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EPA’s Mid Fiscal Year 2022 Semiannual UST Performance Measures Report

May 26, 2022

Note from UST Training: Here’s a national update on the UST program: fewer UST releases, but compliance with new requirements still needs improving.

 

Dear UST Colleagues:

I am pleased to tell you that our mid fiscal year (FY) 2022 semiannual report of underground storage tank (UST) performance measures is now available.  You can access the report on EPA’s website https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2022-05/ca-28-12.pdf.

Our semiannual UST reports show the continued progress EPA and our state, territorial, tribal, and industry partners are making in protecting public health and the environment from UST releases.

I appreciate and thank each of you for your efforts in keeping our environment safe from UST releases.  Even as the nation recovers from the global pandemic, we continue to face personal challenges in keeping our families and ourselves healthy and safe, as well as professional challenges such as transitioning to a hybrid in-office and remote working environment, supply chain issues, and labor shortages.  Despite these challenges you continue to make meaningful progress.

In our mid FY 2022 report, you can see that the national UST program is reducing the number of open releases and seeing more cleanups completed than releases confirmed.  Our mid-year report shows your continued commitment to the UST program and our combined ongoing success.  Here are a couple things to note in the report:

  • Congratulations to all as this reporting cycle we are seeing the lowest confirmed releases (2,275) ever reported at a mid-year.
  • As the country works to recover from the effects of the pandemic, there remain challenges associated with the supply chain and with staffing pressures.  We continue to see these impacts on the cleanup numbers.  At mid FY 2022, 3,246 cleanups were completed, less than the 3,439 cleanups completed reported at mid FY 2021.  Reducing the cleanup backlog continues to be a priority for the national UST program and going forward, we anticipate the cleanup backlog to continue to decline.
  • Because nearly all states have made the transition to reporting the technical compliance rate (TCR), this report marks the first time only TCR is reflected.  At mid FY 2022, the TCR was 55.8 percent, down from 57.8 percent reported at end of FY 2021, largely because many states started reporting TCR for the first time.  Increasing the UST program’s TCR remains a priority in the coming years.

I appreciate everyone’s efforts and contributions in achieving our mid-year results.  Thank you to everyone who provided information and conducted a quality assurance and quality control review of the numbers reported.  If you have questions about our semiannual reports, please contact me or Susan Burnell ([email protected]; 202-564-0766) of my staff.

Mark Barolo

Acting Director

EPA, Office of Underground Storage Tanks

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