Nebraska Class A/B UST Operators like our course

Having trained 1000’s of UST operators over the last 12 years, I’ve noticed a pattern how an entire state deals with meeting a UST operator training deadline. This first happened when I led the nation’s first Class A/B course in Oregon in 2003. And Nebraska is another classic example of this start-to-end cycle today in 2015. Here’s what happens.

NY DEC to Hold Public Webinar for Revised Chemical and Petroleum Bulk Storage Regulations on Monday, November 23, 2015

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued new bulk storage regulations that became effective October 11, 2015.

DEC will host a webinar to help guide the public through the new regulatory structure and requirements. This includes the new rules on Class A, B and C UST Operator Training. The webinar will be held on November 23, 2015 from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Details and login information are available on DEC’s website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/287.html.

Note: When we published this article last week we incorrectly stated that the corrosion was found in the study was found in steel tanks. The study was actually conducted in fiberglass tanks; and the corrosion was found in the equipment and tank tops. Our apologies for this mistake. Here is the corrected article.

October 13, 2015: Last week the new EPA rules took effect nationwide but only certain rules and only in certain states.

These states include: (see map)

Arizona, California,  Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Wyoming, plus American Samoa, CNMI, and Guam. And all USTs in Indian Country.

New rules include:

Many of the customers we talk to seems puzzled, even surprised, that the UST training they took was much better than they expected. Online training, if not expressly designed for the end user in mind, can be tedious, irrelevant and largely considered a waste of precious time.The majority of our customers surveyed find our courses convenient, useful and at least as good or better than live training.

Ben Thomas recently returned from the PEI Trade Show, the world’s largest event for those in the UST equipment and service industry. The three+ day event, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, included many educational sessions

Here are some of the highlights:

Diesel corrosion: The Steel Tank Institute reported some preliminary results of a national study on the impact of corrosion in diesel tanks. It turns out that the diesel tanks in the study contained noticable amounts of ethanl.

EPA’s New Rules: A number of senior staff from EPA’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) provided a helpful review of what’s in store for us in the next few years. OUST officials also hosted a meet-and-greet at the tradeshow

October 13, 2015: The convention coincided with the first deadline of the new EPA rules: 10/13/15.

Industry Compliment: Jeff Leiter, longtime player in the national UST rules, said that EPA’s OUST was the best run program in EPA.

Tighter Sumps:  There seemed to be more emphasis on sumps on the trade show floor this year. A few companies have developed sump test probes that are much more accurate than the “fill it with water and watch for a 1/4″ drop” test.

More Testing? A number of UST testing companies were quizzed about the likely market for more testing, based on the new rules. None of the testers we spoke with seemed to think

The Oregon DEQ UST Program recently announced the agency would start the process of updating its UST rules to be consistent with the new Federal EPA UST rules. As you may know updating rules can be a lengthy process but the OR DEQ is starting this fall. Because we train in Oregon and have lots of Oregon clients. we’ll be sure to keep you updated. Actually implementation dates will be announced down the road but we forecast it’ll take at least 2-3 years to get there. Go Oregon!

Nebraska UST operators have until the end of the year to complete training for Class A/B and C UST operators. Have you completed the training and printed your certificate?

We at UST Training have been training UST operators since 2003 so we know what’s important, relevant, valuable and engaging to our audience. Which is why Nebraska UST operators really like our online training solution. Here are the results our Nebraska survey for those who took our training.  (click on an image to enlarge). We’re happy to report that Nebraska operators not only really liked the course, not only really liked the online experience but actually found the information helpful.

Ben Thomas of UST Training recently attended the 25th Annual National Tanks Conference in Phoenix, AZ, an event he’s proudly attended, help organize or presented at since 1996. Here are some of the highlights:

Largest Attendance to Date: We tipped the scales at over 800 attendees this year, the highest attended UST conference ever. Attendees included nearly every state UST program, many Indian tribes, many EPA officials, major UST owners, testers, contractors and more.

EPA continued to publish technical assistance documents about the new rules for topics like interstitial monitoring, UST operator training, walkthrough inspection, equipment testing and more.

Here’s the latest document:

• EPA’s Questions and Answers about the 2015 UST Regulation

At the recent National Tanks Conference in Phoenix, AZ, Ben Thomas had the good fortune of interviewing the nation’s top UST regulator Carolyn Hoskinson, Director of EPA’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks for this special Tank Savvy Minute about the new EPA UST rules. Thanks Carolyn!

When doing an inspector training class last week, we had a petroleum contractor test a mechanical line leak detector in the field to see if the device could find a 3 gallon per hour leak. Unfortunately it didn’t pass, meaning not that the single-wall line was leaking, but a leak of 3+ gallons per hour could not be found. Want to see what 3 gallons per hour looks like? Click here.

UST Training was the first to offer online training in Nebraska and, like we do in all states, we ask Class A/B UST operators to fill out a brief survey after class.  Here’s what 23 folks had to say about the training so far. Overall, operators seemed to find the course useful, the handouts helpful and the venue (online versus traditional classroom) favorable.

As a proud member of the Petroleum Equipment Institute, we’re happy to announce that PEI has just launched a YouTube video library that’s chock full of information for UST operators ad inspectors. Check it out!

You’ll notice lots of videos by UST Training’s own Ben Thomas sharing his nationally recognized “Tank Savvy Minute”as well as other topics like:

The response for our free webinar on the new Federal UST rules was completely overwhelming. We had to cut off registration at 250 attendees, which shows how much interest is out there.

But not to worry: We will continue to offer the same webinar at least monthly for the time being in case you missed the first one. Register for the next one now if you missed out. Or tell your friends if you liked the class.

FREE Webinar: Navigating the new EPA UST rules: What the changes mean for you
September 29, 2015, 11 AM Pacific Time
Register now

Check back to our events page for more classes.

Have a large number of class C UST operators?
Frustrated with high turnover rates?
Have your own in-house Learning Management System (LMS)?

Did you know we license our course software?  For some UST owners, leasing our Class C UST operator training courseware is a very smart alternative that can save you time, money and effort.

Benefits include:

Saipan of the the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, was recently hit by a devastating typhoon that caused extensive damaged to the small US -Territory island. Read about the fuel stations coming back on line  on Pacific Daily News.

2014 graduates of the CMNI Class A/B UST Operator Training Classin Saipan.

Ben Thomas trained all the Class A/B UST operators in 2012 and 2014 in Saipan and knows many of the UST operators out there. We’re sending our well wishes to our friends in hopes of a speedy recovery.

The US EPA has just published the following UST brochures to download and read. Check them out!

Implementation Time Frames For 2015 Underground Storage Tank Requirements

UST System Compatibility With Petroleum-Biofuel Blends: A Brief Guide To The 2015 Federal UST Regulations For Owners And Operators Of USTs Located On Tribal Lands

Both these documents be a helpful compliment to your Class A/B UST Operator’s compliance binder. Any questions about the new Federal UST rules? We’re offering ongoing free webinars about getting to know the new rules. Register today!

Well this doesn’t happen every day…Thanks to astute SC UST trainer John Kneece for bringing this to our attention.