Mar 30, 2009 8:51 am US/Pacific
Many Gas Stations Won't Meet April 1 Deadline
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
-
-
Gas stations are required to install new vapor trapping systems by April 1.
AP
More than half of the California's gas stations will miss an April 1 deadline for scrubbing toxic vapors from their pumps, which will require them to pay hefty fines and may lead to their closure, it was reported Monday.
An estimated 2,000 of the 3,900 service stations in Southern California – nearly half – have not yet installed new vapor-trapping systems, although they've known about the deadline for years, according to local air quality regulators quoted by the Daily News.
Lawmakers have proposed two bills seeking a delay. Independent gas station owners also want a year's extension, predicting a wave of closures if they're penalized for missing the deadline, the Daily News reported.
"You're going to see gas stations shut down. You're going to see massive unemployment. You're going to see (gas) prices creep up. You're going to see blight in urban areas," Tom Kise of the Responsible Clean Air Coalition, a group of independent oil marketers advocating an extension, told the newspaper. "It's going to have a devastating effect across California."
Local gas station owners blame a combination of bureaucratic bungling, the tight credit market and dire equipment shortages for their inability to install the vapor filters.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
Celebrities With Swine Flu
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
