DNREC News - Delaware Selected as One of 10 EPA Underground Storage Tank Fields Pilot Locations

Jan. 25, 2001
Vol. 31, No. 29

For further information, contact Franchon Beeks, 302-395-2680

Delaware Selected as One of 10 EPA Underground Storage Tank Fields Pilot Locations

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's Underground Storage Tank (UST) Branch has been granted $100,000 as one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 10 pilot states to address UST sites that are abandoned or "orphaned." The Department, along with the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Committee, developed the Fund for the Inability to Rehabilitate Storage Tank Sites (FIRST) policy in March 2000.

The FIRST program was also allocated $500,000 from the state's Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act Fund. The UST Branch of the Department's Division of Air and Waste Management will use FIRST fund money for activities that include:

Removal or abandonment of USTs containing petroleum products and hazardous substances regulated under 7 Del. C., Chapter 74;
Investigation and assessment of contaminated UST sites;
Remediation of soil and water contamination as a result of release from a UST system;
Restoration or replacement of potable water supplies; and
Response to emergencies and mitigation of initial site hazards at UST sites.

The FIRST program was developed to provide financial assistance for the investigation and remediation of sites where there is no known owner, or in cases where the owner is unable to pay for underground storage tank work. Both commercial and residential sites may be eligible for the program. The goal is to return underutilized UST sites to productive use.

UST sites must meet one of the following two criteria to qualify for FIRST funding:

The UST owner is unknown, despite reasonable efforts to identify the owner, as determined by the UST Branch;
The UST owner is known but financially unable to pay as determined by the result of a financial analysis.

To date, the UST Branch has identified 36 sites that may qualify for FIRST funds. The Branch expects to work with community-based agencies and local governments to identify additional prospective sites. However, anyone who has knowledge of an orphaned or abandoned UST site or would like more information regarding FIRST Fund, please contact the UST Branch, 302-395-2500.

More than 10,000 USTs have been registered with DNREC since Delaware's UST program began in 1985. Approximately 2,500 USTs are still in use in the state; the remainder have been closed. Until development of the FIRST Fund, there was no program to assist property owners with addressing long abandoned USTs discovered on their property during redevelopment activities.

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Document no. 40-01/01/01/29

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