Ever see an old abandoned gas station lot sit unoccupied for years and years and wonder why nobody buys it? These tanks are why. To build something new on the land, you have to remove the tanks and clean up any spills. It usually costs more than the land is worth.
Walgreens found an “interesting” way of using these properties. They get a 99 year lease, which means they can just pave over the land and leave all the contamination right where it is. The land owner will still be responsible for cleaning up the mess in 99 years, but they’ll be dead so they don’t care. Who cares if the people living nearby have unusually high incidence of cancer, right?
Ever see an old abandoned gas station lot sit unoccupied for years and years and wonder why nobody buys it? These tanks are why. To build something new on the land, you have to remove the tanks and clean up any spills. It usually costs more than the land is worth.
Walgreens found an “interesting” way of using these properties. They get a 99 year lease, which means they can just pave over the land and leave all the contamination right where it is. The land owner will still be responsible for cleaning up the mess in 99 years, but they’ll be dead so they don’t care. Who cares if the people living nearby have unusually high incidence of cancer, right?