Ecology's Technical Assistance Program has been in the works statewide for about three months now. In that time, the results have been positive. Thirteen owners of operating USTs have received favorable inspections and are in compliance with the UST regulations.
Congratulations go to:
For those unfamiliar with the program, the technical assistance program is a new program offered statewide by the Department of Ecology to owners and operators of petroleum regulated underground storage tanks.
How it works is that you request an Ecology inspector to come to your site and examine your tank, lines, and inventory records. If the inspector finds that your site is out of compliance with state regulations, the two of you will negotiate a compliance schedule.
You will not be penalized. If you're in compliance, you will be given an inspection report which you can submit to your insurance company for a possible insurance premium reduction.
The inspection takes approximately one-half hour to two hours to complete, depending upon the site.
Please note: A technical assistance visit does not have to be an inspection. An inspector can visit your site to give you instructions on how to remove a tank, how to replace or upgrade an existing tank, or how to close a tank.
To receive an inspection, all you have to do is contact the regional office in which your tank resides.
Just ask Luzana Graff of Prosser, Washington who received a $500 reduction in her insurance premium.
Luzana, who owns and operates a small grocery store and gas station in Prosser, participated in Ecology's Technical Assistance Program after hearing about it at a company meeting last spring.
Upon inspection, once she learned that her tank system was in compliance with the regulations, she submitted her inspection report to her insurance agency.
"$500 means a whole lot to a little business -- it helps a lot," exclaimed Luzana.
Follow Luzana's lead and call your regional office for a penalty-free technical assistance visit.
"Sixty to 70 percent of underground storage tanks will leak or have leaked in the past," says Jim Sims, Director of the Pollution Liability Insurance Agency (PLIA). "Of those, perhaps 20 percent will be a threat to human health and the environment and require cleanup."
With most petroleum cleanup costs ranging anywhere from $20,000 to $150,000, it is critical that owners/operators of underground storage tanks have pollution liability insurance. And it is critical that owners/operators know if the policy they have covers pollution liability.
In the past six months, PLIA has been notified of some 400 misrepresented insurance policies. "Many people think that 'general commercial liability' insurance policies provide coverage for pollution liability," says Sims. "They are unaware that there has been a pollution exclusion from this type of insurance policy since the early 1980's."
General commercial liability covers such claims as a customer falling down and injuring him or herself on your business premises or damage to your business caused by fire. It does not cover pollution!
"Others have additional insurance coverage through an 'umbrella' policy," says Sims." However, most umbrella policies do not cover pollution cleanup."
Besides misrepresented policies, PLIA has also discovered that owners/operators who have declared "self-insured" have not submitted the required paperwork to confirm they are self-insured. "In one case," said Gerry Geer, Deputy Director of PLIA, "the owner had just sent in a financial statement from the wrong year. But in other instances, people have sent in letters that simply state, 'We're self-insured.'"
To be self-insured, one must pass a financial test of self-insurance; have it filed with the Security Exchange Commission, the Energy Information Administration, the Rural Electrification Administration or received a rating of 4A or 5A with Dunn & Bradstreet; and submit the test to the Department of Licensing (DOL) when obtaining an UST permit. If the financial test has not been filed with any of the above organizations, a letter from an independent auditing firm stating the information is "true and accurate" must accompany the financial test.
Owners/operators of tanks with insufficient insurance policies or inadequate paperwork to declare self-insurance will be notified by PLIA and be given 30 days to correct the problem. If PLIA does not receive a response within those 30 days, Ecology will be notified. Ecology has the authority to seek cancellation of the owner or operator's tank endorsement on the master business license if insurance is not legitimate.
So don't wait until it's too late and you owe thousands of dollars in cleanup costs. Read your insurance policy or call your agent to find out if your policy covers pollution liability. If you're self-insured, make sure you follow the steps mentioned above. We want to see you stay in business!
Lists of underground storage tanks (UST) and leaking underground storage tank (LUST) sites have been popularly requested documents for the past several years. Until now, these lists were only available on paper, could be as long as 1500 pages -- taking as long as ten working days to receive.
Due to the transition of the UST and LUST information to a new data management system, these lists are now available on disk.
