Beaudry Store sits in rural splendor, framed by the backdrop of Camel’s Hump Mountain, the fourth highest mountain in Vermont. Ten years ago, Terry and Linda Pecor made the decision that selling gasoline was essential to the viability of their small country store. “We knew we needed to be able to offer one-stop shopping,” explains Terry. “We took a hard look at what we had and figured we stood to lose 40 percent of our business if we closed our tanks.”
“You really have to think about the amount of business you do and whether it’s worth keeping those tanks,” adds Linda. “We are rural, and we do a lot of business with loggers, school buses, and the fire department. We’re just far enough out that we don’t have the competition. If we’d been someplace else, we might have decided differently. Like every business, you take long looks before you do something.”
Terry and Linda mapped out a long-term plan. Their bare steel tanks were more than 20 years old. The first thing they did was to remove the tanks and replace them with fiberglass tanks and spill and overfill protection. In 1993, they had automatic tank gauges installed in both of their gasoline tanks and their kerosene tank. At the same time, they had vapor recovery piping installed in anticipation of any future Stage II requirements.
“We didn’t want to have to tear up the parking area again if we could help it, “ says Linda. “I really like the automatic monitoring,” she adds enthusiastically. “Every morning we push the monitoring button, and we know exactly the status of that tank. That’s really important to me. I want to know that my tanks aren’t leaking.”
“Ten years ago,” she recalls, “none of us knew anything about all of this. It used to be that we only needed to be concerned with weights and measures for our gasoline and the health department for our deli business. Now we have storage tank requirements, hazardous waste requirements, air pollution requirements, and health and safety requirements. The average person realizes why we’re doing these things. No one wants to pollute. But for mom and pops, it’s harder. Most tank owners know the rules came about for good reason, but for mom and pops coping with these rules it’s particularly hard. Their survival margin is slim. If they don’t get the story straight about their options, they won’t be in a position to make intelligent, informed, business decisions.”
The resulting net profit calculation should be further analyzed in terms of the decision to close, replace or upgrade. Gasoline sales, which may constitute just one element of the total profit picture of a rural convenience store, may well constitute the most important element of the profit picture. If the business does not sell gasoline, will it continue to attract the same levels of grocery sales or video rentals?
Once they’ve pulled together all their facts and figures, many tank owners will have to take a hard look at whether it’s worth staying in the gasoline retail business-closure may be the best business decision.
If a decision is made to replace or upgrade, most tank owners will need to be able to get a loan. At this point, a realistic evaluation must be made of the ability of the business to sustain additional debt. For example, an $80,000 loan for a period of 10 years at 9 percent interest, results in a monthly debt service of $1013.14. While the cost of replacing or upgrading an UST system may be less than $80,000, an accurate estimate of debt service is essential to future planning.
Some assistance is available to small businesses through the Small Business Administration loan guarantees. Many mom and pops, however, are in such tenuous financial circumstances that a loan guarantee is of little value because they are not able to deal with additional debt service.
Some state legislators and UST program managers have grappled with how to resolve a few basic questions: Who do we need to help just because of environmental issues? Can we make sure that environmental compliance concerns are not the single factor that puts a mom and pop out of business? If a mom and pop station is teetering on the brink of failure simply because it can’t afford the upgrade, should the state step in and offer some assistance? If we offer assistance, what criteria do we use?
Fifteen states have instituted financial assistance programs for UST owners and operators. Most of these are loan programs; a few are grant programs.
EPA published a document titled, Financing Underground Storage Tank Work: Federal and State Assistance Programs, to help all UST owners and operators -- but especially those with tanks on tribal lands -- obtain loans or grants for financing corrective action and upgrading UST systems to meet the 1998 requirements. Copies can be ordered through the RCRA/Superfund Hotline at 800-424-9436.
Terry and Linda Pecor have made their tank management decisions; they’ve addressed their corrosion protection, leak detection and spill and overfill requirements; and now they are comfortably out of the fray should there be a last minute ‘98 deadline stampede. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many others like them.
