20 years in, underground tank cleanup continues

State regulators and gas station operators are looking to bury their differences and resolve lingering issues over the cleanup of leaky underground tanks before funding dries up in 2016.

Proponents and critics agree the federally mandated effort started 20 years ago has been one of Iowa's most successful environmental programs. Still, the roughly 1,400 sites - including about 750 considered high risk - that still need cleaning up or monitoring are among the most challenging and expensive to address.

“I'm optimistic that we're going to come up with some strategies that will get significant numbers of those sites moved more quickly. The devil's always in the details,” said Tim Hall, bureau chief for the state Department of Natural Resources' geological and water survey bureau.

At issue is the need to protect people, water supplies and soil from contamination caused by petroleum tanks, primarily at gas stations, commercial sites and some school properties. Property owners who have repaired, replaced, removed or taken other action to address faulty underground storage containers want closure, though.

Site inspectors look for evidence of soil or water pollution, defective pipes or water lines, the presence of vapors that could get into buildings or sewers. Public health officials warn that people who breathe or ingest high concentrations of chemicals, such as benzene, could be at greater risk for cancer, leukemia or other health issues.

A 1-cent-per-gallon state gas tax that funds the prevention, monitoring and cleanup effort ends in June 2016. So DNR officials, tank owners and petroleum marketers, ground water professionals and the Underground Storage Tank Board and its staff are laying plans for reducing the number of remaining contaminated sites while there are still adequate resources to deal with it.

To date, nearly $250 million has been spent for testing and remediation of thousands of contaminated sites - many detected before Oct. 26, 1990, said Scott Scheidel, the fund administrator.

The impetus for Iowa's program was a federal requirement that states clean up leaky underground tanks, many of them abandoned, that could threaten water supplies and pose risks of explosion or exposure to harmful fumes.

“It used to be one of the most controversial issues that we had to deal with, because it had extreme economic impacts on communities that had gas stations or a former gas station on every corner,” said Chuck Gipp, a former state representative from Decorah who worked on the environmental issue. “The fact that it's considered to be non-controversial now would indicate to me that the program works.”

A 1988 federal law imposed technical and financial responsibility upon owners and operators of underground storage tanks. Private insurance was unattainable at that time, so Iowa responded with a 1989 act that created a fund and oversight board to help owners and operators comply with EPA standards.

“At the time that we did it, it was the largest public works expenditure in the history of the state,” said Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, who previously served in the House and worked extensively helping establish Iowa's underground tank legislation.

Leaks detected before the October 1990 threshold were eligible for help from the state fund, which was bolstered by the gas tax, bonding authority and multimillion-dollar settlements with major oil companies that were responsible for a number of leaking tanks.

State lawmakers required underground-tank owners to carry liability insurance, to equip tanks with leak-guard systems and to report tank failures. Officials note that fuel releases often occur when tanks are being filled.

Susan Heathcote of the Iowa Environmental Council said the initial scope of the problem exceeded expectations, and people were surprised by the amount of time that it took to get sites cleaned up and into “no further action” status.

A positive outgrowth of the tank legislation was that it modernized Iowa's fuel-delivery system, Heathcote said. A downside, however, was that a number of small, independent service-stations closed in the face of increased financial and regulatory requirements.

“It was kind of sad to see how it affected small businesses that were caught up in this, but I do think that the environmental concerns were real. We had to address it. We've done the right thing,” she said.

Jeff Hove, vice president of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa, said the program has been effective but the time has come to end monitoring and regulation of sites that are low risk or not in need of further action.

He said he was not optimistic that a new look at stalemate issues would dramatically reduce the backlog of unresolved cases without legislative impetus for change.

“We can talk until we're blue in the face and paint rosy pictures and everybody's on the bandwagon, but as soon as it leaves the building, people are jumping off and it never gets done,” he said.