ASTSWMO recently published a report about State/Territory UST programs and how potential budget cuts might affect their efforts at preventing leaking USTs. Here’s the full report.
Highlights:
- States cannot absorb any future reductions in federal funding without significant loss in their ability to operate a fully integrated functioning program. The tanks program relies on an important State and federal partnership. Many States would likely divest from this program if there was a perceived loss of federal commitment.
- Future budget reductions will result in fewer cleanups completed.
- Future budget cuts would result in the reduction or elimination of mission critical work. Mission critical work is defined as those fundamental components that are intrinsic to tank program operation.
- Future groundwater contamination and other threats to public health are likely to increase if State programs are not adequately funded.
- The UST compliance program has made great strides in increasing the number of compliant tanks, which has resulted in fewer releases. Loss of program funding could reverse this trend.
Overall compliance has been increasing over the last few years and violations 
are correspondingly dropping. Click on the picture of the bar graphs.
