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Climate Change and Vulnerabilities Associated with Aboveground Storage Tanks
Citation:
Smith, Raymond L. Climate Change and Vulnerabilities Associated with Aboveground Storage Tanks. EPA Region 10 Oil, Gas, and Energy Sector Virtual Meeting, Anchorage, AK, March 12, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation relates research on Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs), climate change, and extreme events and the interactions among them. ASTs commonly hold chemicals and petroleum products, which can be released to the environment. This effort considers how climate change and extreme events might lead to AST integrity issues and increased releases. The results presented describe qualitative results such as the effects on equipment and quantitative results that predict emissions. These emission calculations are based on the equations in EPA's AP-42 Chapter 7 on Liquid Storage Tanks. The emissions are functions of tank components and maintenance levels, as well as temperatures and wind velocities. As temperatures and wind speeds increase during climate change and shorter-term extreme events the predicted emissions increase. The results also point out that emissions can increase due to a lack of maintenance. These results, both qualitative and quantitative, are intended to raise awareness for anyone managing or in communities nearby ASTs.
Description:
Environmental managers responsible for the oversight and management of aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) can benefit from increased awareness of vulnerabilities, risks, and increased environmental impacts associated with climate change. In this context, we are focused on the physical and environmental vulnerabilities, however, with an understanding that additional vulnerabilities can exist due to economic and social conditions. The physical condition of ASTs can vary by equipment type, age, inspection status, maintenance, components stored, geographic location, etc. This physical state is further stressed by environmental conditions, potentially comprised of increased heat, wind, rain, and flooding that may be exacerbated by climate change. Climate change can also result in cold snaps where they are unexpected. Another rarely considered aspect is the effect climate and extreme weather can have on the physical properties of products stored, including interactions with infrastructure such as ASTs. The effects of climate change on ASTs can be highly non-linear when an additional increase in extreme event intensity leads to qualitatively different behavior. The result is that ASTs are vulnerable to the effects of climate and extreme events, including increased temperatures, winds, and storms, with the latter including hurricanes, flooding, and lightning strikes. With these events, vessel and tank component integrity can be compromised including: flooding of floating roofs, contamination of stored contents, and release of the products. This effort examines these vulnerabilities in more detail and concludes with some factors of which environmental managers should be aware.