The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established new requirements for states and tank owners to ensure that all underground storage tanks are held to the same standards and to enhance compliance with federal regulations. These new requirements included, among others:
- States must inspect every tank at least once every three years
- Every tank operator must be appropriately trained according to the individual’s level of responsibility
- The federal government, states and tribes must report the status of compliance of tanks within their jurisdiction, including those they own and operate
- Prohibits the delivery and/or receipt of product into an UST known to be non-compliant with UST regulations
To comply with these mandates, States require additional funding from the Federal Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized significant resources from the LUST Trust Fund to help pay for these reforms, but this did not automatically send money to the states.
NACS is fighting a history of reluctance on the part of congressional appropriators and the Obama administration to provide additional funds for the program. If this is not changed, the burden will fall upon the states to generate sufficient resources to pay for the reforms or turn their state programs over to the federal government.
EPA has recently initiated a regulatory review process to evaluate existing regulations. EPA has solicited input from a wide variety of interested stakeholders, including tank owners.
As states struggle to comply with the new federal mandates, absent additional federal funding they are likely to either abandon their programs, leaving retailers subject to federal enforcement, or they will impose additional fees on tank owners within their borders.
Regulatory review has the potential to make existing regulations more suitable for today’s marketplace by eliminating outdated requirements and update standards. However, the process can also result in additional compliance burdens imposed on tank owners.
NACS is pushing for increased appropriations and sensible rulemaking.
NACS has worked aggressively to increase the LUST funding level. With this sturdy lobbying effort from NACS, Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008 that included approximately $110 million for LUST. In March of 2009, President Obama signed into law a new omnibus bill, establishing the funding levels for the federal government through September 30, 2009. A one-time appropriation of $200 million for LUST clean-up activities was funded in the economic stimulus legislation passed in February of 2009. These additional funds are specifically for cleanup activities.
In October 2009, the Congress passed legislation providing $113.1 million for LUST in FY2010. This funding level represent an increase of nearly 60 percent since NACS began advocating for additional funding.
Given the economic conditions facing the country in 2010 and the announcement by President Obama that discretionary funding should remain static for FY2011, it is unlikely that this funding level will increase for next year.
In May 2008, EPA convened a meeting of representatives of the petroleum industry to announce the beginning of a regulatory review process of existing regulations. NACS joined other organizations in submitting consolidated comments to the process. Meanwhile, environmental organizations and state regulatory officials submitted their comments.
In November 2008, NACS joined other organizations representing UST owners and operators to present a selection of items that EPA should consider when revising the regulations. These suggestions were presented as “discussion items.” At that time, EPA had not received any written suggestions from other stakeholders. NACS and its allies informed EPA that our comments on the overall regulatory process would be amended once we learned what suggestions were made by other stakeholders. EPA assured the group that industry would have an opportunity to respond to other stakeholder comments.
EPA convened a meeting in March 2009 to review more than 200 suggestions filed by the stakeholder groups. EPA is currently assessing the suggestions to assemble a list of items it may consider addressing. At that point, the stakeholders will have additional opportunity to comment.
In June 2009, EPA distributed a brief summary of the items it is considering for amendment. NACS will be providing comments.
As of February 2010, there have been no further developments.