ABSTRACT
Leaking underground storage tanks (LUSTs) are recognized as a major environ-mental problem, which has prompted federal and state legislators to create stan-dards for the construction, monitoring, and removal of the tanks.1 Over one million UST systems in the U.S. contain petroleum or hazardous substances regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.2 Many of these USTs have leaked or are currently leaking. The EPA has reported, as of October 1996 almost 318,000 UST releases have been confirmed. The EPA also estimates that the total number of confirmed releases could reach 400,000 in the next few years.3 Contamination occurs from releases due to careless maintenance and poor filling practices.4 After a leak, USTs contaminate soil, ground water supplies, and endanger human health. As result, in 1984 Subtitle I was added to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Since then a tremendous amount of resources have been used to clean up the contamination from USTs. 5
and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984, which fall under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Although the regulations of USTs are attached to RCRA, it is important to note that the regulations fall into a separate section known as Subtitle I. 4
More information is available at the folllowing sites: https://www.epa.gov/reg5oopa/defs/html/cerclea.htm https://www.epa.gov/osw https://wwwclay.net:80 https://www.mlb.com/env.htm https://www.smallbiz-enviroweb.org/lawepalinks.asp
Subtitle I of RCRA requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a comprehensive regulatory program for tanks storing petroleum or certain haz-
ardous substances. These substances do not include other hazardous substances, which are regulated in different sections of RCRA.8 The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Section 101(14), contains a list of hundreds of substances designated as “hazardous.” These hazardous substances are the same substances that can be stored in USTs, except for those that are listed as hazardous wastes under RCRA Subtitle C. More information is available through the EPA’s RCRA/Superfund hotline 1-800-424-9346.
