Project Profile: Baywood Gas Mart Fuel System Removal & Replacement
Petaluma, California
The City of Petaluma, California, became the first municipality in the U.S. to ban new gas stations in March, determining that 15 fuel stations for a population of about 61,000 is enough.
Fortunately for the owner of the Petaluma Valero gas station, the resolution didn’t inhibit upgrades to existing stations.
The owner hired the CGRS California Compliance team in summer 2019 to remove and dispose of the station’s 1980s underground storage tanks (USTs) and fuel system and replace them with new tanks and a new fuel system. The owner is renaming the business Baywood Gas Mart.
The old fiberglass USTs were the last single-wall tanks in Petaluma needing permanently closed, as California Senate Bill 445 is requiring by 2025. The bill, which went into effect in fall 2014, applies to all single-wall USTs designed and constructed before 1984.
CGRS took on the project when the original contractor, to whom CGRS had provided piping services on other projects, decided to retire. After submitting the plans and necessary paperwork to obtain permits for the project in August of 2019, CGRS revised the site’s design four times before the City approved the project in early 2021.
Call a CGRS Expert:
800.288.2657
Matt Thomas
California Construction/
Compliance Manager
Mobile: 626.627.8316
Construction began in the last week of February and included:
- Removing, closing and disposing of three 10,000-gallon, single-wall fiberglass tanks containing regular unleaded, premium unleaded and diesel fuel
- Fulfilling all regulatory requirements to perform environmental testing of soil and groundwater in the tank basin (the site was free of contamination)
- Removing and disposing of four existing fuel dispensers and associated piping, electrical and under dispenser containment (UDC)
- Removing the existing canopy and footing
- Installing one 20,000-gallon double-wall fiberglass UST to hold regular unleaded fuel, and one split 20,000-gallon double-wall fiberglass UST to hold premium unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel
- Installing four new dispensers, under dispenser containment, point-of-sale system, conduits, electrical wiring and leak detection system, and commissioning the new systems
- Installing a wider, taller canopy to accommodate larger vehicles, and associated footings
- Performing Enhanced Leak Detection (ELD) on piping before and after backfilling, done by CGRS ELD team
Given the gas station is near to both the Petaluma River and San Pablo Bay, the Compliance team was prepared to encounter groundwater when it excavated the tank basin. The team ended up pumping 18,000 gallons of groundwater into holding tanks over three days before installing the new tanks. CGRS tested the water for contaminants and treated it per state standards before discharging it into the sewer system.
The old fiberglass tanks were degassed, triple rinsed and demolished per Title 23 requirements. A certificate of destruction was provided to the California Unified Program Agency (CUPA) and to the owner.
The fuel system passed inspections and received the necessary permits for the team to fire it up the week of April 12, so it’s ready to go when the owner re-opens the station as Baywood Gas Mart.
