Dear Vice Chairperson Wheeler,

I’m writing to you today to make sure you heard about the growing wave of local governments prohibiting new gas stations. 

Petaluma, CA became the first city in the world to prohibit new gas stations in spring of 2021. Since then, four more cities have prohibited new gas stations permanently and at least six more, including Los Angeles, are developing policies now. Similar to when when Berkeley kicked off a wave of cities passing building electrification policies in 2019, the movement to stop new gas stations has arrived – and our community would be wise to take notice.

No matter how you look at it, gas stations are a bad investment. 

As many as 80% of gas stations are projected to be unprofitable by 2035, and the cost of remediating a gas station site ranges from the tens of thousands to more than $2 million – with an average cost of $243,299 per site. I don’t want my local tax dollars to get wasted that way.

What’s worse is that gas stations pose serious risks to the health of people in nearby homes, businesses, and schools. Gas stations emit dangerous levels of the known carcinogen benzene and ozone, which causes respiratory problems and asthma. They also pose risks to groundwater when underground storage tanks leak.

The good news is that we might be able to stop this problem from spreading by prohibiting new gas stations with some relatively easy updates to our zoning code (as many officials are already in the process of doing).

All of this info and more is explained in detail by SAFE Cities and their partners here: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://stand.earth/NoNewGasStations__;!!KOmxaIYkRmNA0A!VwBvVQmvfWiczjQN6GwOHg1qHKtGMDkJND6cqZMLX5qXCpQ80ai6sNXyabQFIItmMqNXg-UPzDhy6UpzPM5rppqJMzY-S08QXA$ 

As your constituent, I’m urging you to please read this report and then get in touch with SAFE Cities by going to https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://stand.earth/NEOSnetwork__;!!KOmxaIYkRmNA0A!VwBvVQmvfWiczjQN6GwOHg1qHKtGMDkJND6cqZMLX5qXCpQ80ai6sNXyabQFIItmMqNXg-UPzDhy6UpzPM5rppqJMzaPqQ-EFQ$  to see how they can support our community in ensuring that we don’t get left holding the bag as gas stations go the way of the dinosaurs. 

Thank you,
Martha Pierce
Gainesville

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