The disk is in tab-delimited ASCII format that is readable by database and spreadsheet applicants. The UST file is about 8 Megabytes, once expanded, and the LUST file is about 700 Kilobytes. The price of each list is $22.14. Paper copies of both lists are still available for $.15 a page. You can order a disk copy or paper copy by calling 1-800-826-7716.
Both lists will soon be available to download from the Department of Ecology's World Wide Web homepage on the internet. In addition to UST and LUST Lists, many other publications will be added to our web site.
If you own a double-walled steel tank with cathodic protection, read on! In January, Ecology reaffirmed the need to monitor the cathodic protection systems on double-walled steel tanks at least every three years. EPA currently requires monitoring, but not periodic monitoring.
Ecology reaffirmed this position after consultation with EPA and a number of other states.
If you're thinking of selling a business that has underground storage tanks (USTs) or perhaps purchasing a business with USTs, here are a few things you should know.
If you are the seller, you should already be familiar with UST information we send out regularly. You should also be aware of the different compliance requirements and compliance deadlines. As the seller, you are required to comply with real estate property disclosure requirements, too.
The seller should leave all tank records with the new owner. These include past and current inventory records, tank and line tightness tests, and all information on repairs or equipment upgrades. The records should also include information on the performance standards for equipment that is installed on the tanks and the operations of the automatic tank gauge (if installed).
As the new owner, you are required to notify the Department of Licensing (DOL) of the change in ownership within 30-days of the transaction. The new owner should also make arrangements for a method of financial responsibility before the transaction is complete.
Following notification of the change in ownership and submittal of financial responsibility to the DOL, a new business license will be issued with an endorsement for underground storage tanks. This endorsement is needed to operate and receive product from a petroleum distributor.
The required forms may be obtained from the Department of Licensing or from Ecology.
If you need assistance with the UST requirements or information about a particular site, contact the regional office nearest you.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) retains sole environmental jurisdiction within the boundaries of all Indian reservations. This includes administration of UST/LUST programs. This jurisdiction is regardless of the type of land ownership; whether it be taxable fee patent land, tribal trust, or individually allotted Indians lands.
Any owner/operator of USTs on lands inside Indian reservations must work directly with EPA's Seattle Regional Office. Ecology will not knowingly register, permit, inspect, be involved in LUST sites, or process closures for any such facilities.
If you need to register your tanks located on Indian lands or provide the 30-day notice prior to UST closure, please contact Katherine Holt (206) 553-2580 or call (800) 424-EPA ext. 2580.
If you have compliance related issues or need to report a suspected/known release, please contact Geoff Keeler (206) 553-1089 or (800) 424-EPA ext. 1089.
Federal UST regulations (Title 40 C.F.R. Part 280) are similar to the state WAC requirements (including the 1998 deadline for tank upgrades), and EPA accepts Washington's MTCA cleanup standards.
The recent flooding across the state is a cause of concern for many UST owners and operators. Many UST systems may have been affected from the flooding. These include: Automatic Tank Gauging systems, impressed current systems, vapor monitoring systems, and any others that are electrical.
If your tanks were less than full, they may have had enough buoyancy to begin to come out of the ground. Look for cracks or buckling in the asphalt or concrete above your tanks. If your tanks did start to come out of the ground, this may mean you also have a problem with your piping. If you have a pressurized system, your turbine pumps may have been pumping whatever liquid you had in your tanks into the soil.
A number of stations have reported gasoline "bubbling" out of the tanks. The gasoline may be coming from a loose cap on your fill pipe, a loose fitting due to tank movement during the flooding, or an actual breach or crack in the tank itself. If water was running over the station or through it, the back-fill may have been affected, and there may be a void under the concrete or asphalt street covering.
If you were affected by the flooding, call your insurance agent first. Next, check your tanks for water. Put some water-finding paste on your tank stick and see if you've been affected. If you have, call your distributor to get recommendations for pumping water out of the tank.
Removing the water from the tank is important for two reasons: 1) Customers who buy your water-tainted fuel might be irate and word of mouth may adversely affect your business, 2) If you leave water in the bottom of your tank for too long, corrosion may occur from the inside out.
For more information, please call the Ecology inspector for your area.
