The costs of complying with the new rule on underground storage tanks (USTs) won't be nearly as onerous for service stations and others in the aftermarket sector as once thought. The Environmental Protection Agency eased some of the mandates it had proposed back in late 2011 when it published a final rule in mid-July.
Five years in the making, the rule adds maintenance and inspection requirements to equipment requirements for USTs first established in 1988.
USTs holding petroleum and motor oil are ubiquitous in the automotive service station sector. The changes the EPA made to the final rule resulted in much lower compliance costs for service stations, which account for about 360,000 of the 560,000 tanks that exist, according to Bob Renkes, executive VP & general counsel, Petroleum Equipment Institute.
The Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA) estimated the proposed rule would have cost upwards of $6,000 per site. Mark Morgan, regulatory counsel to the PMAA, says the burden is now estimated to be $2,377 per site.
Kirk McCauley, director of member relations and government affairs WMDA Service Station & Automotive Repair Association, says the final rule is "not as bad as I expected." His group had a number of problems with the proposed rule after it was published in 2011. "Not having to check containment sumps monthly will save a lot of backs; some covers are in the 200 pound class," he notes. They will have to be visually checked once a year.
"And the elimination of interstitial space testing on storage tanks' underground piping and sumps is the right decision," adds McCauley. That would have been a major problem and cost for service stations with old tanks with secondary containment. The owners would have had to break through concrete or asphalt to get to the interstitial opening to do the test.
"A lot of what is in this regulation is already standard practice. Overall I think it will cause some heartburn but not as bad as the industry was expecting," notes McCauley.
But the PMAA's Morgan adds, "However, we believe that testing requirements for sumps under the final rule would be very costly and burdensome. We are seeking clarification from EPA and will then reassess."
The initial rule was established in 1988. It set standards for spill, overfill, corrosion protection and release detection. But there are still approximately 6,000 releases each year. The EPA says lack of proper operation and maintenance of UST systems is the main cause of new releases. For example, EPA required spill prevention equipment to capture drips and spills when the delivery hose is disconnected from the fill pipe, but did not require periodic testing of that equipment.
The final rule doesn't require anyone to install new equipment, or for those buying new USTs to purchase tanks with newer, more expensive features. The rule is all about inspecting and testing equipment that was specified in the 1988 rule. The implementation date for most of the new requirements is three years hence.
The inspection requirements are not expected to be onerous. Some of the testing requirements could be costly, though, especially for service stations and gasoline retail locations that don't have the expertise to do the testing. They will hire outside contractors, according to Wayne Geyer, executive VP, the Steel Tank Institute.
The new testing requirements include testing of spill prevention equipment (using vacuum, pressure, or liquid methods) every three years unless the equipment is double-wall spill prevention equipment and both walls are periodically monitored for integrity. Integrity monitoring must be performed at least once every 30 days. The rule includes a three-year testing requirement for containment sumps used for interstitial monitoring of piping unless the containment sumps are double wall and the integrity of the walls is periodically monitored. Integrity monitoring must be performed at least once every 30 days.
The rule also requires annual operation and maintenance tests on electronic and mechanical components of release detection equipment to ensure they are operating properly. This includes automatic tank gauge systems and other controllers, probes and sensors, automatic line leak detectors, vacuum pumps and pressure gauges, and handheld electronic sampling equipment associated with vapor and groundwater monitoring.
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