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PA EPA RELEASES RESULTS OF EPA-STATE INITIATIVE TO ENFORCE LEAK DETECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS W/ATTACHMENTS

Release Date: 07/18/97
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EPA today announced the results of a nationwide EPA-state enforcement initiative aimed at identifying and correcting violations of state and EPA regulations requiring the use of approved leak-detection methods at underground storage tank (UST) facilities. There are about one million federally regulated USTs in use in the United States. Over the past nine years, more than 320,000 UST releases have been confirmed. EPA estimates that about 60 percent of these releases have affected groundwater, the source of drinking water for half of all Americans. States have reported that USTs are the most common source of groundwater contamination and that petroleum is the most common contaminant. During May, states and EPA inspected 10,050 facilities, including gasoline stations and truck and bus fleet refueling facilities. States inspected 9,311 facilities, and EPA inspected 739. A total of 3,192 facilities were found in violation of release detection requirements. Most of the facilities inspected are privately owned, but some are owned by federal, state, or local government agencies. In most cases, the owners were not immediately penalized, but are expected to take action to install or perform release detection and keep records in accordance with state and federal requirements. In approximately 400 cases, however, states and EPA proposed or collected fines ranging from $50 to $300,000. The largest fines were assessed where owners had a history of noncompliance or where violations posed significant threats to health and the environment. The national total of fines proposed or collected by states and EPA was slightly more than $1 million. During the May inspections, inspectors also reminded owners and operators of USTs installed before December 1988 that they have less than two years remaining in which to comply with requirements for spill, overfill, and corrosion protection. These requirements, designed to prevent future leaks, will take effect in December 1998, except in a few states where they are already in effect. (USTs installed after December 1988 had to meet these requirements when they were installed.) Owners and operators of the older USTs will need to replace or upgrade their tanks to meet these requirements, or close them properly. EPA recently announced that the Agency will not extend the December 1998 deadline. The 1998 requirements are a key element in the ongoing state-EPA effort to prevent groundwater contamination. A state-by-state breakdown of the number of facilities inspected, violations found, actions taken, and fines proposed or collected is attached. Also attached is a list of state UST program contacts.


R-104 -more-

		Facilities	Number in	Notices of	Warning	Field
Notes		inspected	violation	Violation	letters	citations	Fines
	ALABAMA	190	59	17	30	0	0
	ALASKA	16	4	2	0	4	1650
	ARIZONA	100	71	72	0	5	450
	ARKANSAS	110	88	0	0	10	4850
	CALIFORNIA	660	302	247	77	0	0
	COLORADO	39	18	0	0	11	6400
	CONNECTICUT	34	22	17	0	5	1500
	DELAWARE	12	7	0	9	0	0
	DIST OF COLUMBIA	22	11	0	13	22	0
1	FLORIDA	1790	44	0	85	0	30500
	GEORGIA	266	112	141	6	0	0
	HAWAII	59	51	39	0	7	1750
	IDAHO	54	12	14	0	3	900
	ILLINOIS	511	216	64	10	136	3900
	INDIANA	2	0	0	0	0	0
	IOWA	67	13	13	1	5	550
	KANSAS	62	22	62	0	7	1350
	KENTUCKY	267	78	43	61	0	0
	LOUISIANA	95	51	30	10	11	5100
	MAINE	37	16	9	5	8	4200
	MARYLAND	152	32	2	30	0	75000
	MASSACHUSETTS	61	25	19	0	3	1500
	MICHIGAN	188	73	72	0	0	0
	MINNESOTA	34	20	0	0	0	0
	MISSISSIPPI	124	9	6	7	0	8500
	MISSOURI	148	47	38	69	9	2750
	MONTANA	35	17	0	0	15	5700
	NEBRASKA	320	155	0	0	17	4200
	NEW HAMPSHIRE	118	40	15	0	23	5400
2	NEW JERSEY	54	26	13	0	5	47447
	NEW MEXICO	121	9	7	0	14	1650
	NEW YORK	173	68	52	115	5	16750
	NORTH DAKOTA	45	12	0	12	1	800
	NORTH CAROLINA	357	171	13	248	1	22345
	OKLAHOMA	304	37	35	0	10	1800
	OREGON	98	47	34	6	3	5450
	PENNSYLVANIA	179	112	132	0	0	0
	PUERTO RICO	41	11	12	8	2	472107
	RHODE ISLAND	32	18	0	19	0	0
	SOUTH CAROLINA	342	204	204	0	0	0
	SOUTH DAKOTA	95	32	0	0	21	3200
	TENNESSEE	114	73	94	0	3	4100
	TEXAS	294	58	72	0	5	33850
	UTAH	36	20	5	10	0	45000
	VERMONT	46	9	14	6	0	0
	VIRGINIA	680	376	0	376	0	0
	VIRGIN ISLANDS	18	3	3	1	0	159610
	WASHINGTON	120	22	36	17	5	4325
	WEST VIRGINIA	55	15	19	3	0	5200
	WISCONSIN	1228	247	247	0	0	0
	WYOMING	45	7	0	0	6	1950
3	TOTAL	10050	3192	1914	1234	382	991734
	% COMPLIANCE	68.24
	NOTES:
	1. Florida's totals for May are not available yet. Numbers here reflect inspections in
	in April. Florida conducts approximately the same number of inspections every month.
	2. Does not include $130,000 penalty that NJ Transit has agreed to pay the U.S. EPA
	3. Nationally--and in some States--the combined total of notices of violation (NOVs),
	warning letters, and field citations exceeds the number of facilities in violation
	because some of the NOVs and warning letters issued in May stemmed from
	inspections conducted earlier.

REGION 1
Connecticut 860-424-3374
Maine 207-287-2651
Massachusetts 617-727-3200
New Hampshire 603-271-3644
Rhode Island 401-277-2234
Vermont 802-241-3882


REGION 2
New Jersey 609-292-8761
New York 518-457-4351
Puerto Rico 787-767-8109
Virgin Islands 809-774-3320


REGION 3
Delaware 302-323-4588
Dist of Columbia 202-645-6080
Maryland 410-631-3442
Pennsylvania 717-772-5599
Virginia 804-698-4269
West Virginia 304-558-6371


REGION 4
Alabama 334-271-7986
Florida 904-488-3935
Georgia 404-362-2687
Kentucky 502-564-6716
Mississippi 601-961-5171
North Carolina 919-733-8486
South Carolina 803-734-5331
Tennessee 615-532-0945


REGION 5
Illinois 217-785-5878
Indiana 317-308-3060
Michigan 517-373-8168
Minnesota 612-297-8608
Ohio 614-752-7938
Wisconsin 608-266-7874


REGION 6
Arkansas 501-682-0988
Louisiana 504-765-0243
New Mexico 505-827-2932
Oklahoma 405-522-5264
Texas 512-239-2106


REGION 7
Iowa 515-281-8135
Kansas 913-296-1678
Missouri 573-751-7560
Nebraska 402-471-9465


REGION 8
Colorado 303-620-4300
Montana 406-444-5970
North Dakota 701-328-5166
South Dakota 605-773-3296
Utah 801-536-4100
Wyoming 307-777-7096


REGION 9
Arizona 602-207-4315
California 916-227-4313
Hawaii 808-586-4226
Nevada 702-687-4670
X3037


REGION 10
Alaska 907-465-5203
Idaho 208-373-0502
Oregon 503-229-5733
Washington 360-407-7170