“You told us there was no tank.”
“I said there was no illegal tank.”
The county investigator looked toward her.
“Registration?”
She said nothing.
“Installation permit?”
Silence.
“Leak detection?”
Nothing.
The contractor opened the dispenser panel.
A line ran underground.
The meter showed more than nine thousand gallons dispensed since reset.
The treasurer became pale.
“Nine thousand?”
The president answered:
“Over time.”
“How much time?”
“I don’t know.”
The investigator asked:
“When was this system activated?”
She stared.
“I don’t know.”
The contractor inspected the vent.
Corrosion.
Then he smelled something.
He knelt near a low spot behind the enclosure.
Snow had melted unusually there.
The soil looked darker.
He removed a sampling tool.
The investigator watched.
“What?”
“Petroleum odor.”
The treasurer stepped backward.
The HOA president immediately said:
“That could be from the dispenser.”
Maybe.
The contractor nodded.
“Could be.”
He took soil samples.
Then groundwater screening from a shallow monitoring point near the old drainage swale.
Results would take time.
The board treasurer walked toward the clubhouse wall.
Put both hands against it.
He looked physically ill.
The president said:
“You’re overreacting.”
He turned.
“Did the board authorize this?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“You were there.”
“No.”
“You voted on the resilience program.”
“We voted on emergency preparedness.”
“Exactly.”
The treasurer stared.
“You buried a fuel tank under that?”
“It was already there.”
The investigator’s head lifted.
The president realized too late.
Already there.
Admission.
The treasurer whispered:
“You knew.”
She crossed her arms.
“We discovered the old tank during landscaping.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“And instead of reporting it, you put fuel back into it?”
“It was structurally sound.”
“Who determined that?”
“A contractor.”
“Which contractor?”
She said nothing.
The treasurer’s face changed.
He already suspected.
“The compliance company?”
No answer.
The same company that inspected homeowners.
The same company that had recently renovated the president’s private pool at a massive discount.
The investigator wrote.
The president snapped:
“It’s not what you think.”
Nobody answered.
By Friday afternoon, laboratory screening came back.
Petroleum hydrocarbons.
Elevated.
Benzene above applicable groundwater screening criteria near the tank.
The county environmental office notified the state.
The association received an emergency directive.
Stop fuel use.
Secure the system.
Begin delineation.
Test surrounding soil and groundwater.