Court decree addresses underground tanks

DES MOINES – A Wisconsin-based petroleum company has been ordered to pay a $250,000 civil penalty for violating Iowa's underground storage tank regulations under the largest enforcement action of its kind in Iowa history.

Polk County District Judge Robert Hanson entered a consent decree against Bulk Petroleum Corp., a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Mequon, Wis. The judge approved Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller's request for a $250,000 civil penalty against the company that owns underground storage tanks at retail gasoline facilities in Iowa and other states.

The action brought by the Iowa Attorney General's Office affected gasoline facilities in Black Hawk, Des Moines, Jackson, Linn, Mahaska, Polk, Poweshiek, Scott and Story counties. The district court decree resolves the state's 2007 lawsuit against the company that involved 92 underground storage tanks with a capacity of 800,000 gallons of petroleum product at 28 retail gasoline stations located in 14 cities and nine counties in central and eastern Iowa. 

As part of the consent decree, Bulk Petroleum admitted to violations that included a failure to comply with underground storage tank requirements for protecting the steel tanks from corrosion, preventing and detecting petroleum leaks, maintaining adequate records, providing notice of leaks, and conducting assessments of the contamination, according to officials in the AG's office.

“UST regulations protect Iowans, our groundwater and our environment,” said Attorney General Tom Miller.  “We cannot allow companies to cut corners and put Iowans at risk.”

Under the court decree, Bulk Petroleum is permanently enjoined from further violations.  In addition, the company was ordered to provide underground storage tank regulatory training to supervisory personnel, adopt standard maintenance and record-keeping procedures, an conduct biannual inspections of tanks by state-certified inspectors as well as yearly inspections by Bulk Petroleum employees or contractors.

“This consent decree is an appropriate resolution for serious violations of the law,” Miller said.

Last year, Bulk Petroleum filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wisconsin's eastern district.  In May 2010, the bankruptcy court approved entry of the consent decree in the Polk County suit.  The civil penalty owed to the state is an unsecured debt with payment subject to bankruptcy proceedings.

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rod.boshart@gazcomm.com