Buckeye, Westfield, and 0212193, Oh My!

Tuesday night, company officials from the Buckeye Terminal, at 754 Brooks Avenue, met with around forty concerned Nineteenth Ward residents as well as various health departments, at the Holiday Inn on Brooks Avenue.

Buckeye, Westfield, and 0212193, Oh My!

Tuesday night, company officials from the href="http://www.buckeye.com/images/system%20Maps/RochesterFlow.asp">Buckeye
Terminal, at 754 Brooks Avenue, met with around forty concerned
Nineteenth Ward residents as well as various health departments, at the
Holiday Inn on Brooks Avenue.

Predictably, Roy R. Haase, Jr. of Buckeye said, "There is no health
hazard, no health risk, in the area.

A gasoline leak was discovered in mid-March as a result of
discrepancies in accounting, but it is believed that the plume of
over 50,000 gallons of gasoline was flowing for months prior. The href="http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der/spills/">New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation has assigned spill number
0212193 to the matter and is investigating. Recovering the spilled
gasoline "will never happen" according to their representative. It is
believed that much of the gasoline has entered the Erie Canal, which flows
through the area. Additionally bedrock investigations are scheduled
to be performed in October, 2003. The investigation will extend for
"several months" and probably beyond, according to the NYSDEC.

Not only is the gasoline itself of concern to area residents and health
departments, but also the various additives and consituent chemicals,
many of which are known carcinogens, which are part of the plume.
MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) has been linked to cancer, is
perhaps the fastest-spreading additive, but benzene, also known to be
carcinogenogenic, is perhaps the greatest concern.

Even though Buckeye has officially stated that there is "no health
risk in the area," Buckeye
Pipe Line Company (of Emmaus, Pennsylvania) has issued purchase
offers for the homes at both 295 and 305 Westfield Street. Eight of
the eleven affected homes have retained the services of lawyer href="http://www.nyenvlaw.com/alan_resume3.htm">Alan J. Knauf.
Buckeye has additionally sent checks for $2,500 last month to fourteen
area households for "inconvenience." Haase also estimates cleanup costs
for this spill to be $600,000 just including this year.

It is unknown whether Buckeye plans to reimburse the Rochester Fire
Department for the "many times" that neighbors Steve and Leslie Kofron
have called due to concerns over how bad the air quality has been in
their home, nor for the calls of their neighbors.

Exposure to the vapors can lead to symptoms ranging from headaches and
nausea to coma and death. The Kofrons are concerned damage may have
already happened to their young daughter's health.

The Buckeye Terminal at 754 Brooks Avenue services companies such as href="http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/enb/20020904/spdes.html#info">Alaskan
Oil Inc., href="http://www.hess.com/about/contact_us.html">Amerada Hess Corp.,
Griffith
Energy, href="http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/ozone/areas/plant/ny/pl35953x.htm">Mobil
Oil Corp., and the href="http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/enb/20030205/spdes.html#info">United
Refining Co..