Penalty Enforcement Against Federal Facilities for Underground Storage Tank Violations

The December 22, 1998 deadline requiring owners of underground storage tanks (USTs) installed before 1985 to comply with the upgrade requirements in Subchapter IX of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) recently passed. As a result, UST enforcement actions should dramatically increase this year. Prior to the deadline, only new USTs installed beginning in 1985 faced Subchapter IX corrosion protection and spill/overflow prevention requirements. The large number of federal facilities tanks involved makes potential federal penalties a significant issue. According to information submitted by the federal agencies to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Fall, federal facilities contain over 13,000 active USTs.3 State attempts at penalty enforcement actions for UST new tank violations by federal facilities have been rare, but the pace of UST enforcement may begin to increase in light of the December deadline's passing.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Penalty Enforcement Against Federal Facilities for Underground Storage Tank Violations', published 1999 under ISBN 9781423541400 and ISBN 1423541405.