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| Brownfields Weekly |
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November 8, 2001 THIS WEEK:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have a complete or in-progress brownfields site "success story," we'd like to hear about it. Send a brief synopsis of your project to: Editors@Brownfields.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- States Cannot Stop Fuel Deliveries to Leaky Storage Tanks WASHINGTON, D.C. (ENS) - In 27 states, owners of underground storage tanks can continue to accept fuel deliveries even if the tanks are leaking in violation of federal environmental law, according to the director of natural resources and environment for the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm. These states told GAO officials that they do not believe they have the authority to regulate fuel suppliers to make them stop their deliveries to gas stations whose fuel tanks might be leaking underground. The persistent problem with leaking underground fuel tanks was outlined for legislators by the GAO's John Stephenson, in testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Energy and Commerce. "EPA believes, and we agree," Stephenson said, "that the law governing the tank program does not give the Agency clear authority to regulate fuel suppliers and therefore prohibit their deliveries." "Almost all of the states said they need additional enforcement resources and 27 need additional authority," said Stephenson. "Many states are not inspecting all of their tanks to make sure that they do not leak, nor can they prohibit fuel from being delivered to problem tanks." Members of both an expert panel and an industry group, which the EPA convened to help it assess the tank program, saw the need for states to have more resources and more uniform and consistent enforcement across states, including the authority to prohibit fuel deliveries. They noted that the fear of being shut down would provide owners and operators a greater incentive to comply with federal requirements. The General Accounting Office conducted a survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine whether tanks are complying with program requirements, how the EPA and the states are inspecting tanks and enforcing the requirements, and whether upgraded tanks still leak. Stephenson was testifying at a subcommittee hearing into issues concerning the use of the gasoline oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in reformulated gasoline. The addition of MTBE to gasoline imposed on polluted urban areas by the federal Clean Air Act has been found to be a mixed blessing. The fuel burns cleaner keeping the air clearer, but if MTBE leaks from a storage tank into the surrounding soil or groundwater it can poison area drinking water. Stephenson told the sub-committee that MTBE "can pose health risks ranging from nausea to kidney or liver damage or even cancer." "Indeed, he warned, "leaks of MTBE - a fuel additive for reducing emissions and raising octane, but also a suspected carcinogen - have been found in drinking water sources and pose a very serious health risk and costly cleanup burden." In 1984, the Congress created the Underground Storage Tank program to protect the public from potential leaks from the then more than two million tanks located across the nation, mostly at gas stations. Under the program, the EPA required tank owners to install new leak detection equipment by the end of 1993 and new spill, overfill, and corrosion prevention equipment by the end of 1998. If these conditions were not met, owners had to close or remove their tanks. In general, the EPA has granted states the authority to implement the program with agency oversight and monitoring, or states operate their own program under state law with limited EPA oversight. EPA has provided states funding, about $187,000 per state, for doing so, Stephenson said. Congress created a trust fund in 1986 to help the EPA and the states cover tank cleanup costs that owners and operators could not afford or were reluctant to pay, Stephenson reminded the lawmakers. The fund is replenished partly through a $.001/gallon tax on gasoline and other fuels. At the end of fiscal year 2000, the fund had a balance of about $1.5 billion. Stephenson recommended that the uses to which the $1.5 billion could be put should be expanded to include inspection and enforcement. Based on its survey, the GAO estimates that nearly 617,000, or about 89 percent of the approximately 693,000 regulated tanks, had been upgraded with the federally required equipment by the end of fiscal year 2000. EPA data shows that about 70 percent of the total number of tanks that its regions regulate on tribal lands had also been upgraded. "With regard to the approximately 76,000 tanks that we estimated have not been upgraded, closed, or removed as required, 17 states and the three EPA regions we visited reported that they believed that most of these tanks were either empty or inactive," Stephenson said. Another five states reported that at least half of their non-upgraded tanks were still in use. In closing, he said flatly that the states and the EPA "cannot ensure that all regulated tanks have the required equipment to prevent health risks from fuel leaks, spills, and overfills or that tanks are safely operated and maintained." Stephenson recommends that Congress work with the states to address the remaining non-upgraded tanks, prioritizing those that pose the greatest