And in that time, instead of rushing to enact more stringent rules and regulations to lessen the chance of it happening again, the state has taken baby steps. The Legislature put underground storage tank laws on its interim study list, but made no statutory changes. And the state Department of Environmental Quality is drafting minor rule changes that don't go far enough, leaving the antiquated leak detection system that caused the mess on the list of options for tank owners.
The Top Stop used the most rudimentary of leak detection systems, an inexpensive and ineffective process known as Statistical Inventory Reconciliation. It's similar to balancing a checkbook. Employees measure the tank to determine the daily balance, keep track of what's dumped in and pumped out, and once a month they send the data to a vendor who does the math and determines if a leak has occurred.
That means a leak can go undetected for an entire month, as happened in Gunnison, where businesses have closed, families have been displaced, and the cleanup will take years.
There are better ways to detect leaks - high-tech automatic tank gauges and vapor detection systems that sound an alarm when a leak occurs. And the systems, at $5,000-$15,000 per tank, are inexpensive compared to the cost of cleaning up a major leak. But, inexplicably, there's no effort under way to make them mandatory.
Instead, DEQ may require tank owners using Statistical Inventory Reconciliation to reconcile their figures more frequently. A DEQ official declined to say how frequently, because the rule change, which must be approved by the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Control Board, is still being drafted. But unless they require tank owners to balance the books each and every day, it won't be good enough.
The Gunnison leak, while bigger than average, is not an isolated incident. Gas leaks, according to state records, have occurred in 47 Utah cities and towns. It's time for state officials to put a cork in this problem, and require leak-detection systems or daily reconciliation on every underground fuel tank in Utah.
