High Risk Underground Storage Tanks AB 1491 (CUNNEEN)

Amended: 6/30/97
Sponsor: SWRCB
Release Date: July, 1997
Contact: Di Richardson, Legislative Director at (916) 322-7315 or Tom Jones, Chief, Office of Legislation and Public Affairs, State Water Resources Control Board, (916) 657-1247

SUMMARY:

This bill would prohibit, beginning in 1999, the delivery of petroleum to underground storage tanks (UST) that violate state and federal laws because they have not been upgraded or replaced.

BACKGROUND:

The State Water Board oversees the UST program in California. Local agencies, usually cities and counties, regulate approximately 97,000 USTs. Most of these USTs contain petroleum and are found at service stations and convenience stores. Moreover, trucking and transportation companies, hospitals, marinas, airports and federal, state and local agencies use USTs to service vehicle fleets.

Most leaks occur from high risk USTs. High risk USTs include bare steel USTs without corrosion protection, interior lining, spill and overfill prevention devices and pipeline leak detectors. To protect ground water, State and federal law requires UST owners and operators to replace or upgrade all high risk petroleum USTs by December 22, 1998. However, available information suggests that as of mid-1996 only about 60 percent of all high risk USTs have been upgraded or replaced.

State and federal law penalizes those that do not upgrade or replace their high risk UST. Under State law, an owner or operator may be fined between $500 and $5,000 per day per UST for operating a high risk UST after the deadline and federal law allows for fines of up to $10,000 per day per UST. The owner or operator's insurance carrier may cancel their coverage and the local agency may revoke their operating permit. Lastly, because the owner will be out of compliance with UST laws, their claim to the UST Cleanup Fund for a grant to clean up a petroleum leak may be denied.

PROBLEM:

State and federal requirements to upgrade or replace USTs by December 1998 should significantly reduce the number of leaking USTs. However, currently California does not have a method to prevent the continued use of USTs that have not been upgraded or replaced.

ANALYSIS:

This bill would:

• Prohibit the delivery of petroleum to USTs that violate state and federal laws because they have not been upgraded or replaced. The ban would not take effect until January 1, 1999, even if it is enacted this year. Owners and operators have known about the upgrade deadline for over eight years because the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) enacted the upgrade requirement in 1988.
• Require the State Water Board to notify all petroleum deliverers where they can obtain a list of UST facilities that have been issued an upgrade compliance certificate by December 22, 1998.
• Require local agencies to maintain a list of UST facilities that have been issued an upgrade compliance certificate and provide the information to anyone requesting it.
• Require local agencies to provide owners and operators with an easy-to-identify certificate verifying that a facility has upgraded their USTs.
• Require the State Water Resources Control Board to determine the color, size and content of the upgrade compliance certificate.
• Require the owner to place the certificate where it could easily be seen by anyone refilling the UST.

Allow compliance to be verified in writing. This bill states that the display of an upgrade compliance certificate at the facility or written verification would be considered evidence of compliance. UST owners or operators could either fax or mail a copy of their valid upgrade compliance certificate to the deliverer.

Would eliminate unnecessary historical deadlines. The deleted section only refers to historical deadlines and was no longer necessary.

Make the delivery ban consistent with state law. The phrase "or on the date specified in Section 280.21 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, whichever is later" was deleted. Under California law and federal regulations, UST owners and operators must upgrade their USTs by December 22, 1998. The phrase in this bill would delay the ban on delivery to USTs that have not been upgraded if the US EPA delays the December 22, 1998 deadline. However, the deadline is now less than 18 months away and US EPA has not given any indication it will change the ten-year-old deadline. Furthermore, if US EPA, for some reason, does change the deadline, California UST owners and operators would still have to meet the December 22, 1998 date because it is mandated by state law. The phrase was deleted so that AB 1491 would be consistent with state law and would encourage owners and operators to upgrade their USTs and prevent groundwater pollution.