ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the impacts of petroleum products, with particular emphasis on motor fuels and heating fuels. Open conferences such as the one held in Amherst will play an important role in the development of that policy. Decisions regarding the need for corrective action, and the type and extent of cleanup required, should be based on a site-specific evaluation of the potential risks posed by any of these potential pathways. When motor fuel leaks from its storage vessel and enters the soil, gravitational forces act to draw the fluid in a downward direction. The liability side to the volatile nature of gasoline is the potential for the buildup of explosive vapors in subsurface structures, or the potential for direct human exposure to the vapors. Soil microbial organisms will begin to selectively consume the hydrocarbon compounds that comprise the fuel, transforming them into carbon dioxide, water, microbial biomass, and humus.
