Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that the U.S. Army has agreed to pay nearly $30,000 in civil penalties for violating the agency’s underground storage tank (UST) regulations. To help prevent future tank leakage, the Army also agreed to spend nearly $210,000 on upgrading its facilities at Aberdeen Proving Ground, a weapons testing facility in northeastern Maryland.

Congress established UST regulations in 1984 as part of a nationwide effort to protect the nation’s soil and natural water supplies from contamination caused by leaking USTs. Hundreds of thousands of tanks holding fuel and other environmentally hazardous substances lay buried throughout the country. Many of the older tanks are constructed with single layer steel walls that are highly corrosive and prone to leaking.

The 28 USTs at the Army’s facility in Aberdeen range in capacity from 600 to 25,000 gallons and are used to store gasoline, fuel oil, diesel, and JP-8 jet fuel. According to the EPA, the Army was cited for its failure to test the tanks’ line leak detection system, failure to keep tank release detection records, failure to install spill and overfill protection equipment, and failure to perform tank release and line lease detection. The EPA strictly regulates all USTs within national boundaries because the environmental risks they pose are so high. Just one leaking UST can contaminate billions of gallons of fresh water and soil.

According to the EPA, the Army has removed the USTs and replaced them with above ground storage tanks. The facility is now in compliance with UST regulations.

The EPA found record numbers of UST violations by government agencies last year. The agency settled nearly 40 cases involving federal facilities  and filed another 3 complaints in 2008. Penalties leveraged against the federal government, combined with the cost of cleanup projects, totaled more than $1.3 million.

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