The Board's
Advisory Committee met in January to discuss an initial draft of regulations,
and recommended several changes. Plans are to present the revised
version to the Board at its March meeting; if the Board approves,
the regulations will be published as proposed rules in the May 3 issue
of the Missouri State Register. A public hearing and comment period
will follow.
Anyone
interested in reviewing the draft rules may obtain a copy by calling
573-522-2352.
AST
Report Card
Approximately
one year ago PSTIF first began insuring aboveground tanks. At the
time, no one really knew what to expect in terms of participation
or claims.
The initial
results are now in. The Fund received applications for insurance coverage
from nearly 15% of the eligible AST sites in the state - a surprising
response, since there is no requirement that AST owners carry insurance
for spills and leaks, as required for UST owners.
There
have been 4 claims filed - one involving cleanup of contamination
found when the gas station was sold and the ASTs and piping were removed,
one involving an overfill, one involving what was apparently a small,
slow leak from the bottom of the tank and one where a customer ran
over a dispenser. It is far too early to draw any conclusions about
claims experience, but a lot is being learned from the Fund's first
few AST claims.
In addition
to the insurance program, PSTIF is paying for cleanup at some old
AST sites. Eleven property owners requested approval of cost estimates
to clean up old AST releases, $145,200 has been committed, and $89,532
has already been paid out.
UST
Upgrade Update
Advisory
Committee Report to Legislature
State
law governing the Tank Insurance Fund requires the PSTIF Advisory
Committee to regularly assess the availability and affordability of
private insurance, as a means of considering whether the PSTIF is
still needed. The Committee recently issued its first report on this
subject.
The report
concluded that there is still a need for the PSTIF to serve as an
affordable insurance mechanism for tank owners and to complete the
cleanup of historical contamination - which typically would not be
covered by today's commercial insurance policies. Copies are available
to interested parties by contacting the PSTIF executive director's
office.
Leak
Detection Change A Surprise to Many
Buried
in the pages of UST regulations was a provision that has recently
caught some tank owners by surprise. It relates to how you monitor
a UST system for leaks.
One of
the most popular methods of monitoring has been the old standby: stick
the tank daily, then make a calculation at the end of each month to
see if the tanks have as much fuel in them as sales and deliveries
indicate should be there. The regulations call this the "Inventory
Control" method, and it must be coupled with a tank tightness test.
However,
the regulations also specify that this method can no longer be used
ten years after the tank itself is upgraded. Some
tank owners who installed stiP3 tanks ten years ago, or lined their
tanks ten years ago, are disappointed to learn that they must now
begin using a different monitoring method.
Other
available methods include: Statistical Inventory Reconciliation, automatic
tank gauges, vapor monitoring or groundwater monitoring. Tank owners
with questions are encouraged to call DNR's Technical Assistance Program
at 573-526-6627 or 800-361-4827.
Recent
Board Actions
In the
last three months, the PSTIF Board of Trustees:
- Lowered
participation fees for insured UST owners
- Authorized
the Fund's underwriters to continue insuring USTs which store waste
oil, if they meet DNR's upgrade requirements
- Authorized
payment of costs incurred in late 1995 or early 1996 by LUST site
owners who were doing cleanups when their sites became eligible
for PSTIF funds
- Decided
three claim appeals
- Reviewed
a five-year cash projection of Fund revenues and expenditures
- Reviewed
budget requests for Fiscal Year 2000.
Legislation
Introduced
Representative
Joe Treadway introduced House Bill 58, which would give a limited
number of additional property owners the ability to access PSTIF benefits.
The bill allows land-owners who purchased property prior to 12/31/85,
and were unaware the property once had USTs on it and did not report
the property to DNR previously, to identify their properties by 12/31/2000
and thus become eligible to receive money from the Fund for cleanup.
A copy
of the bill is available at www.moga.state.mo.us
or by calling 573-522-2352.
Latest
Leaks is a newsletter of the Missouri Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance
Fund.
Board
of Trustees
William "Bart" Creech III, Chairman
Bob Abernathy, Vice Chairman
John Boehm
Sam Carter
Neal A. Gibbons, Sr.
Robert "Bob" Jackson
Ron Hooker
Don Shaikewitz
Steve Mahfood
John A. Young
G. Brad Williams
Katherine "Katie" Wesselschmidt
Executive
Director
Carol R. Eighmey
PO Box 836
Jefferson City, MO 65102
573/522-2352
Third
Party Administrator
Williams & Company Consulting, Inc.
Back
to Top
