According to the North Bay Business Journal, many businesses in the San Francisco Bay area with leaking USTs in their charge are not being reimbursed for the mandatory removal and cleanup of the toxic leaking tanks. UST removal and cleanup is normally an expensive undertaking, easily costing tens of thousands of dollars depending on the size of the site and extent of environmental damage.

In Sonoma, Napa, and Marin Counties, a total of 552 leaking USTs have some form of open claim for cleanup work being performed. The claims represent work in various stages of completion. Most of the leaking tanks are in Sonoma County, which has 414 according to the state water board’s records. Marin County has 83 leaking tanks, and Napa has 56.

The water board had to suspend some 1,300 claims earlier this year because of an $80 million shortage in the fund. For active claims, the board decided to delay reimbursements by 18 months. The shortage has put a severe strain on many companies that do not have the capital or financial resources available to comply with the state’s codes without the government’s help. Companies with cleanup work in progress whose claims have been suspended are seeking bridge financing for work until the state’s funds are replenished.

One Eureka-based environmental project manager told the North Bay Business Journal that the lack of UST cleanup funds is having a ripple effect on his industry. “The slowdown in tank cleanup reimbursement affects not only site owners and but also the flow of work for environmental consulting firms and the subcontractors they work with, such as analytical laboratories and well drillers,” the Business Journal reported.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST), California has a backlog of nearly 11,500 leaking tanks awaiting cleanup. Even the slowest leaking tanks can release several gallons of fuel and other hazardous substances into the surrounding land each year, polluting millions of gallons of water and tons of soil.

The water board is currently assembling a task force comprised of environmental consultants, tank owners and operators, and regional water board members that will explore ways to reform and hopefully fix the state’s depleted UST fund.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › California’s UST cleanup funds have dried up

The rule came about after California experienced a series of massive environmental disasters stretching back 30 years – disasters that  involved underground storage tanks releasing tons of hazardous liquids into the land and water. Now, to play it safe, the state wants no doubt that even the newest, double-walled tanks can handle new types of fuel without sprouting leaks.

The decision has caused an outcry among gas stations that sell biodiesel, consumers who buy it, companies that make it, and environmentalists who advocate it – all of whom claim the move represents a step backward for California’s green movement.

One biodiesel dealer in San Jose told the Mercury News that the legislation requiring above-ground tanks kills his biodiesel business. “I’m not going to do that. I have no place to put them. And you are talking about $50,000 or more to buy the tank and put the monitoring system on it,” Bob Brown told the Mercury News. He added that he would continue to sell B5 to B20 biodiesel blends, as they can be stored in the USTs, but that he would discontinue selling B99, B50, and other high-grade bio blends.

Bill Rukeyser, a spokesman for the state water board, defended the state’s decision. Rukeyser told the Mercury News that California had to err on the side of caution. “We learned a real lesson. We’ve not forgotten that lesson. We don’t want to repeat that,” Rukeyser said.

Biodiesel consists of plant oils and recycled animal fats. The fuel’s “B” number indicates its percentage of environmentally friendly oils. The higher the number, the purer the fuel is and the cleaner it is to burn.

Although biodiesel has been available in California for 10 years, federal tax incentives led to a surge in the fuel’s popularity between 2005 and 2008, when demand for it grew ten times.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › New UST law may kill California’s biodiesel business

“TravelCenters of America has knowingly and repeatedly disregarded California’s underground fuel storage laws for years,” attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. told the Central Valley Business Times.

According to the CVBT, Riverside, California, District Attorney Rod Pacheco filed a similar suit against TravelCenters in July of last year, alleging the company violated multiple state regulations governing the possession of underground storage tanks, which almost always store fuel and other hazardous substances. Whereas the Riverside lawsuit focused on TravelCenters in that county, the latest lawsuit names TravelCenter’s facilities statewide.

Responding to the Riverside County lawsuit last year, TravelCenters called the laws unconstitutional. The company also claimed that federal laws pre-empted California’s laws, and that the state’s regulations violate due process.

