Tank Savvy Talks Continue through 2021

Every Friday 10 AM Pacific Time through 2021

Attention UST Operators: Our friends at Franklin Fueling Systems did a great video summary of their latest products innovations that they unveiled in Chicago at the PEI Show. Check it out!

(Courtesy of NACS)

There are many companies that will still insure a 30+ year-old tank.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging owners of underground storage tanks (USTs) that are 30 years or older to obtain insurance in order to satisfy the EPA’s financial responsibility requirements.

The EPA’s financial responsibility requirement states that UST owners and operators must pay the costs of cleaning up leaks from USTs and compensate third parties for bodily injury or property damage resulting from leaks, and the UST financial responsibility regulation allows UST owners and operators to choose from a variety of financial mechanisms to comply with the regulation. One of the financial mechanisms is the use of insurance.

Read more

Please advertise widely to your colleagues in the tanks and inspector communities. Region 10 is hiring an Underground Storage Tank inspector, among other positions. The announcement just came out. (https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/617811200).  The full performance level of this position is GS12, current salaries at the GS 11 and 12 levels can be found here. We would love to have a broad pool of experienced applicants – consider applying!

Lisa McArthur
Manager, RCRA & Tanks Branch
Land, Chemical and Redevelopment Division
Region 10, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 155, MS 15-H04
Seattle, WA  98101-3123
(206) 553-1814

Our team attended the PEI Show at NACS last week in Chicago and what a great show it was! Ben Thomas and Tammy Gathright spent 3 busy days setting up the booth, attending meetings, finding old friends and making new ones.

(In case you didn’t know, the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) teams up with the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and hosts the largest petroleum/c-store convention in the US every year. It’s so big that only three cities can host it: Atlanta, Las Vegas, and this year Chicago.)

Here are some highlights:

Ben on the Board: This was UST Training’s President Ben Thomas’s first convention as a PEI Board Member (Affiliate Division). Ben got updates via various committee reports (Young Executives, PEI Women, Latin America Initiative, Strategic Long Range Planning) plus got to meet and share ideas with other Board members and meet the newly elected Executive Vice President Jason Blake.

New PEI Board Members: Ben got to see the swearing in of a number of new PEI Board members, including the new President Ron Sledd.

Find Red. Ben Thomas again volunteered to be a “Find Red” ambassador for the PEI safety talk called Safety Trio, a great panel discussion on the Fire Triangle, trench safety and confined space.

Recently I spoke with a very nice UST operator who took and passed our online Class A/B course. In Colorado UST Operators must contact us, the training vendor, to review their site-specific equipment so they can basically explain what type of tank system, they have (double-walled versus single, pressure piping versus suction, etc.). It’s always an enlightening conversation and I can tell pretty quickly how much that person really knows.

While we spoke, I asked her walk into the back room of the c-store and look at the Veeder Root TLS 350 …and …it was in alarm. L12 Fuel Alarm to be exact.

Three things I realized:

UST Training is pleased to announce that our Iowa Class A/B UST Operator Training course has been re-approved by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. In 2021 the IA DNR adopted new UST rules to match those of Federal EPA rules and we’ve updated our slides accordingly.

And did we mention our Class A/B course is free for qualifying UST operators?

With a generous reimbursement from the Iowa UST Fund, this course is provided for free to the following Iowa UST operators:

• You must be within 4 hours travel time to the UST site for which you are responsible,
• You must be within a 2 hour drive if the UST site is unstaffed,
• You must fill out all your contact information (including the IA DNR UST Registration #) before you start, and
• You cannot already have been trained as an Iowa UST operator.
• You must complete course, including the final exam, within 30 days of signing up.

Sign up today!

If you are lucky enough to operate a regulated UST system in Arizona or Iowa, you probably qualify for free UST operator training, courtesy of each state’s UST agency’s financial assistance. Class A/B training normally retails for $150.00 and Class C for $12.95.

Arizona A/B and C
Our Arizona Class A/B and C UST Operator Training course is now free to all qualifying UST operators. Thanks to the generous support from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), you can enjoy the convenience of training that is 100% online and self-paced. UST Training has the statewide contract and hopes to train every UST operator in the state in the next two years.

UST Training has submitted and gotten tentative approval for our Delaware Class A/B UST Operator Training by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).

Unfortunately the agency has decided to wait for other third party training vendors to submit and get approved before we are allowed to offer this course.

Currently there are no training options available in Delaware. The moment our approval is finalized and our course is available we’ll let you know.

If you have questions about our course in Delaware please contact us at [email protected]

Hello friends, colleagues, vendors, customers and any UST operator, inspector or service technician nationwide:

As a member of this year’s PEI Board of Directors, I want to personally invite you to meet face-to-face us in Chicago October 5-8, 2021, at the PEI 2021 at the NACS Show.

With proper safety precautions in place, we will be at McCormick Place so make sure to stop by our booth 4050.

Want to schedule a meeting with our team? Contact us at (866) 301-8265 or [email protected]

The latest low-down on the Show:

• There’s still time to register.
• There’s still hotel rooms available.
• Masks are required indoors.
• Meal and social functions are happening.
• 99% of exhibitor booths are sold out so expect a full house of vendors.

