0
As of June 1st, 2018 Oregon DEQ has revised UST regulations promulgated to rule and are now in effect. The regulations underwent public comment in February, and Environmental Quality Commission adopted the proposed rules on May 11th, 2018.
Some revises changes to the regulations include the following:
- 30 day notification for changing regulated substances of a UST containing greater than 10% ethanol or 20% biodiesel
- Demonstrations of UST system compatibility
- Under Dispenser Containment required for each new, moved, or modified dispenser
- All new or replacement USTs and connected piping must be secondarily contained and monitored using interstitial monitoring
- Flow Restrictors/Ball float valves are now longer allowed to be installed and cannot be repaired
- 30 day release detection for spill prevention and containment sumps used for interstitial monitoring
- 30 day walkthrough inspections for spill prevention and release detection begins 7/1/2020
- Annual inspections for containment sumps and hand held release detection
- Maintain these inspections for at least one year
- 24hr reporting on corrosion protection test failures
- Annual release detection operability testing
- Overfill prevention inspected at least once every 3 years
-
On or after July 1st, 2020, owners and permittees of FCTs and AHSs must comply with 340-150-0137(2) and the training requirements for UST operators in this rule
- Vapor monitoring and groundwater monitoring are now longer allowed as an approved release detection method
- 24 hour notification to the DEQ for unusual operating conditions such as:
- erratic behavior of dispensing equipment
- sudden loss of product
- widely fluctuating water levels
- liquid in interstitial space (when brine is not used)
- Emergency generator tanks are subject to release detection requirements on 7/1/2020.
- All newly installed emergency generator tanks are subject to release detection requirements immediately
On May 9th, 2018, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) adopted revisions to their underground and aboveground storage tank regulations. This is part of 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 334. These rules will publish to the Register on May 25th, and will be effective on May 31, 2018.
These changes incorporate revisions from the EPA’s 2015 regulation revisions to Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), part 280.
While this is not an exhaustive list, the regulations include the following:
– Periodic operation and maintenance requirements for UST systems to conduct walkthrough inspections and test UST system components
– Requirements to ensure UST system compatibility before storing certain biofuel blends
– New requirements to annually test specific release-detection equipment
– Changes to comply with existing EPA release-detection requirements to monitor at least every 30 days (instead of every 35 days), and
– Minor rule revisions relating to the fee on delivery of petroleum products to reflect changes that were statutorily implemented in the Texas Water Code in 2015.
The state of Mississippi has also posted the redline to their proposed regulations on May 7th and are available for public viewing here.
Some proposed regulation changes include the following:
– Periodic operation and maintenance requirements both for 30-day and annual inspections
– Previously deferred USTs such as airport hydrant systems and emergency generator tanks are now subject to UST regulations.
– Updated codes of practice
– New Testing requirements and frequencies
– Newly added criteria for what can result in the red tagging of your facility
– Updates to record retention requirements
– 30-day release detection requirements
– New criteria and guidelines for planned and unplanned repairs to UST systems and ancillary equipment
Overfill prevention and testing of overfill at sites is critical for staying in compliance, and for the protection of the environment.
A fuel station in Marquette, Michigan was accidentally overfilled, causing a spill of gasoline into the street and into the storm drain system according to the EPA and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. While the EPA estimated 400-700 gallons, inventory controls and the state determine around 180 gallons were spilled during the incident. Upon review of the site, it was found that the overfill alarm had an intrusion of ice into the system which was a manufacturer defect.
Cleanup efforts have taken place at the site, the sewer system, and the nearby river is currently being monitored for potential contamination. As of yet, no contamination in the soil or air has been detected in the surrounding area.
More information on this story can be found here.
This month, a gas station in Bastrop, Texas was fined over $13,000 for failure to comply with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s regulations for Underground storage tanks. Some of their biggest violations included failure to obtain insurance/financial responsibility, failure to have monthly release detection, failure to provide documentation for the state’s inspection, and failure to have adequate corrosion protection.
The commission filed a preliminary report and petition, recommending an enforcement order, assessing an administrative penalty against the store’s owner and requiring the store to return to compliance.The store’s owner challenged the commission’s findings and requested a hearing with the state office. On August 24, 2017, a judge held a hearing in which the owner failed to appear for, and the judge ordered a default ruling against the owner.
The full article is available for reading here.
The State of Washington has now filed for its next rule proposal phase (CR-102), which was filed with the legislature on 1/24/2018. This proposal incorporates federal rule changes needed to maintain their state program approval for their underground storage tank program.
The comment period on the new proposed rules will remain open until March 16, 2018. The public comment form can be found on their webpage here.
If you are interested in learning more about the proposed rules, Washington will be hosting a webinar and in-person hearing on February 28th, 2018 at 1pm PST (4pm EST). A link to the webinar can be found here.
The proposed rules changes include the following:
Tank Installation
- Corrosion assessments used to avoid installing cathodic protection must be performed every 5 years after installation and reports are sent to the department for determination
- Eliminating secondary barriers for hazardous substance UST systems installed on or before 10/1/12
- UDCs must be factory built or machine-tooled until otherwise approved by department
- Compatibility demonstration requirements for USTs including hazardous substances; records retained for life of UST or change in service
- Existing and previously deferred USTs must maintain upgrade records be maintained for life of UST in addition to repairs
- Product deliverers must comply with spill and overfill requirements and report spills to Owner/operator
- Walkthrough inspections (30 days) begin upon installation (after effective date) or one year after effective date for UST systems installed before effective date
- 3 years of inspections must be maintained
- 24 hour notification to corrosion expert for cathodic protection not operating correctly
- Record retention for cathodic protection tests changed to 6 years; rectifier inspections maintained for 3 years.
- Spill prevention and sump tightness testing must be performed by certified provider and reported to agency
- Periodic monitoring of sumps/spill buckets be retained for 3 years
- Tightness test documents retained for 6 years
- Overfill prevention inspections must be performed by certified provider and be reported
- Flow restrictors that are broken must be replaced with other overfill protection
- Testing after repairs to UST system within 30 days; records retained for 3 years. Testing is reported
- Monitoring or tightness testing of containment sumps used for interstitial monitoring of piping, monitoring or tightness testing of spill prevention equipment (spill buckets), Inspections of overfill prevention equipment, and tests of release detection equipment has specific implementation dates based on your facility compliance tag number
- If your facility compliance tag number is even, then these must be completed within two years after the effective date of rule
- If you facility compliance tag number is odd, then then these must be completed within three years after the effective date of rule