risk. Better training support, minimum frequency for physical inspection of tanks and more funding for inspection and enforcement are what is needed, Stephenson said. "The inspectors in 11 states would each have to visit more than 300 facilities a year to cover all tanks at least once every three years, but EPA estimates that a qualified inspector can only visit at most 200 facilities a year," Stephenson disclosed. Officials in 40 states told the GAO that they would support a federal mandate requiring states to periodically inspect all tanks, in part because they expect that such a mandate would provide them needed leverage to obtain the requisite inspection staff and funding from their state legislatures. Cleanup Begins at Former Furniture Paint Stripping Facility SOUTHAMPTON, Massachusetts - Under an EPA order, the property owners of a 5-acre parcel in Southampton, hired an environmental contractor to remove hazardous substances found at the site. The property had been used from the early 1970s to 1987 for furniture paint stripping operations under the name Mr. Stripper. The site consists of a wood storage barn and a residence, and is located in a residential neighborhood. EPA identified six abandoned waste storage drums in poor condition. Also on site are several small containers of furniture stripping products. Samples revealed the presence of methylene chloride, pentachlorophenol, and toluene, posing a risk to the environment should the materials leak. EPA will monitor the removal activities at the site which begin next week. Workers at the site will be dressed in impermeable, white tyvek suits to protect themselves from spills or leaks while removing the drums and containers from the site. All hazardous substances and wastes will be transported to an disposed at licensed facility. Work should be complete within two weeks.
Brownfields and the Future of New York Real Estate: Development Projects
in New York The focus of this one-day event will be brownfield policy issues in New York State and case studies of redevelopment projects, large, small and community, in New York. Speakers at the event will include Barry Hersh, co-moderator and Associate Director of the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute, Baruch College; David Freeman, Paul Hastings, Janofsky & Walker; Jody Kass, Pocantico Coalition for New York Brownfields Legislation; Jon Salony, J.P. Morgan Chase; Marianne Koval, Brooklyn Bridge Park Coaltion; Joe Cellura, AIG, and Larry Schnapf, Esq., of the Schnapf Environmental Law Center. Other invited speakers will be on hand to represent the New York State DEC, the Ford Foundation, EPA Region 2, New York City Economic Development office and the Mayor's Office of Environmental Management. For more information and to
register, contact: There will also be a companion Upstate Event, co-sponsored with SUNY Brownfields Center, Utica, on Wednesday, December 5 at the Radisson Hotel in Utica, New York. For registration information
contact: New Report Shows Recycled Land Use Has More than Doubled EXTON, Pennsylvania - More land is being recycled, more people appear comfortable living near or on it and those involved are exercising a lot of creativity in property redevelopment to make it all happen, according to the second annual ECS Land Reuse Report released this week. According to this year's report, more than 112,000 acres or 175 square miles of land are in the process of being recycled. In comparison to last year's land reuse report, which showed 47,000 acres being redeveloped, this report analyzes the redevelopment activity on more than twice as much land. The ECS Land Reuse Report provides a "snapshot" of national and regional trends in the reuse of contaminated land through a media coverage review about these activities. Read the Land Reuse Report
executive summary and report at: England's
Innovative Brownfields Project Nears Completion Four and a half miles to the West of Newcastle, England's largest brownfields reclamation project is expected to be completed in 2002. The formerly contaminated site of a power plant and graphite works, the project, Newburn Riverside, will be a new industrial park and office space on the Tyne River banks, at the western edge of Newcastle city. Situated 5 miles from Newcastle International Airport, Newburn Riverside is considered the most important and prestigious brownfields redevelopment project in the region. The 92 hectare site has benefited from UK$46 million in reclamation and infrastructure financing. Once complete, the Newburn Riverside industrial park will have the capacity for 180,000 square meters of floorspace. Newburn Riverside has also received more than UK$7 million worth of European funding. The Newcastle City Council secured UK$5.2 million worth of Capital Challenge funds towards the cost of building highway access to the site, as well as a new bridge over Lemington Gut. The lead consultant on the brownfields project, WSP Group in Newcastle is working with One NorthEast and contractors Taylor Woodrow and Webfell on an innovative partnering contract -- where all savings and losses during the contract period are shared. Newburn Riverside is projected to create over 5,000 jobs and UK$116 million worth of investment to the city of Newcastle. For more information on the
Newburn Riverside project, please visit: For more information on brownfields
projects and policy in the U.K. and Europe, visit our international partner,
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