Dear UST Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce that EPA’s Wildfire Guide: Preparation And Recovery For Underground And Aboveground Storage Tank Systems is now available on our underground storage tank (UST) website at www.epa.gov/ust/wildfire-guide-preparation-and-recovery-underground-and-aboveground-storage-tank-systems.  Because many UST facilities also include aboveground storage tank (AST) systems, our wildfire guide provides information and resources for both UST systems and ASTs storing oil.  Information in the guide may help UST and oil AST owners and operators prepare for and respond to the catastrophic effects and environmental harm that may occur as a result of partial or fully burned UST systems or oil ASTs and associated piping and appurtenances.  State, local, and tribal UST and oil AST program implementers may also find this guide useful.

Ben Thomas of UST Training is serving on the PEI Board of Directors this year and is pleased to announce:

The Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI), the leading authority for fuel and fuel handling equipment, appointed Jason Blake executive vice president, effective Oct. 18. 

Learn more here

Ben met Jason on Zoom and he seems like a great match for PEI. If you’re attending the PEI Show in Chicago this October, make sure you find Jason and say hello.

The Oneida Nation UST Compliance Assistance Program is please to announce the launch of our virtual UST Training Portal. Please follow the link below to register and take a tour and go through the modules and see what we’ve done!  Please contact us with any questions or concerns. Content for this training will continue to be developed. Plans include functionality testing, C-Operator responsibilities, tank removals and installs. Included on the training portal are links to other learning resources. Thanks again and enjoy. https://ust.oneida-nsn.gov/portal/register.php

UST Training is part of the Virtual UST Boot Camp to provide technical assistance about UST operator training to Indian Country UST operators nationwide.

UST Training also offers self-paced Indian Country Class A/B and C UST operator training. Click here to learn more.

New U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data shows that the 2015 federal underground storage tank (UST) regulations are doing their job. Compliance with key UST performance measures is climbing. However, the nation’s backlog of yet-to-be-cleaned-up UST sites remains high. The Semiannual 2021 Fiscal Year UST Performance Report (October 2020 – March 2021) shows impressive gains in compliance rates, as compared to the Semiannual 2020 Fiscal Year UST Performance Report (October 2019 – March 2020).

Active UST count declines. When the 2015 EPA regulations were issued, the U.S. had 569,340 operating USTs. The semiannual 2021 report shows that number has fallen to 540,329. C-store consolidation doubtless has played a role in the decline. Another factor is how fuel marketers are responding to the regulations. For some owners and operators, closing an aging UST system is a reasonable alternative to investing in costly testing, inspection and upgrades.

Cleanup backlog persists. The semiannual 2021 report shows 2,395 confirmed releases and 3,439 completed cleanups between October 2020 and March 2021. Nationwide, 63,048 cleanups have yet to be completed. That is down from 63,677 one year ago and 72,248 in 2015.

There’s lots going on around the US in the world of UST systems: here’s a summary. Find your state or states and learn more.

Arizona: ADEQ is rolling out MyDEQ this July, which will basically allow each UST operator to create an online account to ADEQ and manage all “paperwork” virtually. Learn more.

Arizona: We still offer free training to qualifying Class A/B and C UST operators. Learn more.

Connecticut: Our online Class A/B course has been approved by the CT DEEP. Start training now.

Delaware: Look for us to be offering online, state-approved Class A/B training shortly. DE is allowing third party vendors to train in-state and our course is under review.

Hawaii: We’re offering a live Class A/B UST operator training course in Honolulu this October, pending enough enrollment. Learn more.

Iowa: The IOWA DNR has revised their UST rules and UST Training has updated our slides to include the new rules.

Iowa: We still offer free training to qualifying Class A/B and UST operators. Learn more.

Nebraska: We’ll be training all the NE UST inspectors this fall in Lincoln. Need your own inspector course? Contact us.

New Mexico: New UST regulations go into effect July 24, 2021, including spill/overfill/sump testing, emergency power generator release detection and other Federally-based requirements. Learn more.

As an honored PEI Board Member, I want to personally invite each and every one of you to the PEI Show in Chicago this October 5-8, 2021. Whether you are a UST operator, compliance manager, installer, tester or regulator, there is something here for you.

The PEI Convention at the NACS Show is the event of the year for the fuel and fluid handling equipment and services industry! With a wealth of educational sessions and networking opportunities–along with 3 days of the trade show–you’ll be able to expand your networking contacts and knowledge quickly–and your bottom line.

And make sure to stop by our booth 4050

If you’ve taken our course in the past, and you take a refresher lately, you’ll notice our courses now run a lot faster. We’ve spent the spring and summer fine tuning our slides, making little corrections and compressing the digital files so the lessons load faster and ultimately make a great course a little greater.

Check out our listings of Class A/B courses (approved in 29 states, more pending) and our Class C courses (all states, CA pending)

Our friends at NEIWPCC (pronounced NEW EE PICK) have graciously linked to our online Class A/B and C UST operator training courses.

Check it out!

Ben Thomas is a contributor to NEIWPCC’s LUSTLine newsletter and is on the LUSTLine editorial board. Ben’s NEIWPCC history goes back to 1986 where he was sporting a very early LUST-Buster t-shirt as a state inspector in Vermont. And in case you were wondering: LUST = Leaking Underground Storage Tank. 🙂

Ben Thomas of UST Training was recently published in the quarterly WPMA Magazine about how to select the best training option, depending on your company’s needs. Check it out.

Special thanks to the WPMA team for granting us a spot in the magazine plus the great formatting!

And like always, if you need help figuring out how to best train your team, contact us for a free consultation. 866-301-8265 or [email protected]