 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(June 2015) |
An underground storage tank (UST) is, according to United States federal regulations, a storage tank, including any underground piping connected to the tank, that has at least 10 percent of its volume underground.
"Underground storage tank" or "UST" means any one or combination of tanks including connected underground pipes that is used to contain regulated substances, and the volume of which including the volume of underground pipes is 10 percent or more beneath the surface of the ground. [1] This does not include, among other things, any farm or residential tank of 1,100 gallons or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes, tanks for storing heating oil for consumption on the premises, or septic tanks.
USTs are regulated in the United States by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to prevent the leaking of petroleum or other hazardous substances and the resulting contamination of groundwater and soil. [2] In 1984, U.S. Congress amended the Resource Conservation Recovery Act to include Subtitle I: Underground Storage Tanks, calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the tanks. In 1985, when it was launched, there were more than 2 million tanks in the country and more than 750,000 owners and operators. The program was given 90 staff to oversee this responsibility. [3] In September 1988, the EPA published initial underground storage tank regulations, including a 10-year phase-in period that required all operators to upgrade their USTs with spill prevention and leak detection equipment. [4]
For USTs in service in the United States, the EPA and states collectively require tank operators to take financial responsibility for any releases or leaks associated with the operation of those below ground tanks. As a condition to keep a tank in operation a demonstrated ability to pay for any release must be shown via UST insurance, a bond, or some other ability to pay. [5]
EPA updated UST and state program approval regulations in 2015, the first major changes since 1988. [6] The revisions increase the emphasis on properly operating and maintaining UST equipment. The revisions will help prevent and detect UST releases, which are a leading source of groundwater contamination. The revisions will also help ensure all USTs in the United States, including those in Indian country, meet the same minimum standards. The changes established federal requirements that are similar to key portions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In addition, EPA added new operation and maintenance requirements and addressed UST systems deferred in the 1988 UST regulation. The changes:
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Underground storage tanks fall into four different types:
Underground storage tanks for water are traditionally called cisterns and are usually constructed from bricks and mortar or concrete.
Petroleum USTs are used throughout North America at automobile filling stations and by the US military. Many have leaked, allowing petroleum to contaminate the soil and groundwater and enter as vapor into buildings, ending up as brownfields or Superfund sites.[ citation needed ] Many USTs installed before 1980 consisted of bare steel pipes, which corrode over time.[ citation needed ] Faulty installation can also cause structural failure of the tank or piping, causing leaks. [7]
The 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) required EPA to develop regulations for the underground storage of motor fuels to minimize and prevent environmental damage, by mandating owners and operators of UST systems to verify, maintain, and clean up sites damaged by petroleum contamination. [8]
In December 1988, EPA regulations asking owners to locate, remove, upgrade, or replace underground storage tanks became effective. Each state was given authority to establish such a program within its own jurisdiction, to compensate owners for the cleanup of underground petroleum leaks, to set standards and licensing for installers, and to register and inspect underground tanks.[ citation needed ]
Most upgrades to USTs consisted [ when? ] of the installation of corrosion control (cathodic protection, interior lining, or a combination of cathodic protection and interior lining), overfill protection (to prevent overfills of the tank during tank filling operations), spill containment (to catch spills when filling), and leak detection for both the tank and piping.[ citation needed ]
Many USTs were removed without replacement during the 10-year program. Many thousands of old underground tanks were replaced with newer tanks made of corrosion resistant materials (such as fiberglass, steel clad with a thick FRP shell, and well-coated steel with galvanic anodes) and others constructed as double walled tanks to form an interstice between two tank walls (a tank within a tank) which allowed for the detection of leaks from the inner or outer tank wall through monitoring of the interstice using vacuum, pressure or a liquid sensor probe. Piping was replaced during the same period with much of the new piping being double-wall construction and made of fiberglass or plastic materials.[ citation needed ]
Tank monitoring systems capable of detecting small leaks (must be capable of detecting a 0.1 gallons-per-hour with a probability of detection of 95% or greater and a probability of false alarm of 5% or less) were installed and other methods were adopted to alert the tank operator of leaks and potential leaks.[ citation needed ]
U.S. regulations required that UST cathodic protection systems be tested by a cathodic protection expert (minimum every three years) and that systems be monitored to ensure continued compliant operation. [9]
Some industrial owners, who previously stored fuel in underground tanks, switched to above-ground tanks to avoid environmental regulations that require monitoring of fuel storage. Many states, however, do not permit above-ground storage of motor fuel for resale to the public.
