UST owners and operators are facing a new set of requirements issued by the EPA. According to the EPA, the new UST regulations shift the focus from the design, construction, and installation of equipment; release detection; and cleanup of releases to the proper maintenance of existing equipment and the need for operator training.
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The Agency notes that the existing UST program has helped reduce the number of spills from tanks. But spills are still occurring, and in recent years, these have been more commonly traced to piping, overfills associated with deliveries, and dispensing. For example, the 1988 regulations required spill prevention equipment to capture drips and spills when the delivery hose is disconnected from the fill pipe; but the regs did not require periodic testing of that equipment.
Moreover, EPA’s data show that release detection equipment is detecting only approximately 50 percent of the releases they are designed to detect. These problems are largely due to improper operation and maintenance, which can be attributed to the lack of timely inspections and testing and poor or nonexistent operator training. Read more.