[Shop-talk] Follow-up: New house / underground oil tank

[David Scheidt]

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 6:19 AM,  <eric at megageek.com> wrote:
> There was (and still is, I think) a exemption for gas stations that didn't
> do high volume. B I know there are a few even here in NJ that never had to
> pull their tanks (but they will soon.)
>

Not in federal law.  It was an absolute drop-dead date, publicized for
over a decade.  Anyone who couldn't comply with it was, well, less
than competent.  The law went into effect in 1988, and required new
tanks to meet the requirements, but allowed existing, non-failed tanks
to continue to be used without change until 22 Dec 1998.  At that
point, they had to be in compliance, or the operator faced fines.
(Which included economic benefit fines: what the EPA thought you made
by selling fuel from your illegal tanks, plus the interest you were
earning on the money you didn't spend to upgrade the tanks (even if
you didn't have the money), plus a substantial per tank fine, plus the
ability to increase the fines if they decided there were environmental
damages.)

There's no good reason not to have removed an underground oil tank
twenty years ago, and anyone who buys a property with such a tank is a
fool.  You are acquiring potentially unlimited liability based on the
actions of someone else, with no benefit.


--
David Scheidt
dmscheidt at gmail.com