The EPA Underground Storage Tank Program is considered to have been very successful.[ according to whom? ] The national inventory of underground tanks has been reduced by more than half, and most of the rest have been replaced or upgraded to much safer standards.[ citation needed ] Of the approximately one million underground storage tanks sites in the United States as of 2008, most of which handled some type of fuel, an estimated 500,000 have had leaks. [10] As of 2009 [update] , there were approximately 600,000 active USTs at 223,000 sites subject to federal regulation. [11] In 2012, EPA published how to screen buildings vulnerable to petroleum vapor intrusion, [12] and in June 2015, U.S. EPA finally released its "Technical Guide for Assessing and Mitigating the Vapor Intrusion Pathway from Subsurface Vapor Sources to Indoor Air" and "Technical Guide For Addressing Petroleum Vapor Intrusion At Leaking Underground Storage Tank Sites" [13]
Similarly to the US, the UK defines an underground tank as having 10% of its combined potential volume below the ground. [14]
The requirements set by The Environment Agency for Decommissioning an underground tank apply to all underground storage tanks and not just those used for the storage of fuels. [15] They give extensive guidance in The Blue Book and PETEL 65/34. The Environment Agency states that any tank no longer in use should be immediately decommissioned. This process includes both the closing and removal of a UST system (the tank and any ancillaries connected to it) as a whole and the replacing of individual tanks or lengths of pipe. Regardless of whether the decommissioning of the tank is permanent or temporary; it must be ensured that the tank and all components don't cause pollution. This is true of the removal and of any filling of the tank with inert material.
The Decommissioning of a tank can be via removal from the ground after any volatile gas or liquid has been removed. This is called bottoming and degassing the tank. The other option involved filling the tank with either:
If any plan is made to leave the tank on site, the owner will be responsible for keeping record of:
If any tanks and their pipework have been deemed unsuitable for petroleum spirits then they shouldn't be used for the storage of any hydrocarbon based products without first checking their integrity.
A filling station is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline and diesel fuel.
Cathodic protection is a technique used to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell. A simple method of protection connects the metal to be protected to a more easily corroded "sacrificial metal" to act as the anode. The sacrificial metal then corrodes instead of the protected metal. For structures such as long pipelines, where passive galvanic cathodic protection is not adequate, an external DC electrical power source is used to provide sufficient current.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.
Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; it is a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers use for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often abbreviated as HHO.
A corrosion inhibitor or anti-corrosive is a chemical compound added to a liquid or gas to decrease the corrosion rate of a metal that comes into contact with the fluid. The effectiveness of a corrosion inhibitor depends on fluid composition and dynamics. Corrosion inhibitors are common in industry, and also found in over-the-counter products, typically in spray form in combination with a lubricant and sometimes a penetrating oil. They may be added to water to prevent leaching of lead or copper from pipes.
The Inter-Tribal Environmental Council (ITEC) was set up in 1992 to protect the health of Native Americans, their natural resources, and environment. To accomplish this ITEC provides technical support, training and environmental services in a variety of disciplines. Currently, there are over forty ITEC member tribes in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. The ITEC is an example of the Native American Pan-Indian Organizations and Efforts.
The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility is a military fuel storage facility in Hawaii. Operated by the United States Navy, Red Hill supports U.S. military operations in the Pacific.
Storage tanks are containers that hold liquids or compressed gases. The term can be used for reservoirs, and for manufactured containers. The usage of the word "tank" for reservoirs is uncommon in American English but is moderately common in British English. In other countries, the term tends to refer only to artificial containers. In the U.S., storage tanks operate under no pressure, distinguishing them from pressure vessels.
The Formosa Plastics propylene explosion was a propylene release and explosion that occurred on October 6, 2005, in the Olefins II Unit at the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort, Texas, United States. The subsequent fire burned for five days.
