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Lincoln University to Pay $45,000 to Settle Violations of Oil Spill Prevention and Underground Tank Rules

Release Date: 6/14/2000
Contact Information: Donna M. Heron, 215-814-5113

Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

OXFORD, Pa. -- Lincoln University has agreed to pay a $45,000 penalty for allegedly violating federal rules for the prevention and cleanup of leaks from underground oil tanks.

The Oxford, Pa. university owns underground storage tanks (USTs) with a capacity of at least 60,000 gallons and two aboveground tanks with a 1,000 and 300-gallon capacity.

Last fall EPA cited Lincoln University for violating Clean Water Act requirements that owners of oil storage facilities prepare and implement a spill prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC) plan.

EPA issued a second complaint alleging that the university failed to clean up contaminated soil after removing three leaking underground oil tanks in 1998. EPA also cited the university for failing to respond to information requests about hazardous waste matters, including the oil-contaminated soil.

As part of the settlement of the two complaints, Lincoln is required to submit a SPCC plan within 15 days, meeting the requirements of the applicable oil pollution prevention regulations. Lincoln has since cleaned up the contaminated soil.

This settlement is the fourth recent SPCC case against universities resolved by EPA’s mid-Atlantic office. In earlier settlements, the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., agreed to pay a $25,490 penalty; George Washington University in Washington, D.C., settled for $29,460; and Villanova University, located in suburban Philadelphia, committed to a $22,759 penalty.

With millions of gallons of oil in storage throughout the U.S. at any time, oil spills pose a constant threat to land and water resources. EPA’s spill prevention regulations are designed to reduce the serious health and environmental risks of oil spills.