MANY GAS STATIONS NOT SELLING FUEL

Traveler's Garage-Gas, a service station at 104 N. Sprigg for more than 35 years, is taking on a greenhouse look.

"We've constructed some greenhouses on the property," said Mike Obermiller. "We're in the lawn and garden business."

Traveler's closed its gasoline pumps and had the underground tanks removed more than a month ago.

"It came down to a financial issue," said Obermiller. "We've known the past 10 years that our tanks would have to be upgraded if we continued to sell gasoline after Dec. 22, 1998.

Obermiller said bids for installation or upgrading the tanks were high.

"It wasn't worth it," he said. "We've been preparing for a few years to convert to the lawn and garden business."

The new business is a family operation. Traveler's Garage-Gas was also a family affair for the Obermillers.

"My mom and dad owned the station here about 35 years ago," said Mike Obermiller. "I joined them in the operation more than 20 years ago."

Obermiller is one of many station owners who have quit pumping gas.

"We don't know how many stations missed the Tuesday midnight deadline," said Dana Blubaugh, an Environmental Protection Agency public affairs specialist. As many as 20,000 stations have been mentioned nationally.

In Missouri, about half of the almost 14,000 tanks had been replaced or upgraded by September, said Blubaugh. "Our figures have not been updated, but we know a lot more station operators were in the process of upgrades at that time. It would be hard to estimate how many closings there were."

With leaking tanks contaminating soil and groundwater, Congress approved tougher standards in 1988 and gave the industry 10 years to comply. Under the 1988 regulations, investigators are looking for tanks that offer protection from spills, overfills and corrosion.

With an estimated 1 million gas tanks nationally, the typical station has three or four tanks, which can cost a total of $18,000 to upgrade to minimum requirements. Replacement could cost about $35,000 per tank, said Andrew Tschampa, chief of the underground storage tank program in the EPA's Chicago office.

If operators keep pumping gas without the improvements, they face fines of up to $11,000 a day per tank.

A station operator at Chester, Ill., who wanted to remain anonymous, shut down his pumps Tuesday.

"We couldn't afford to keep the gas pumps at our station," said the station owner. "We were operating a full-service station -- gasoline, oil, batteries, and other equipment. We'll continue to operate everything except gas sales."

The EPA is not offering extensions.

EPA representations said Thursday they were working with different stations to keep them open and meet requirements, but a spokesman said there would be no extensions.

"Small businesses are out, and large companies are in," said one disgruntled service station operator who sold his last gasoline Monday night.

"We've known for 10 years the (deadline) day was coming," said another station owner. "But we've already spent a lot of money on upgrading and still need a couple of new tanks, which could cost up to $100,000.