Pence family gas stations left costly environmental legacy

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Pence family gas stations left costly environmental legacy

By BRIAN SLODYSKO
1 hour ago

GARDEN CITY, Ind. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence turns nostalgic when he talks about growing up in small-town Columbus, Indiana, where his father helped build a Midwestern empire of more than 200 gas stations that provided an upbringing on the “front row of the American dream.”

The collapse of Kiel Bros. Oil Co. in 2004 was widely publicized. Less known is that the state of Indiana — and, to a smaller extent, Kentucky and Illinois — are still on the hook for millions of dollars to clean up more than 85 contaminated sites across the three states, including underground tanks that leaked toxic chemicals into soil, streams and wells.

Indiana alone has spent at least $21 million on the cleanup thus far, or an average of about $500,000 per site, according an analysis of records by The Associated Press. And the work is nowhere near complete.

The federal government, meanwhile, plans to clean up a plume of cancer-causing solvent discovered beneath a former Kiel Bros. station that threatens drinking water near the Pence family’s hometown.

https://apnews.com/07f9256ae1984362ba3eff192b4d6dd0/Pence-family-gas-stations-left-costly-environmental-legacy

[vlyons]

1. The Republican business model - privatize profits, socialize costs

Private business takes maximum profits by having the Fed gov EPA pay to clean up the mess

[stuffmatters]

2. Also the Putin business model.