EPA tank leak numbers may not be all they seem, says state fund chief

摘要

EPA this month starts reviewing its tank rules to see if it should update them. It has been 20 years since the agency introduced regulations to protect against leaks and spills and officials continue to express concern about the quality and effectiveness of the equipment marketers install. There are fears among some jobbers that a mandate for doubled-walled tanks and piping may be on the horizon (OE 03/31/08). But how good is the data on which EPA will make decisions? Not very, when it comes to the number of tank system leaks, says Carol Eighmey, executive director of Missouri's state tank fund. The problem is neither EPA nor anyone else knows whether the number of leaks is declining because in most states, a release from an operating tank system is recorded and reported in exactly the same way as newly discovered pollution on a corner site that hasn't served as a gasoline station for 40 years or more.