New Changes Coming to the Underground Storage Tank Laws

The regulated community will soon see some changes to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's ("IDEM") underground storage tank laws. One of those changes concerns public notification of any spill, release or overfill event that is reportable to IDEM. If an owner or operator has a reportable event, i.e. the release of regulated substance from the underground storage tank site or the surrounding area or a spill or overfill of petroleum in excess of 25 gallons, it already must report the matter to IDEM within 24 hours. The new law requires that once that report is made, IDEM must provide notification to the county health officer in each county affected within 7 days. The county health officer then has an additional 7 days to publish notice of the release, spill or overfill in a newspaper of general circulation in the county and to provide any other notice the county health officer considers necessary or appropriate. This change to the notification requirements takes effect July 1, 2007.

The underground storage tank law now also requires that after July 1, 2007, any newly installed or replaced underground storage tank system piping must meet secondary containment requirements, which are in the process of being developed. The law also provides that the storage of ethanol blend petroleum products in underground storage tanks is considered petroleum stored in underground storage tanks and must be done in a manner to ensure the compatibility of the tank with the product being stored. IDEM has published a guidance document to assist owners and operators of underground storage tanks storing ethanol blend fuel in determining whether the tank system is suitable for such use. The guidance can be found at http://www.in.gov/idem/catalog/guidance/la-072-gg.pdf.

IDEM is also undertaking other activities in order to satisfy federal requirements regarding the administration of its underground storage tank program. In order to comply with federal law, IDEM must perform inspections at all underground storage tank facilities with tanks that have not had an inspection since 1998 and were installed prior to that date. This round of compliance inspections must be complete by August 8, 2007. After that inspection deadline, all facilities must be inspected by IDEM every 3 years. IDEM is drafting additional rules regarding underground storage tanks that will authorize IDEM inspectors to tag a non-compliant tank as ineligible to receive or dispense any product until that tank is brought into compliance. These draft rules should be available for public comment by early fall of this year.

Please contact Terri Czajka at terri.czajka@icemiller.com, or Jennifer Andres at jennifer.andres@icemiller.com with any questions regarding these changes.

This publication is intended for general information purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice.  The reader must consult with legal counsel to determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to the reader's specific circumstances.