Following an invitation by the Washington Association of Pupil Transportation (Capitol Center) -- the people who make sure your kids get to school every day -- staff from Ecology's Southwest Regional Office presented a slide show on underground storage tanks to about 150 individuals
The event took place at Olympia's Tyee Motel on February 7. In attendance were maintenance and operations supervisors, as well as other representatives of school districts from across the state.
Ecology inspectors Karen Backman, Mark Henderson, and Norm Stewart presented a slide show (put together by the Environmental Protection Agency about new requirements for USTs) and answered questions about the new rules and USTs in general.
"I felt my time was well spent. We reached a lot of people who might not have otherwise contacted Ecology with their questions and concerns, " commented Norm Stewart.
If you belong to a group or know of one that might benefit from a similar presentation, please feel free to contact Ecology. This is a great way to find out about what's required, get questions answered in a relaxed setting, and help Ecology serve Washington residents.
Ecology contacts phone numbers
Ecology recently received a letter from an individual who raised some valid concerns over an article published in the November 1995 Tank Bulletin.
The article announced the acceptance by Ecology of three new alternative methods for determining whether a tank is suitable for upgrading with cathodic protection. The article stated that these new alternative methods would mean a real cost savings to owners and operators of USTs, because a person no longer had to go into the tank to examine the interior. Instead, the tank could be examined by using statistical analysis, a robotic device, or a video camera.
The reader's first point was that these alternatives are set forth in an emergency standard, ASTM ES 40-94.
Ecology is aware that ASTM 40-94 is an emergency standard. If it is not passed by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), it will no longer be a valid alternative and will not be accepted for tank upgrades. A final ASTM decision is due sometime this year.
Secondly, the reader was concerned that equipment does not currently exist to ensure the structural integrity and detect the interior corrosion of a tank without physically entering the tank.
Ecology's stand is that it will not accept any work that is not done in full compliance with the standard practice. Interior corrosion is a real concern. However, none of the corrosion requirements address interior corrosion. A tank installed with sacrificial anodes may not be fully protected from interior corrosion, yet meet all the corrosion requirements of the federal and state regulations. These regulations are minimums, and owners of tanks should certainly take into consideration that their potential liability from releases may not be fully protected by complying only with the minimum requirements.
Although internal inspections are still required on tanks that are upgraded for corrosion protection by adding lining, Ecology does not recommend one form of corrosion control over another -- as long as the method complies with the regulations. Ecology's position on this issue does not in any way diminish the role of tank lining in protecting against leaks.
The policies regarding the Underground Storage Tank Regulations are set with the input of all interested parties in mind.
We appreciate readers taking the time to express their concerns.
As of December 31, 1995, all licenses issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology for work on underground storage tanks in the following categories have expired:
A person wanting to perform work in any of the above categories must receive a passing score on the appropriate International Fire Code Institute (IFCI) exam.
The IFCI Underground Storage Tank (UST) Certification Program was created to provide a nationally recognized examination and credential by which individuals could demonstrate their knowledge of various regulatory codes, as well as standards and practices pertaining to underground storage tanks.
All UST certificates are good for two years, with the exception of the Washington State Site Assessment exam. This exam must be taken and passed only once. Washington registered professional engineers who are competent by means of examination, experience, or education to perform site assessments are not required to be certified for site assessment work.
Each IFCI exam is a closed book exam. All questions that appear on the exam are taken from references listed on the exam application. The references are available by calling the IFCI order desk at (310) 692-4226 or by writing to: International Fire Code Institute, 5360 Workman Mill Road, Whittier CA 90601.
The exams are administered on EXPro, an electronic examination process administered by Assessment System, Inc. (ASI). The fee for each exam is $50.
Contact IFCI for a "Candidate Bulletin" which gives information on what materials are needed to prepare for the various exams, how to make reservations for the exams, and locations and times.
If you have further questions pertaining to the exams, please contact Charles Hinds, Department of Ecology, telephone (360) 407-7210, or E-mail: chin461@ecy.wa.gov.
You can now receive the following EPA documents from the Department of Ecology:
Contact Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program Receptionist at (360) 407-7170 to receive any of the above-mentioned publications or E-mail your request.
Map of Ecology's Regional Offices
UST/LUST Information: 1-800-826-7716
