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EPA Alleges BIA Broke Rules for Detecting Leaks of Fuel in Underground Storage Tanks

Release Date: 9/8/1999
Contact Information: Lauris Davies
[email protected]
(206) 553-2857

September 8, 1999 - - - - - - - 99-40


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WAPATO, WA: For the first time in the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has filed a complaint against another federal agency for Underground Storage Tank (UST) violations. The EPA is proposing $19,875 in penalties against the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for alleged repeated violations of several regulations which ensure that leak detection alarm systems are working properly.

EPA inspectors noted a silenced alarm and sump sensors which had been raised three inches above the bottom of a sump during a March inspection of two tanks at the Wapato Irrigation Project on the Yakama Indian Reservation. The BIA was also unable to produce evidence of annual system tests or performance claims for leak detection systems. Similar violations were found at a 1996 inspection.

“These sensors and alarms alert the operators of a leak before the groundwater is jeopardized,” said Lauris Davies, Groundwater Protection Manager for EPA’s Regional office in Seattle. “When someone effectively turns off those alarms, they may be putting the aquifer and the reservation’s residents at risk.”

While EPA has authority to file complaints against other federal agencies, the question of EPA’s authority to issue penalties against them is currently pending before the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel and EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.

The tanks, which contain gasoline and diesel, are required by law to have fully operating leak detection systems. The systems must be tested for leaks annually.

For more information on UST’s, visit https://www.epa.gov/swerust1/. The complaint issued to BIA is available at https://www.epa.gov/r10earth/water.htm