In December 2025, Piedmont Gas and Auto Repair on Highland Avenue was one of over 470 gas stations across the state to close due to a California law mandating the closure of all gas stations with single-walled underground storage tanks. Under this law, stations with these tanks must replace them with double-walled tanks in order to reopen.
California Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Secretary for Law Enforcement Linda Lye said that the law, California Senate Bill 445, was passed in 2014, giving gas stations over a decade to close.
“I’d note that the requirement for underground storage tanks to upgrade was passed in 2014,” Lye said. “Gas stations have known about this for a long time.”
Lye said that SB 445 exists to protect California’s environment, especially the water.
“Old single-walled tanks pose severe risks of soil and groundwater contamination,” Lye said. “It’s really important to upgrade them to protect public health and the environment.”
Per SB 445, gas stations were required to close by January 1, 2026, but many have waited until the deadline to actually close their doors. Lye said that part of the reason stations have hesitated to upgrade is the financial cost for family-owned storefronts. It can cost upwards of $10,000 to replace the tanks, including tank removal, soil remediation, new installation, and permits.
“I totally understand the concerns about economic burdens on small businesses,” Lye said. “But in this case businesses had a decade to upgrade and loans and grants to pay for the upgrades. The state has grants and loans to finance up to 100 percent of the cost of upgrading.”
City Council member Lorrel Plimier said that the gas station may have waited to close since there was no economic pressure to do so until the end of 2025. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2026, gas stations with single-walled tanks began facing daily fines of five thousand dollars until closure.
“I can imagine why they’re doing it now is because all of a sudden it’s costing them a ton of money, which it wasn’t doing before,” Plimier said.
Plimier said she expects the gas station’s temporary closure to have minimal economic effects on the city, but that its role within the community has made its absence more impactful.
“Community-wise, I know the kids use that little convenience store regularly, and I do think it’s nice, and not only because of the location of it,” Plimier said. “It’s small and it’s less expensive than Mulberry’s, so I know that it’s an important asset for the high school students.”
While students are adjusting to the change, they are unsure about the cause of the closure. Nearly 70 percent of students surveyed said that they did not know why the gas station closed.
“I have no clue why it’s closed,” freshman Riley Haines said. “I think they’re just doing construction or something.”
Haines said that the gas station’s closure has affected how he gets lunch each day during school, especially since he prefers not to eat the school-provided lunch.
“I get a certain amount of money each week for lunch. Without the gas station I have to go to Mulberry’s, which costs way more than the gas station, so I get rid of that money quicker. When I run out of money, I have to get school lunch, and it’s annoying,” Haines said. “I ran out of money after basically three days because it’s like 12 bucks at Mulberry’s to get lunch.”
According to a TPH survey, 71 percent of students who previously got lunch at the gas station have switched to Mulberry’s due to the closure. Over 66 percent of students reported going to the gas station at least once per week.
“I think that the gas station closing is affecting a lot of kids because that is a lunch spot, so it’s harder for kids. I don’t want to buy a twenty dollar sandwich every day at Mulberry’s,” sophomore Hannah Joerger said. “I used to get an energy drink there every day, and now I can’t do that, and Mulberry’s is running out of stock and it’s much more expensive.”
Mulberry’s wine manager Alex Soghikian said that he predicts that more students will start going to Mulberry’s at lunch now that the gas station is closed.
“We’ve always had a lot of kids in here at brunch and lunch,” Soghikian said. “I think maybe there’s probably a little bit more now given that sometimes if [the kids] just want candy they’d go to the gas station instead, given our prices.”
PHS alumnus Gabriela Miller, who worked at the gas station during high school, said that the gas station was a big part of the Piedmont community.
“I would go there any second I wasn’t in class, or like in passing periods I’d run over there. It’s kind of a hub,” Miller said. “It was very unlike a normal job, it kinda felt like family. It was just me and AJ, the guy who runs the gas station. He has like five kids, and I felt like his sixth child.”
Miller said that the gas station remains a part of her life even after high school.
“I actually had my birthday party at the gas station. AJ and Alex brought me a cake, and it was really cute. It was a very special time. AJ still texts me,” Miller said. “Every time I come home from college, me and my friends make sure to say hi to him.”
Senior Laurel Minor said that she uses the Piedmont gas station as her main source of gas, meaning that its closure has forced her to go out of her way to get gasoline.
“The gas station closing has mostly just affected how I travel back from practice because now I have to take a different route to hit another gas station that’s close to my house instead of going to the Piedmont one really easily,” Minor said. “I go to the Montclair gas station now, which is about five minutes away, but that one fills up really easily so sometimes I can’t get a spot and then I can’t get gas.”
Plimier said that the gas station’s temporary closure should end by March of 2026.
“I am aware that there are currently no gas stations within the city of Piedmont,” Plimier said. “But I think they are completing the tank replacement by the end of January and then expected to reopen by March.”
