Ever wonder why the nozzle that we use to pump gasoline at a service station looks so unusual?   Well it’s because we are working to protect your safety, health, and our environment.  Old style nozzles (mostly from the 1980s and earlier) often resulted on the release of gasoline vapors into the air around the pump.  The vapors represented an increased risk of fire and explosion hazards, inhalation of toxic vapors, and the release of damaging chemicals to our environment.

Gasoline is actually a mixture of several dozen different constituents, many of which have adverse impacts on our health and the environment.One of those constituents, benzene, when emitted from motor vehicle fueling stations introduces cancer risks to the general public in the following ways:

• Individuals who fuel their own vehicles at service stations without (Stage II) vapor controls experience highly concentrated short-term exposures.
• Residents near such service stations face increased exposure due to localized increases in ambient concentrations of benzene from emissions at the nearby station(s).
• The general population is exposed to increased area-wide ambient levels of benzene resulting from service station emissions.
• Installation and operation of gasoline vapor recovery nozzles requires a permit.

Stage I Vapor Control
Stage I vapor control applies to transfers of gasoline from a tanker truck into the storage tanks at dispensing facilities such as gas stations.  The tanker and the storage tanks must be equipped for submerged filling, and the vapors displaced during transfer are collected by a vapor recovery system.

Stage II Vapor Control
Stage II vapor control applies to the transfer of gas from dispensing pumps at facilites such as gas stations.  The pumps and storage tanks must be equipped so that the vapors displaced during transfer are collected by a vapor recovery system.

Typically, there are two basic types of Stage II systems in use today:

• The balance system uses the natural pressure differential between the underground fuel storage tank and the motor vehicle's fuel tank to recover the vapors.
• The vapor assist system is an upgraded balance system utilizing pressure- inducing devices to increase the flow of vapor back to the underground storage tanks.

Financial Benefits
Service station owners have a potential economic benefit of implementing Stage II vapor recovery. It has been estimated that Stage II implementation could prevent the loss of one million gallons of gasoline per year to the ambient air. This represents a savings to the service station operators who would benefit from reduced evaporative or "shrinkage" losses and eventually recover the cost of their investment in Stage II related equipment.