Lawmakers who requested the EPA to extend the compliance deadline for the testing of sumps, spill buckets and overfill prevention devices until October 2024 received word from the EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) that their request was respectfully denied.
Click
here
to read the House letter and
here
to read the Senate letter.
PMAA Regulatory Counsel has drafted a
regulatory report
on what that means for the states with program approval and the states without program approval. While the EPA won’t extend the compliance deadline, they have agreed to delay its enforcement in the event there is a shortage of contractors or equipment. The EPA said enforcement discretion would be given to those tank owners showing a “good faith effort” to comply by the deadline but are unable due to equipment or contractor shortage. Evidence of a good faith effort would be having a contract for compliance work in place by the October 13, 2018 deadline. It is important to understand that the October 13, 2018 deadline only applies in some states. Most states adopted a compliance deadline after October 13, 2018. The EPA’s UST regulations allow states to adopt the October 13, 2018 federal compliance deadline or establish their own deadline any time thereafter, but no later than October 13, 2021.
PMAA will continue to work with the EPA and industry standard groups to develop guidance that offers additional compliance flexibility to states that choose to adopt them.
Keep in mind that the EPA’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) issued guidance for alternative low-level hydrostatic testing for UST containment sumps used as secondary containment for piping that PMAA pushed earlier this year. The guidance helps state UST program regulators implement the EPA’s 2015 underground storage tank regulatory amendments requiring periodic testing and inspection. PMAA developed this test as an inexpensive alternative to the EPA’s hydrostatic test method for containment sumps which requires costly high-level liquid testing. Publication of the EPA guidance is important because it clears the way for PMAA’s alternative test method to be approved for use by state UST program regulators.
Lowered Compliance Costs
The PMAA alternative test method eliminates the need to fill containment sumps with water to within four inches
above
the highest penetration point in the sump wall to test for integrity, as required under the EPA approved test method. Instead, PMAA’s alternative test method only requires filling the sump to a level sufficient to active an alarm/shutdown sensor mounted
below
penetration points in the sump wall. Integrity testing containment sumps in this way saves tank owners thousands of dollars in test preparation and compliance costs necessary to make penetration points liquid tight under the EPA test procedure. The PMAA alternative test method also significantly lowers hazardous waste water disposal costs by reducing the volume of water required for testing by more than two-thirds.
State Approval of PMAA Alternative Test Method
The PMAA alternative test procedure automatically applies to the 11 states without state UST program approval where federal EPA regulations apply instead: New York, New Jersey, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Arizona and Alaska. In addition, the PMAA alternative containment sump test will likely qualify as an “alternative test procedure” under provisions in state regulations. These states typically follow EPA UST program guidance which now includes PMAA’s alternative test procedure. Some states of these states have already adopted the alternative test, others are expected to do so soon. Marketers in the 38 states with UST program approval should contact their state UST regulators to determine whether the alternative test method is available yet for use.
Test Procedure Guidance and Compliance Forms
- Click here for EPA Low Liquid Level Containment Sump Test Procedures.
- Click here for EPA Low Liquid Level Containment Sump Test Compliance Form.
- Click here for a list of State UST program contacts.