According to the CVBT, the Riverside Department of Environmental Health periodically inspected USTs at the TravelCenters facility in Riverside County over a number of years. The officials found numerous violations of California’s underground storage tank laws, yet the company ignored repeated warnings to fix most of the problems.

California has some of the strictest environmental protection standards in the country, which often exceed those established by the federal government. While critics say that California’s laws are too tough on big business, the truth is that stricter regulations compel the automotive, fuel, and other industries to develop better, cleaner technology. Where regulations are too lax, manufacturers often land in court defending their products while people become harmed or killed.

Legal defeats can be extremely costly for defendants, especially if punitive damages are imposed. But money talks. Those costly penalties ultimately persuade big corporations to boost their own standards, which may involve implementing simple and inexpensive modifications or investing in developing entirely new and innovative technologies. As technology evolves and products improve,  the earth benefits. People benefit.

Instead of complying with the same state laws to which other gas stations adhere, TravelCenters now faces paying “the statutory maximum of $25,000 in civil penalties for each day of each violation, which could amount to millions of dollars in penalties,” the CVBT report says.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › California sues truck stop chain for UST violations

Underground storage tank

The Navajo inspectors are also authorized to issue citations for tanks that do not meet federal EPA criteria for safety. Fines for problematic tanks, normally ranging from $500 to $3,000, encourage tank owners to bring and keep their tanks into compliance with U.S. regulations.

Federally recognized Native American tribes exist as sovereign entities, yet they are still subject to federal laws. According to the EPA’s UST / LUST National Native American Lands directive, “Underground storage tanks located on tribal lands generally are not subject to state laws. As a result, unless a state acts as a tribe’s agent pursuant to a formal agreement with a tribe, EPA and the tribe are responsible for implementing and enforcing the UST program on tribal lands.”

The EPA estimates that approximately 6,000 USTs are buried on Native American land. Most of the USTs on native lands are concentrated in the western half of the country, especially in the EPA’s Region 8, which includes the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. Tanks buried on Navajo land are generally concentrated in the Arizona, California, and Nevada region in an area about the size of West Virginia. EPA estimates there are 200 tanks on Navajo land.

Preventing underground storage tanks from leaking is one of the EPA’s top priorities. Such tanks usually hold fuel, motor oil, and other environmentally hazardous substances. In just one year, 400 gallons of fuel can be released into the ground and water from a single hole the size of a pinhead. Just one gallon of fuel will make one million gallons of water unsafe for human and animal consumption. Hundreds of thousands of USTs are buried throughout the country, many of them older, single-layered steel tanks that have corroded over time.

The EPA hopes that its pilot program on the Navajo Nation will serve as a model for other tribes nationwide.

New storage tanks must be equipped with spill and overfill protection and leak detection equipment. They must also be double lined and made of corrosion-resistant polymers. Leaks and spills that are promptly detected are far easier and less expensive to clean up, the EPA says.

Source: http://www.eponline.com/articles/71515/

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › EPA trains Navajo Nation UST inspectors

Modern gas pumps are fitted with vapor-recovery boots on their nozzles, which help control the amount of vaporized fuel that leaks into the air. A similar device recovers vapors that are released when tankers fill a station’s underground storage tanks. However, faulty recovery devices allow toxic chemicals such as hydrocarbon fumes and benzene to enter the air in substantial amounts.

These airborne chemicals have been linked definitively to a slew of respiratory ailments and cancer by the National Institutes of Health. Not surprisingly, California leads the rest of the country in adopting standards that exceed the federal level. Today the state begins implementing tougher vapor recovery regulations, which require gas stations to equip their nozzles with better vapor recovery devices.

Gas stations with attached auto repair shops are doubly dangerous. Spilled or leaking antifreeze, lead products, and other solvents can contaminate the surrounding air, soil and water over time. The brakes and clutches of certain vehicles contain asbestos, which can be released into the atmosphere. As long as motor vehicles rely on these hazardous substances to run, humans will always be exposed. The key to minimizing the effects of exposure is to support better environmental regulations. Pressuring auto manufacturers and oil companies to develop alternative ways to fuel up is another strategy for a cleaner, safer future.

Source: http://www.emagazine.com/

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › gas stations illustrate need for tougher environmental regulations