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Region of the Month (2004)
December, Region 2
EPA Region 2 is comprised of New York, New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and is also home to seven tribal nations located in upstate New York. Puerto Rico achieved state program approval for its Underground Storage Tank (UST) and leaking UST programs, which means that Puerto Rico is the primary implementor of its tank program. Region 2 works closely with its state environmental agencies and Indian nations to successfully manage the more than 53,000 active USTs in the region and ensure leaking or substandard USTs are properly closed. To date, there have been more than 136,000 successful cleanups at LUST sites. Below are some recent highlights of Region 2 tank programs.
Innovations In Compliance Monitoring
New York Using GIS Technology To Target Inspections - EPA Region 2 provides support and assistance to New York to implement its UST program. Each year New York refers hundreds of UST inspection sites to EPA, and because of limited staff EPA must decide which sites receive priority. To improve the decision making process, EPA in 2003 began using a groundwater endangerment risk analysis approach, which focuses on identifying areas where: contaminants may be introduced via particular land use classification; hydrogeology renders quick transport time from ground surface to an aquifer's water-table; and groundwater is used as a source of drinking water. EPA assigns facilities risk level classifications and performs UST inspections on facilities that fall into the two highest risk level zones. For a presentation on how endangerment risk is defined and how this process is applied in New York, as well as other GIS applications, see:
http://r2quickplace1/QuickPlace/r2gis/Main.nsf/h_Toc/4df38292d748069d0525670800167212/?OpenDocument
Handheld Computers Improve Inspections And Cleanups - In Region 2, state UST inspectors are responsible for overseeing approximately 1,000 facilities; EPA spill response staff often oversee hundreds of active remediations. To enable states and EPA to better address this enormous workload, Region 2 developed an UST inspector application for monitoring compliance activities using a handheld computer, which is a useful field tool to organize data. Staff use the handheld computer to upload and download data from desktop and mainframe systems and have full and portable access to relevant data. Field data can be easily transferred to office computers and accessed as needed. Below are benefits of using this application:
- Facility and tank information inconsistencies can be identified and corrected in the field, leading to a more accurate database system.
- UST enforcement protocols and checklists can be standardized for all inspectors in a state, leading to better quality inspections and more useful data.
- Inspection reports, which are now computerized, can be analyzed to determine areas of compliance and non-compliance to better focus outreach and enforcement efforts and more accurate reporting of performance measures.
- Field entered data can be uploaded directly into enforcement databases, saving time for inspectors to conduct other higher priority activities and reducing data-transfer errors.
New York field tested the program in summer 2004; EPA is revising it based on field tests. This useful field tool will be available for widespread testing in the near future.
EPA Region 2 and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection UST Technology Workshop - To enhance inspector knowledge of UST-system technology and test methods, EPA Region 2 and New Jersey organized an UST Technology Workshop in association with the Petroleum Equipment Institute--a first for Region 2. The workshop, which was offered to federal, state, and county UST inspectors, was held November 2003 in EPA Region 2, Edison, NJ. Representatives from the UST manufacturing industry gave presentations on the following topics: anatomy of an UST system, manifolded UST systems, fiberglass tanks and piping, release detection, and line leak detection. The third day of the workshop was a regulators roundtable where UST regulators from Mississippi, Delaware, and New Jersey shared information about equipment problems, financial assurance requirements, and inspector health and safety.
Reuse And Cleanup
Before: Abandoned Gas Station
After: West Ward firehouse
Recycling Abandoned Gas Stations - EPA Region 2 awarded three pilot grants, totaling almost $300,000, to help New York and New Jersey assess and clean up petroleum contamination from federally-regulated USTs at idle or abandoned contaminated properties. Using grant funds, New Jersey and Trenton successfully partnered to remove four USTs and contaminated soil at an abandoned gas station site and transform it into the West Ward firehouse, which now serves the community. This positive end result demonstrates that unsightly, abandoned properties can be cleaned up and reused to benefit the community's residents and enhance the aesthetics of the neighborhood.
Puerto Rico Is Developing Petroleum Brownfields Program - EPA is working with Puerto Rico to jump start its petroleum brownfields program with support for initial remedial investigations and site assessment work at 10 abandoned, petroleum-contaminated sites. Based on site assessment results, EPA and Puerto Rico will rank and select sites in various municipalities and subsequently educate the municipalities about the reuse process and available funding, as well as train them to develop brownfields proposals. These are the first steps toward what EPA believes will help Puerto Rico develop a successful petroleum brownfields program and reuse the many properties that blight Puerto Rico's communities.
New York And EPA Team To Cleanup MTBE On Long Island - New York and EPA are working together to clean up petroleum and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) contamination on Long Island. Cleaning up and protecting Long Island's aquifers from contamination is extremely important because they are environmentally-sensitive and the sole-source of drinking water for approximately 3 million people. Since 2001, EPA provided $1.5 million to increase project oversight, investigate potential sources of MTBE contamination that could impact water supplies or environmentally-sensitive areas, research the causes and operating failures of bulk storage systems, and improve the public's understanding of the issues. Another important part of this joint effort involves looking at ways to more quickly identify, investigate, and cleanup MTBE contaminated sites.
MTBE continues to pose significant challenges at several major sites; the impacts from these releases include contamination of public water supplies and private wells, vapor intrusion into basements, and potential discharges to fresh and saline waters. New York has procedures in place to quickly respond to, investigate, and clean up sites contaminated by MTBE. To date, 190 private drinking water wells and 13 public water supply wells in New York have been impacted by MTBE. At sites where MTBE is found in a drinking water source, New York has protected the public by providing: alternate sources of safe drinking water, such as bottled water; whole house activated carbon filter systems; replacement wells; and hookups to public water supply lines. Although New York banned the use, sale, or import of fuels containing MTBE beginning January 1, 2004, the impacts of past releases continue to pose significant challenges. For more information on MTBE and related issues, see: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der/spills/index.html.
For additional information about the UST program in Region 2, visit their home page at: http://www.epa.gov/region02/waste/isummary.htm