State seeks court order against Kansas City gas station

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has asked a state court to order a Kansas City gas station owner to fix underground leaks or face closure.

Koster and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver toured the neighborhood around Inner City Oil Co. at 3814 E. 31st St. on Tuesday, drawing attention to problems they say the leaks have caused.

The court action follows previous efforts to get the station owner, a business called Zill LLC, to address the problems and the detection of gasoline fumes last weekend, Koster’s office said.

According to the petition seeking a preliminary injunction, “petroleum vapors” have gotten into an underground telecommunications vault and the city sewer system. It said Zill LLC had done work at the station but had not eliminated the problem.

Zill had consented to a $23,000 judgment related to compliance with the state’s underground and petroleum storage tank law in October 2011. The president of Zill who consented to the order could not be reached Tuesday.

If granted by the court, the order would require Zill to follow a detailed compliance schedule to “bring the Hazardous Substance Emergency to a resolution,” the request for the preliminary injunction said.

State officials argued that any harm to Zill from the order would be outweighed by the “threat and injury” to the state and the general public, giving the court reason to act.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 12:08 PM with the headline "State seeks court order against Kansas City gas station."