More Steel USTs Could Hit the Market

A statement from the General Accounting Office (GAO), Washington, is urging the U.S. EPA and state agencies to step up enforcement of laws mandating the removal of corroded steel underground storage tanks (USTs).

In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, the GAO’s John Stephenson remarked that the EPA needs to address “the estimated 76,000 tanks that have not yet been upgraded, closed or removed as required.”

Since a law passed in 1984, the EPA has led enforcement efforts aimed at identifying and removing leaking USTs, the majority of which are made of steel. Since the 1984 law, many gas stations and other owners of USTs have removed older steel units, replacing them either with double or triple-wall steel tanks or fiberglass models. New tanks, whether made of steel or fiberglass, must contain federally approved leak detection equipment.

The GAO study identified several states that host a significant number of USTs but do not have a tank inspection schedule that covers all tanks on a regular basis. If these states—which include Texas with more than 50,000 USTs, New York with more than 30,000, Ohio with slightly less than 30,000 and Georgia with more than 25,000---increase their attention to inspections, it could generate additional scrap USTs there.