Underground Storage Tanks

EPA Region 10--comprised of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington--boasts some of the most unique landscapes in the country, from frozen tundra to arid deserts. Similar to the varied terrain of this region, the Underground Storage Tank and Leaking Underground Storage Tank Programs are also unique.

The Region 10 tank program nourishes its partnerships with other regions, tribes, and states. Together, these partners developed and use a wide array of innovative tools to prevent releases, detect leaks, and clean up soil and groundwater contaminated by petroleum leaking from underground storage tanks. Recently, the Region 10 tank program reorganized to better emphasize the importance of enforcement in the tank regulatory program. The Underground Storage Tank and Leaking Underground Storage Tank Programs are now part of the newly created Office of Compliance and Enforcement. This change will help leverage the resources of other inspectors, case developers, and compliance assistance teams to effectively implement the tank regulations.

EPA and its state, local, and tribal partners use innovative approaches to implement their tank programs, such as:

• Alaska's Third Party Inspection Program. Instituting a third party inspection program helped Alaska increase inspection rates from once every 30 years to once every three years. Increased inspection frequency results in increased regulatory compliance and reduction in the number and magnitude of releases. For more information about the Alaska third party inspection program, go to: http://www.state.ak.us/dec/spar/csp/third.htm

• Oregon's Owner and Operator Training Program. Providing owners and operators with the knowledge they need to properly operate their tank systems is critical to compliance. As a result, Oregon now requires that each facility has a trained operator (i.e., a designated UST system operator) who can properly operate and maintain the UST system. For more information about Oregon's training program, go to: http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/tank/USTOpTraining.htm

• Idaho's leveraging of inspection resources. EPA implements the tank program in Idaho. Because of limited inspection resources, the Region 10 tank program has used assistance and expertise from other EPA regions. In October 2003, eight teams of inspectors fanned out over Idaho and inspected nearly 100 facilities in one week. The media widely covered EPA's inspection presence, resulting in a renewed focus by owners and operators on tank compliance. For more information on the inspection sweep read the press release.

• Washington's Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Fractioning and Risk-based Cleanups. Washington used an innovative approach to more accurately characterize the risks of total petroleum hydrocarbons. State scientists and policy staff worked together to formulate a way to apportion health risk, toxicity concerns, and the behavior of petroleum in the physical environment to make cleanups more cost effective. For more information, go to:

• Workbook Tools for Calculating Soil and Ground Water Cleanup Levels under the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) Cleanup Regulation and User's Guide

• References on Soil Contamination and Groundwater (MS WORD) (3 pp, 46K, You may need MS Word Viewer to read the file )

• A Method for Assessing Leaching Potential for Petroleum Hydrocarbons Release Sites: Multiphase and Multisubstance Equilibrium Partitioning (PDF) (Paper by H.S. Park and C. San Juan in Soil and Sediment Contamination, 9(6):611-632 (2000) (22 pp, 4.4MB, About PDF)

• A Default Method How to Calculate Soil TPH Cleanup Levels for the Protection of Ground Water: 3 and 4-Phase Soil Partitioning Equilibrium Model (MS POWERPOINT) (3.3MB, You may need MS PowerPoint Viewer to read the file )

• Brownfield and USTfield cleanup grants. Region 10's UST and Brownfields Programs have joined efforts to bring abandoned contaminated sites to reuse or redevelopment. Numerous grants have been awarded through a network of regulators and industry. For more information visit EPA R10's Brownfields & USTfieldsweb page.

For additional information about the UST program in Region 10 visit their home page

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