News And Events

Hello UST professionals and enthusiasts. Looking forward to seeing you at the national tanks conference in 2025.

NEIWPCC is now accepting abstracts for the 28th National Tanks Conference & Exposition (NTC). The conference will be held September 22-25, 2025 at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, Washington. Please use the form below to submit an abstract to be considered for a presentation, workshop, or poster. Please share this webpage with anyone you’d like to see present at the conference. Abstract submissions are due Friday, February 7, 2025.

Please be aware that speakers are responsible for their own expenses related to the conference. This includes registration and travel costs. NEIWPCC will offer a reduced registration rate for speakers, and eligible state and tribal employees may apply for reimbursement according to NEIWPCC’s policies and procedures. Information related to conference registration and participant support will be communicated in early 2025.

Thank you for submitting an abstract for the 28th National Tanks Conference & Exposition. NEIWPCC will notify you about the status of your abstract in spring 2025.

Hello UST professionals and everyone who wants to make our industry better, safer and stronger. It’s both a humbled privilege and an honor to begin my second term on the Board of Directors of PEI (Petroleum Equipment Institute), representing the Affiliate Division. One of my goals over my next two-year term is to continue to share with our affiliate companies the many things PEI does for the petroleum storage tank universe.

I just got back from my first board meeting in Tulsa Oklahoma, and met the Board members and the amazing staff that make up the PEI team. There are so many new and ongoing initiatives underway at PEI these days it’s hard to keep track of them all. These include, but are not not limned to:

Start 2025 off right by attending one or more of these exciting webinars as part of our FREE technical series for UST professionals.

January 2025

Loss versus Leak? What’s the difference and does it matter?

Thursday, January 23, 2025, 10:00-11:00 AM Pacific Time
Fuel leaks and fuel losses. What’s the difference? Each have unique impacts on profitability and safety:Guest speaker Tony Caputo of Warren Rogers Associates will explain the subtle but critical differences between a leak (losing fuel) versus loss (losing money) in this highly informative and helpful free webinar.

Register now

February 2025

What Every New UST Operator Should Know

Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 10:00-11:00 AM PST

• • Are you new to owning or operating an UST system?
  • Are you overwhelmed with the complexities of the rules?
  • Do you not know what your biggest risk factor is?
  • Do you not know what to focus your efforts on?

Save yourself years of trial and error and hear from this esteemed panel of experts whose years of experience can help you become an expert UST operator as soon as possible. Ben Thomas, President of UST Training will host a panel including seasoned UST inspectors, UST operators Jon Tuttle of Stinker Stores and Adam Sansoucy of Cumberland/EG, UST tester Don Reeves, Mascott Equipment, John Olko of OWL and even top EPA UST official Tony Raia. This webinar is also good for new UST inspectors and service technicians as well.

Register Now

Future topics include

Read More →

This just in from the US EPA Office of Underground Storage Tanks

Dear UST Colleagues:

Our end of fiscal year 2024 Underground Storage Tank performance measures report is now available. You can access the report on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website at epa.gov/ust/ust-performance-measures.  As shown by the report data, the EPA, and our state, territorial, Tribal, and industry partners are making progress in protecting public health and the environment from UST releases. Highlights from FY 2024 include:

• Compliance rates remain high for Class A and B operator training requirements at 87.2%, and for financial responsibility requirements at 89.9%. The Technical Compliance Rate (TCR) is increasing as envisioned, reaching 60.2%.
• Fewer confirmed releases, 4,047, occurred during FY 2024 than during any other FY in the program’s history. This is the third year in a row with a record low number of confirmed releases.
• Cleanup progress continues. The UST release backlog remains well below 60,000 at 55,334 and we expect the number will continue to decrease.

How did you end up in the world of Underground Storage Tanks?

When I tell people what I do for a living, people often ask me how I got into this line of work in the first place. Looking back on my 35+ years of analyzing and explaining UST regulations, I sometimes forget the odd chain of events that got me where I am today.

Here’s my story.

It all began in the spring of 1986. I was 23 years old, had recently received an AA in Natural Resources Management, was living in an old farmhouse in northern Vermont, and was looking for work. I wanted to do something environmentally related but I had no idea what that looked like.

The month of November is American Indian Heritage Month and here at UST Training, I want to offer special recognition to the American Indian tribes that I’ve had a good fortune to work with over the years. Looking back, I’ve provided UST training and consulting to many many tribes, including (but hardly limited to):

• Seneca Nation of Indians, NY
• Oglala Sioux Tribe, SD
• Rosebud Sioux Tribe, SD
• San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, CA
• Pechanga Band of Indians, CA
• Navajo Nation, AZ, UT, NM
• Cherokee Nation, OK
• Eight Northern Pueblos, NM
• Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, ND
• Oneida Nation, WI
• Ho-Chunk Nation, WI
• Shoshone Bannock Tribe, ID
• Fort Belknap Indian Community, MT
• Colville Confederated Tribes, WA
• Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis, WA
• Samish Tribe, WA
• Quinault Tribe, WA
• Spokane Tribe, WA
• Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, WA
• Swinomish Tribe, WA
• Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, WA
• Umatilla Tribe, OR
• And many more (sorry if I missed you!)

Do you have field-constructed UST’s or an airport hydrant UST system and would like customized Class A/B or C UST operator training? We’ve got a solution.

Background: A very small but critical part of the UST universe includes field-constructed underground tanks and airport hydrant system UST’s. These types of tanks were deferred from Federal UST regulations until around 2015 largely because very little of the typical gas station UST regulations applied to these gigantic and potentially high-pressure systems. Per the US EPA rules, these are called Subpart K UST systems. Subpart K tanks rarely, if ever, have automatic tank gauges, interstitial monitoring, line leak detectors, drop tubes, or spill buckets. However, they are regulated, and with regulations come the obvious requirement of UST operator training.

Really??  In 2024? I thought we left these stories behind in the 1990s!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Oct 21 2024
Kevin Wilkerson and his companies illegally charged tens of thousands of dollars for shoddy work that increased the risk of underground fuel leaks

TACOMA — On Friday, a Pierce County judge ordered a local business owner to pay more than $360,000 in penalties and restitution for unlawfully charging gas station owners for unfinished, unnecessary, or shoddy work on underground fuel storage tanks. The order is the result of a consumer protection lawsuit filed by Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Wing Luke Civil Rights Division.

The judgment includes full restitution, plus interest, for nine gas station owners — all but one of whom identify as Korean or South Asian — who were scammed by Kevin Wilkerson and his companies, Northwest Environmental Services and Core Environmental Group. Wilkerson collected payment from the small businesses for work he did not perform or performed so poorly the businesses had to pay thousands more to other companies for the same services. In many cases, Wilkerson stopped responding to the owners of the gas stations when they attempted to contact him and refused to refund what they paid.

Full story here

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