WaPo: City Will Build School Bus Lot on Gas Tank Farm
The farm has a long history of gasoline and oil spills.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that Fairfax City council is buying land on the Pickett Road gas tank farm for a school bus parking lot.
Neighbors have started up a petition in opposition of the tank farm parking lot.
The much-maligned tank farm on Pickett Road in Fairfax City muddied up the race for Virginia State Senate District 34—Chap Peterson and Gerarda Culipher—weeks before the Nov. 8, 2011 election.
Earlier that year, the state senate tightened regulations on the tank farm, Patch reported in February 2011.
The Pickett Road tank farm has a long history of major and minor spills, as well as accidents at Pickett and Main Street. In 1990, an underground leak caused about 250,000 gallons of diesel oil, gasoline and other chemicals to contaminate the surrounding neighborhoods, according to news reports. The cleanup cost hundreds of millions of dollars and troubled Mantua residents for years.
Read Patch's previous articles on the Pickett Road tank farm here.
Fairfax City Patch editor Whitney Rhodes contributed to this report.
