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Deadline nears for fixing leaky tanks From Staff and Wire reports Wednesday is the deadline for businesses to remove or clean up old underground storage tanks that have not yet met new environmental standards. The tanks, some 1,500 statewide, including many in Jackson and Josephine counties, are among those taken out of service by the state Department of Environmental Quality in December 1998 because they did not meet the standards mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. However, the DEQ gave businesses one year to complete the task. The department sent out 685 letters to businesses throughout the state early this month to remind them of the approaching deadline. Reminders were also sent out in January and August of this year. Those not meeting the deadline could be fined. "There is the potential of civil penalties but they would be assessed on a case-by-case basis," explained Eric Clough, an environmental specialist at the DEQ office in Medford. "We'll be sending out notices on noncompliance in January for those that still have active tanks in the ground," he added, noting it includes businesses scattered throughout southwestern Oregon. Heating-oil tanks are exempt from the requirements. Most of the roughly 10,000 Oregon businesses originally affected by the regulations have already met the requirements, according to the DEQ. More than half on the DEQ's delinquent list are businesses and public agencies with large fleets of vehicles. They include the city of Lincoln City, which finished closing 10 tanks this week. Many of the others are the sites of small-town gas stations that have been either long closed, or lack the money to remove the tanks. Theron Robinson, 72, who earns less than $10,000 a year at Robbie's Auto Repair Center in Cave Junction, says he wants to retire but probably can't sell his shop without removing two tanks left over from its days as a service station 32 years ago. "I know that they've got to be removed," Robinson said. "But I just don't have the money to do it. I'd like to sell the business so I can retire." The DEQ reports that it could end up footing a cleanup bill that could range from $5,000 to $1 million per tank. Congress launched the nationwide tank-upgrade program in 1984 after many were found to be leaking. Most contained petroleum, which migrates rapidly through soil and can turn ground water into toxic soup. Leaky tanks can pose a serious health risk by polluting ground water. Some of the chemicals in petroleum, such as benzene, are known to cause cancer. The state's orphan-site program, which has paid out $23.1 million since 1992, already has seven more projects than it can handle. The DEQ expects to get $8 million from a bond sale this spring, but $1.5 million of that is slated for sites in Portland Harbor on the Willamette River, where the state wants to avoid a federal Superfund listing. Oregon's grant from the EPA for leaking tank cleanups this year totaled $1 million, about half of what it was earlier this decade. "Whether DEQ will have the resources to completely decommission these tanks, that remains to be seen," said Stephanie Holmes, coordinator for the agency's underground-storage-tank compliance program. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA