Natso Blasts EPA on Storage Tanks

The Environmental Protection Agency isn’t appropriately enforcing its new rules on upgrading underground fuel storage tanks, according to Natso Inc., the trade association for truck stops and travel plazas.

As of Dec. 22, all owners of underground fuel tanks are required to comply with higher federal standards designed to minimize fuel leaks into ground water. The national program cost gas stations, truck stops and bulk fuel users millions of dollars in new and upgraded tanks and related equipment (TT, 12-28-98, p. 1).

In a Dec. 9 memo, the agency announced it would concentrate its limited resources on operators of large and multiple UST facilities, and on compliance assistance for small businesses.

Natso says this policy is ignoring smaller operators, “the very segments of the tank operating community that studies have indicated have the lowest compliance rates.”

In a letter to EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner, Natso President W. Dewey Clower said “it now appears EPA has gone back on its word to fully and fairly enforce the UST deadline, instead opting for a strategy of compliance assistance.” According to Natso, it is precisely those operators of four or fewer tanks that account for the lowest compliance rates.

EPA said it has no evidence that indicates whether large or smaller companies discharge the most pollutants.

A decade ago, EPA established 1998 as the deadline for companies to meet stricter standards for underground fuel tanks, which are buried at truck stops, filling stations and trucking company terminals.

Natso said EPA’s Dec. 9 announcement shows the agency is, in effect, ignoring its own deadline.

“It sends the wrong message to the regulated community,” said Jason Lynn, director of government affairs for Natso. “Industry surveys have indicated that certain segments of the tank operating community have not taken compliance to heart, while others have. EPA is apparently targeting those companies which appear to have the higher compliance rates.”

For the full story, see the Jan. 4 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.