it up. I believe Lahontan tried to fine the Tahoe Keys something like a Billion dollars for some lagoon violation, eventually settling for a few hundred thou in cleanup work.
All we need is agencies and governments owning more property to mismanage….would just be more public money down the drain. Another hole in the ground.
well i am sure the owner wouldnt mind that as they probable have title insurance to cover, however since the contamenation was at least 1 owner prior i am assuming that the fines and penalties would be against them, unless the fining entities did it properly and recorded them as liens against the property, which sounds as if they didnt as the property would never have sould. Which means it would be a huge and costly legal fight.
They do have the money, they are very good at hiding it. Does the IRS walk away because they say “oh well new identity/can’t find them”? Term it however you want observer, whatever you want to call it is taking possession of ones property for failure to pay the debt owed. In this case environmental fees. The government is payed back through the the sale. “Simplistic and silly”? Simplistic yes, silly I don’t think so. Follow through with your obligation or have it taken. Tax lien is for not paying taxes, even a stupid Hillbillie such as myself knows that.
Many times the costs of contamination cleanup (especially gas stations) exceed the value of the property, making them virtually worthless. And toxic plumes underground from the source make it even worse.
Everyone went through it! Superfund and owners of the property paid for it. That property is very close to 100% clean. Maybe STPUD can handle the rest from their multi million dollar settlement they received from the oil co’s. Either way it’s prime real estate and the owner should be held accountable! We are one of the most highly regulated states in the union, those that follow the rules should not have to compete against those that don’t.
One would think that some of the $ 69 (72 ?) million was to pay for or offset something, or that some of the station owners were plaintiffs’, as they did not add the MTBE into the gasoline they sold. . .but that doesn’t seem to matter to some here, who would rather ignore where that money went by going after more small business owners (? ?).
Last I heard, there were still pending suits against other oil companies, who thought their attorneys were better than those of the companies settled with, even while it appeared to be “clear cut”. . .
Ironic, in that MTBE was originally thought to be for ‘cleaner air’, while no one thought of any contamination of water. . . that’s what made Tahoe the focal point, given the strong regard for water clarity here. . .
Gary, I’m curious if you know where that money went? I don’t know of any of the property/gas station owners that were compensated from that settlement.
By no means am I trying to be argumentative as I agree with your post in terms of small biz. Although whether you agree with the regulation or not you are obligated to abide by it, the same to be said of taxes and fines.
The perfect fit for this scenario would be for The Tahoe Conservancy to step up to the plate and exchange one of their comparable properties for this one and negotiate the tear-down and clean-up with the owner and state funding.
This would show the Conservancy is doing what their original mission created them to do.
Aw-crap – I forgot the fact that the Conservancy now is in the real estate market business making millions selling property they think they own personally and for their own sustainment……….