The company agreed to pay $22,758 to settle alleged violations of UST regulations designed to prevent, detect, and control fuel leaks from underground tanks. With hundreds of thousands of USTs throughout the country leaking fuel and other hazardous substances, curbing environmental contamination caused by such releases is one of the EPA’s top initiatives.

According to EPA records, more than 3,000 known leaking USTs await cleanup in Pennsylvania alone. The agency has recorded cleanups of more than 11,000 tanks to date.

From May 2006 to Nov. 2007, the 7-Eleven in Cranberry Township failed to perform automatic line leak detector testing annually on four 8,000-gallon tanks holding gasoline and diesel fuel and one 5,000-gallon tank containing kerosene. The same location also failed to perform line tightness tests of underground piping on the 5 tanks for a few months in 2007.

The Pittsburgh location also failed to perform automatic line leak detector tests and line tightness tests on its 5 tanks from Dec. 1, 2003 to Aug. 2007, 3 months in 2006, and 2 months in 2007.

“As part of the settlement, the company neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violations, but certified its compliance with applicable UST regulations. The settlement reflects the company’s cooperation with EPA’s investigation, and good faith compliance efforts,” the EPA announced.

“Leaking tanks are a major source of soil and groundwater contamination,” the EPA said in its statement. “EPA and state UST regulations are designed to reduce the risk of underground leaks and to promptly detect and properly address leaks which do occur, thus minimizing environmental harm and avoiding the costs of major cleanups,” the agency said.

SOURCE: Leaking Underground Storage Tanks › EPA settles with Penn company over multiple UST violations