Corrective action process for petroleum USTs an EPA regional perspective
- Environmental Protection Agency, Philadelphia, PA (USA)
During the 1950's and 1960's the era of suburban development, the interstate highway system was constructed, new factories were built and housing developments appeared. There was a sharp increase in the number of underground storage tanks (UST) installed into the suburban area. Virtually all the tanks installed in this period were unprotected carbon steel, and they are now 15 to 35 years old. A recent EPA national survey suggested that at least 10 percent of the nation's gasoline service stations have leaked or are leaking. Therefore, releases of petroleum to groundwater could exist at tens of thousands of retail gasoline sites nationally. Some may have threatened drinking water supplies. EPA has developed a program to provide for immediate and long-term UST corrective actions to protect human health and environment. In the first part of the paper a general overview on the EPA corrective action process, for petroleum USTs is presented. Some states have begun corrective action work under the Trust Fund in 1987. When the federal regulations become effective in 1988, the corrective action (CA) efforts under the Trust Fund are expected to increase substantially with a peak level of activities occurring in 1989. The principal implementors of the UST CA programs will be state and local governments, with EPA in the role of franchiser for the program which is in many respects a new role for EPA. Due to the enormous size of the regulated community, EPA will be using limited federal staff to support larger state and local programs rather than developing a complete federal program prior to state involvement. Part of this approach is to allow the states to set cleanup standards on a site by site basis. Some regional perspectives on a site-specific approach to the setting of cleanup target levels for correction action of petroleum UST releases eyed to a site-specific exposure and risk assessment are described.
- OSTI ID:
- 7180348
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-880679--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
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022000 -- Petroleum-- Transport
Handling
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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290300 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ALLOYS
CARBON STEELS
CONTAINERS
DRINKING WATER
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
GROUND WATER
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
LEAKS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATIONAL PROGRAM PLANS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
POLLUTION
REGULATIONS
REMEDIAL ACTION
RISK ASSESSMENT
SAFETY
STEELS
STORAGE
TANKS
UNDERGROUND STORAGE
US EPA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER
WATER POLLUTION