Gov. Gregoire, Ecology announce federal stimulus money to help protect environment, people from leaking storage tanks

For Immediate Release: September 8, 2009

OLYMPIA � Gov. Chris Gregoire and Department of Ecology Director Jay Manning announced today that Washington will receive $3.4 million in federal stimulus money to address leaking underground storage tanks.

The state Department of Ecology will receive the money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Ecology�s Toxics Cleanup Program expects to clean up 10 sites with leaking underground storage tanks and assess another 30 sites.

�Leaks from underground tanks can and do pollute groundwater, a precious resource which supplies drinking water for 60 percent of Washingtonians,� Gov. Gregoire said. �This Recovery Act money will help ensure these threats against Washington�s environment and people are reduced.�

Nearly 11,300 sites are on the state�s list of Confirmed and Suspected Contaminated Sites. About 4,000 currently are being cleaned up or are awaiting cleanup. Of those, many contain soil or groundwater contaminated with petroleum products from leaking tanks.

�This money will help us clean up some of the sites where we know problems exist, and check other sites so we can identify environmental damage there,� Manning said.

Ecology will contact owners of sites with leaking tanks about performing cleanup or assessment at their sites using the Recovery Act money. Ecology must negotiate access agreements to sites before any work can be done.

Cleanup work may involve removal of the underground storage tank systems (tanks, piping and dispensers), excavation of contaminated soil for disposal or treatment, and perhaps groundwater treatment. Assessment work includes sampling to check for soil and groundwater contamination and to determine if earlier cleanup work succeeded.

The funds also will support Washington�s economy by hiring contractors to clean up or assess sites.

In addition to dealing with leaking old tanks, Ecology regulates more than 11,000 active tanks on roughly 4,000 different properties. The agency works to ensure these tanks are installed, managed and monitored in a manner that prevents releases into the environment. Ecology inspected about 1,400 sites in the past year. Staff members also provide technical assistance to tank owners.