Environmental News

FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, JULY 1, 2002

EPA ANNOUNCES $3.8 MILLION TO CLEAN UP PETROLEUM FROM UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK SITES AT GAS STATIONS IN 26 STATES

Dave Ryan 202-564-7827 / ryan.dave@epa.gov

EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher today announced 40 pilots totaling $3.8 million in grants to 26 states and three tribes to clean up properties contaminated from leaking underground storage tanks.

At an event in Philadelphia today, Fisher said, "One of our biggest opportunities for cleanup and redevelopment is thousands of old, abandoned gas stations that are found in communities across the country. While our Brownfields program has been extremely successful, it has been unable to address abandoned petroleum tanks due to statutory restrictions under the Superfund law. These new pilots are building on the successful Brownfields program by bridging the gap."

(Brownfields are abandoned, idled or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.)

These pilot projects, called USTfields, involve abandoned or underused industrial and commercial properties with perceived or actual contamination from petroleum that has leaked from underground storage tanks. Of the estimated 450,000 Brownfields sites in the United States, about half of these properties are thought to be impacted by underground storage tanks or by some type of petroleum contamination.

These 40 pilot grants are being awarded to states and tribes to demonstrate what can be accomplished in the assessment and cleanup – and ultimate reuse – of petroleum-impacted sites when federal, state, tribal, local and private entities work together. Each of the pilots will receive up to $100,000 for assessing and cleaning up petroleum contamination from underground storage tanks.

All of these pilots are intended to provide states, tribes, municipalities and communities with useful information and strategies to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties. These grants spur partnerships among state and local governments, community groups, investors and developers to get sites cleaned up and ready for community use instead of remaining a liability to the community and a continuing threat to public health and the environment.

Earlier this year, President Bush signed bipartisan legislation that will encourage the cleanup and redevelopment of old industrial properties, including abandoned petroleum storage tanks. The new law will help clean up the environment, create jobs and protect small businesses from unnecessary lawsuits. In addition, the President's fiscal year 2003 budget request doubled the funds available through EPA in fiscal year 2002 – from $98 billion to $200 million – to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize Brownfields and USTfields properties.

Today's announcement of 40 USTfields pilots locations, combined with EPA's November 2000 announcement of 10 USTfields pilots, brings to 50 the total of USTfields pilots locations nationwide.

For more information, visit EPA's web site at http://www.epa.gov/oust/ustfield.

The 40 USTfields pilots and the amount of their grants are: