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U.S. EPA CITES 3 HAWAII FACILITIES FOR UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK VIOLATIONS

Release Date: 5/29/1997
Contact Information: Dave Schmidt, U.S. EPA (415) 744-1578

     (San Francisco) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) today announced it has cited three underground storage tank facilities in Honolulu a total of $1,350 for violating underground storage tank regulations under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

     "Compliance with underground storage tank regulations is crucial to preventing groundwater and soil contamination caused by leaking underground tanks," said Julie Anderson, director of the waste management division for U.S. EPA's western regional office. "Fuel tank owners and operators who violate these regulations put our water supplies at risk and may create costly long-term cleanup problems to deal with in the future."

     The three facilities had a total of five violations, including failing to conduct release detection inventory control, failing to record liquid volume in tank each operating day, failing to comply with financial responsibility requirements, failing to continue operation and maintenance of release detection in a temporarily closed system, and failing to permanently close or upgrade a temporarily closed tank system after 12 months.

     The U.S. EPA's underground storage tank (UST) field citation program is designed to quickly bring facilities owned or operated as small businesses into compliance with federal UST regulations. The citations impose penalties which generally range from $50 to $300 per violation, and require owners and operators to take quick measures to bring their facilities into compliance. If they do not, they will be subject to a more formal enforcement action, which carries much stiffer penalties of up to $11,000 per day per violation.

     The citations were issued during inspections by U.S. EPA, accompanied by inspectors from the Hawaii Department of Health. Eight facilities were inspected.  The three facilities cited for major violations were: Tradewinds U Drive Inc.; Miyazaki Airport Service Station; and the U.S. Army's Exchange Maintenance Shop and Gas Station at Fort Shafter.

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