Sir,
Happy Independence Day to you and your family. Concerning underground tanks for fuel storage, most states require both lining systems and cathodic protection [1] to prevent leakage into the ground and or ground water. I fully agree with the defensive sense, being a veteran of the US Army and most of my time serving in the Infantry, having prepared many a defensive position. As such for OPSEC [2], finding a discreet contractor may present a challenge, and of course the local county may get interested, Hopefully not too much. – Grog
JWR Replies: Cathodic zinc anodes (commonly called “sacrificial zincs”) such as these [3] have been mentioned before in SurvivalBlog. They are important to use if you bury metal containers for caching, too!
Your mention of bureaucratic nosiness prompts me to mention that this is just one more reason to move to one of the American Redoubt States [4]. In most of those states, no building permits or inspections are required for anything except septic tank installations, if you live outside of city limits.
Jim:
That was an interesting article you wrote about the goal of blending in. My amplification of that is to make a goal of not showing up on the aerial and satellite photos that Google and others have on line. I’m in the middle of 10 acres of old growth woods and the satellite view shows the road leading here swallowed up by the over-reaching trees. And delivery vehicles trying to get here usual go right by the drive.
For ham operators, the method I use to blend in is by use of wire antennas. Through the trees. My long wire antenna is 250 feet long. My doublet is strung as an Inverted V. Details on doing these antennas that perform every bit as good as more expensive beams and towers is The Wireman’s [5] excellent handbook, now in its fifth edition.
My scanner and VHF/UHF antennas are all on five television masts and push-up mounts on the rear of the house, not visible even from the front of the house. – Vern
JWR Replies: Keep in mind the drawback to having large trees that screen your house from aerial observation in most cases also put your house at risk of forest fires.