The Virginia General Assembly is poised to mandate more stringent safety standards for above-ground storage tanks at the controversial Pickett Road tank farm in Fairfax City, which has plagued the surrounding neighborhood with oil leaks since the early 1990s. The companion bills, introduced by Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, would require tank-farm owners to restore tanks built prior to 1992 to conform to current design requirements, such as having double bottoms, to prevent leaks. “It’s been an ongoing problem for years,” Petersen said. “You have a petroleum tank farm which is located literally in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”

Indeed, in the early 1990s, a massive oil plume leaking from a tank at the site spread into the neighboring Mantua neighborhood, prompting Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., then president of the Mantua Citizens Association, to coordinate efforts to clean up the spill.