An onboardrefueling vapor recovery system (ORVR) is a vehicle fuel vapor emission control system that captures volatile organic compounds (VOC, potentially harmful vapors) during refueling. There are two types of vehicle fuel vapor emission control systems: the ORVR, and the Stage II vapor recovery system. Without either of these two systems, fuel vapors trapped inside gas tanks would be released into the atmosphere, each time refueling of the vehicle occurred. However, an ORVR system is able to retain those emissions, delivering them to the vehicle's activated carbon-filled canister and then to dispose of those vapors by adding them to the engine's inlet manifold and the stream of fuel supplying the engine, during normal operation. The goal behind implementing the ORVR system throughout the U.S. is to eventually make the Stage II systems obsolete.
Vapor intrusion (VI) is the process by which chemicals, usually volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in soil or groundwater migrate to indoor air above or around a contaminated site. The process of VI has been studied more recently in relation to its effects on humans and the environment, and is becoming more regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Title 40 is a part of the United States Code of Federal Regulations. Title 40 arranges mainly environmental regulations that were promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), based on the provisions of United States laws. Parts of the regulation may be updated annually on July 1.
Corrosion engineering is an engineering specialty that applies scientific, technical, engineering skills, and knowledge of natural laws and physical resources to design and implement materials, structures, devices, systems, and procedures to manage corrosion. From a holistic perspective, corrosion is the phenomenon of metals returning to the state they are found in nature. The driving force that causes metals to corrode is a consequence of their temporary existence in metallic form. To produce metals starting from naturally occurring minerals and ores, it is necessary to provide a certain amount of energy, e.g. Iron ore in a blast furnace. It is therefore thermodynamically inevitable that these metals when exposed to various environments would revert to their state found in nature. Corrosion and corrosion engineering thus involves a study of chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, electrochemistry and materials science.
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is a state government agency responsible for "protecting and restoring the environment of the state of New Mexico to foster a healthy and prosperous New Mexico for present and future generations," according to its mission statement. This organization believes that New Mexicans must have fair treatment and meaningful opportunities for involvement in the development, implementation and enforcement in several laws. These include but are not limited to environmental laws and regulations regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, gender, disability, religious or political affiliation, income or educational level. This department is also commitment to equity in the communities they serve guided by the non-discrimination and environmental justice programs. It was established in the Department of the Environment Act (40th Legislature), enacted July 1, 1991, and is a cabinet-level department to oversee the state's environmental laws. Before its creation, these environmental duties were shared by the New Mexico Health Department’s Environmental Protection Division and other government agencies. The department has around 650 employees, and covers such areas as environmental health and protection, air quality, occupational health and safety, radiation control, water management and petroleum storage tank management. New Mexico is committed to the protection of public health.
A double-walled pipe is a secondary contained piping system. It is a pipe within a pipe, or encased in an outer covering, with an annulus between the two diameters. The inner pipe is the primary or carrier pipe and the outer pipe is called the secondary or containment pipe. The great majority of double-walled piping applications involve wastewater, groundwater, and process safety.
The Guam Environmental Protection Agency is a government agency of the United States territory of Guam.
A petroleum technician is a professional that has two specializations within itself: petroleum equipment installer and petroleum service technician. Work performed within this profession revolves around the petroleum industry, and more specifically with fuel filling and service stations, as well as underground fuel tanks.
There are many exemptions for fracking under United States federal law: the oil and gas industries are exempt or excluded from certain sections of a number of the major federal environmental laws. These laws range from protecting clean water and air, to preventing the release of toxic substances and chemicals into the environment: the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund.
Water in Arkansas is an important issue encompassing the conservation, protection, management, distribution and use of the water resource in the state. Arkansas contains a mixture of groundwater and surface water, with a variety of state and federal agencies responsible for the regulation of the water resource. In accordance with agency rules, state, and federal law, the state's water treatment facilities utilize engineering, chemistry, science and technology to treat raw water from the environment to potable water standards and distribute it through water mains to homes, farms, business and industrial customers. Following use, wastewater is collected in collection and conveyance systems, decentralized sewer systems or septic tanks and treated in accordance with regulations at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) before being discharged to the environment.
Tank leak detection is implemented to alert the operator to a suspected release from any part of a storage tank system, what enables to prevent from soil contamination and loss of product.
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