Get involved in 7-Eleven debate before it’s too late

From the comments presented at the Sussex County Council meeting last week to a review of voluminous amounts of research done by communities who will be affected if council approves this application, I am horrified that this application is even being considered for this location.  This project is in close proximity to an 11-acre aquifer that serves as the sole water source for thousands of residential customers in the Angola area.  T

he risk of contamination from petroleum products and runoff from gas pumps and tanker trucks, which on average is 40 gallons per year, could contaminate up to 1 million gallons of water!  Research and public comments also indicate that petroleum products contain highly toxic chemicals, many of which are cancer-causing, and spills are very difficult to contain. Once contaminants get into the well water, it becomes almost impossible to remediate them.  If the well becomes contaminated, who is responsible for providing us with potable water? 

We all know the routine - there will be a lot of finger pointing and parties joined in a lawsuit which will go on for years and years; all the while we will have no potable water. Try selling your real estate in an area that has contaminated water!  So why is council even considering this, and in particular, under a conditional-use application?

Gov. John Carney on July 1 signed Senate Bill 180, which allocates $25 million toward clean water initiatives. What is the point of allocating state tax dollars for initiatives that apparently are not all that important to our local government representatives?

We have clean well water now - why would our representatives put that in jeopardy by approving this conditional-use application for a convenience store with 16 gasoline pumps and four diesel pumps in a residential area which depends on this aquifer for our drinking water?  And that doesn’t even consider catastrophic accidents which could involve tanker trucks.  What if a tanker truck overturns and leaks gasoline down Angola Road?  It can happen, and if it does, you can kiss your real estate value goodbye. 

The consideration of this application by council for approval is complete insanity!  The overwhelming majority of local residents do not want this convenience store and certainly do not need it with eight gas stations within a 4-mile radius of that intersection and multiple convenience stores and grocery stores within the same area. 

In addition, Sarah’s Run, which feeds into Burton’s Prong and Herring Creek, is directly behind  the subject property.  Any runoff of petroleum products during a heavy rain will end up in Herring Creek.  The Center for Inland Bays just recently released a report stating that Herring Creek is polluted as a direct result of overdevelopment over the past 10 years, so why would we risk further polluting the Inland Bays?

So, not only will this proposed project have the capability of contaminating our water supply, but also will add to the pollution problem in the Inland Bays where we fish, crab, boat and have, in the past, enjoyed recreational activities. It hasn’t been approved yet - so take a stand and get involved to stop this before it’s too late.   

Donna McCallum
Lewes