Waiting until the last minute presents potential problems of backlogs, material shortages, and worst of all, shortages of qualified, competent contractors to install new systems and upgrade or remove existing systems. While some tank and equipment manufacturers may not agree that there will be shortages, most agree that the costs for products and services are likely to go up as the ‘98 deadline approaches.
Many mom and pop businesses have already made the decision to hang in there until the ‘98 deadline and then close up shop. Without some form of assistance, some of the marginal facilities will have to make that hard business decision to shut the doors and pull down the shades. For those small businesses who want to stay in business but haven’t gotten their upgrade house in order, now is the time to act.
Here’s a quick summary on how to do your monthly reconciliation:
That piece of pink paper contains the “Terms and Conditions” of your UST permit. It includes all the laws, that you, as a tank owner, must comply with. Unfortunately, the very first time you purchased your UST permit is probably the only opportunity you’ve had to read it -- until now.
Terms and Conditions of the Underground Storage Tank Permit -
Owners and operators of petroleum underground tanks must:
You can order this information in Spanish by calling Tony Valero (509) 454-7833 or Greg Bohn (509) 454-4174. You can order this information in Korean by calling (425) 649-7253.
If you have any questions about these requirements, please call the Ecology office nearest you. Contacts and phone numbers are listed on the back page of this newsletter.
Emergency power generator tanks are almost always found in obscure, out of the way places -- like basements or buried behind a maze of pipes and such -- and they may only get fuel once a year. But don’t forget these tanks! They’re going to need upgrading just like many of the underground storage tanks in the state.
These USTs need cathodic protection and spill and overfill prevention equipment to meet the upcoming upgrading deadline of December 22, 1998.
It’s easy to say, “I’ll get to it,” though it’s much easier to lose track and forget -- and most of us do what is easiest. So pick up the phone book and start calling for bids to have your tank upgraded.
If you’re conducting an independent cleanup on your LUST site, you may soon be able to turn to Ecology for more advice on the technical and administrative requirements of the new Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA). In an effort to enhance the quality of independent cleanups, the MTCA Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) recommended that Ecology have the statutory authority to provide informal advice to persons conducting independent cleanups, including the authority to provide site-specific advice.
In the past, Ecology provided technical assistance through its Independent Remedial Action Program (IRAP). This is still an existing program. How the program works is once the cleanup is conducted, the person conducting the independent cleanup may submit their independent cleanup report to Ecology for review. Ecology staff will review the report, and if all the requirements of MTCA are met, can issue a status of “No Further Action (NFA)” for the site. Ecology charges a fee to recover their costs. Once a site receives an NFA, the site can be removed from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank List.
How this new type of assistance will work is that people can request assistance from Ecology right at the very beginning of their cleanup. Ecology can advise people during the investigative, cleanup, and preparation of report (IRAP) phase of their cleanup.
Ecology staff are currently developing the rules and procedures for implementing this program, including how the agency’s costs are recovered. Further details will be provided in the next few months.
According to the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Regulations, WAC 173-360-130, it is the duty of both the permit holder and of the person delivering regulated substances to verify that the facility receiving product has a permit.
A simple technique that owners and operators can do to make this easy for the delivery person is to post the permit in the window of the facility -- in plain view. Permits are now incorporated into the Master Business License, so if you’re reluctant to put the original in the window, make a photocopy and put that in the window.
Other suggestions and practices UST inspectors have noticed owners/ operators do that may be beneficial to you include:
The delivery person needs to keep in mind that a quick check of the permit is necessary to make sure it hasn’t expired. There are substantial fines for delivery to an unpermitted tank or to a tank that has an expired permit.
The UST regulation applies to suppliers, common carriers and other delivery persons of a regulated substance.
Map of Ecology's Regional Offices
UST/LUST Information: 1-800-826-7716
