Defining the Environmental Challenge

While society remains dependent upon petroleum both for energy and for economic stability, petroleum hydrocarbons and organic compounds in general continue 

As we increase our knowledge and hope to learn from our past errors, it becomes important that we as a professional group servicing society continue our efforts to (1) minimize and reduce the uncontrolled and accidental release of petroleum hydrocarbons and organics into the environment, (2) improve our understanding of the overall behavior of these compounds in the subsurface, and the health risks associated with their presence, and (3) continue to develop sound strategies for the recycling, remediation, and restoration of impacted soil, water, and air. 

Oil-Storage Tanks and Reservoirs with a Brief Discussion of Losses of Oil in Storage and Methods of Prevention U.S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 155, Petroleum Technology Report No. 41, 76 pp. 

Colton, C. E., 1991, A Historical Perspective on Industrial Wastes and Groundwater Contamination Geographical Review, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 215-228. 

Colton, C. E. and Skinner, R N., 1996, The Road to Love Canal Managing Industrial Waste before ERA. University of Texas Press, Austin, 217 pp. 

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