EPA Awards $56M in Recovery Funding to 10 States to Clean Up Underground Petroleum Leaks
11 July 2009
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the distribution of about $56 million to 10 states under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to assess and clean up underground storage tank petroleum leaks.
The greatest potential hazard from a leaking underground storage tank is that the petroleum or other hazardous substances seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater, the source of drinking water for nearly one-third of all Americans.
This money is part of $197 million appropriated under the Recovery Act to address shovel-ready sites nationwide contaminated by petroleum from leaking underground storage tanks. The funds will be used for overseeing assessment and cleanup of leaks from underground storage tanks or directly paying for assessment and cleanup of leaks from federally regulated tanks where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling or unable to finance, or the cleanup is an emergency response.
The states receiving funding in this distribution include (by amount awarded):
- Florida: $11M
- New York: $9M
- North Carolina: $7.5M
- Georgia: $4.9M
- New Jersey: $4.8M
- Tennessee: $4.5M
- Alabama: $4M
- Kentucky: $4M
- South Carolina: $3.3M
- Mississippi: $3M
This is money well spent. In California we had MTBE that got into the ground water. After the fact it costs much more to take care of.
Posted by: SJC | 12 July 2009 at 09:37 AM