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HOW TO EFFECTIVELY RECOVER FREE PRODUCT AT LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK SITES - A GUIDE FOR STATE REGULATORS
Citation:
Faust, C. R. AND M. Montroy. HOW TO EFFECTIVELY RECOVER FREE PRODUCT AT LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK SITES - A GUIDE FOR STATE REGULATORS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/510/R-96/001 (NTIS 97-125389), 1996.
Description:
Over 315,000 releases from leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) were reported by state and local environmental agencies as of March 19961. EPA's Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) anticipates that at least 100,000 additional releases will be confirmed in the next few years as tank owners and operators comply with the December 22,1998, deadline for upgrading, replacing, or closing substandard USTs. Each release represents a potential threat to human health and the environment; appropriate remedial steps must be taken to assess the risk and minimize the impact. The Federal regulations (40 CFR 280.64) state that at UST sites where investigations indicate the presence of free product, owners and operators must remove free product to the maximum extent practicable as determined by the implementing agency.
Releases of petroleum products may occur above ground (e.g., spills, leaks from exposed piping) or below ground (e.g., leaks from tanks or piping). Recovery of product above the ground is relatively routine, and effective methods for cleaning up these releases from the ground surface, surface water bodies, or sewers and other underground conduits are well established. Recovery of product from below the ground is usually much more difficult, more costly, and less effective.
This manual addresses recovery of free product below the ground surface. It will provide state and local Regulators guidance that will help them review strategies for recovery of free product from beneath the ground surface. The manual does not advocate the use of one technology over another; rather it focuses on appropriate technology use, taking into consideration site-specific conditions.
The manual is designed to enable you to answer the following three basic questions when reviewing a free product recovery plan. 1) Is recovery of the free product necessary? 2) Has an appropriate method been proposed for recovering the free product? And 3) Does the free product recovery plan provide a technically sound approach to remediating the site?