ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
underground storage tanks;
revisions
Establishes
a municipal tank closure program (MTCP) to allow small cities to obtain grants
to close underground storage tanks (USTs) for which there is no legal owner or
operator to perform the closure.
Authorizes the collection of a temporary $.01/gallon excise tax on
regulated substances placed in USTs for three years to pay for the MTCP program
as well as to pay for approved but unpaid claims against the UST assurance
account.
The state UST program was established in 1986 by the Legislature to implement UST regulations adopted by Congress in 1984 as part of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The UST program is designed to prevent, detect and clean up releases of petroleum and other hazardous (regulated) substances into the groundwater, surface and subsurface soils. The state program also provides financial coverage to UST owners and operators for upgrading and closing tanks, and the clean up of site contamination. The UST program is self-funded, with primary revenues coming from a one cent per gallon excise tax on regulated substances (primarily petroleum), a $100 tank registration fee and two federal grants. The excise tax generates approximately $24 million a year.
The UST assurance account is intended to provide partial coverage of corrective action costs incurred by a UST owner or operator and to pay for corrective action costs incurred by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). There is also a grant account under the UST revolving fund, which is used primarily for upgrading or closing USTs. S.B. 1319 creates a municipal tank closure program to assist small communities that have problems with high concentrations of USTs for which there is no legal owner or operator to be responsible for the closure of those tanks. S.B. 1319 proposes to fund this program from the grant account.
In the 1999 special performance audit of the UST program by the Office of the Auditor General, the total unpaid claims against the assurance account stood at $55 million at the end of FY 1999. Additionally, the account had $22 million in pending claims at that time. S.B. 1319 imposes an additional $.01 per gallon excise tax on regulated substances placed in USTs for a three-year period for the purpose of paying the unpaid claims against the assurance account and for funding the municipal tank closure program.
1. Establishes a municipal tank closure program (MTCP) to allow cities with a population of less than 15,000 people and at least 15 USTs located on property owned or controlled by a person who is not the owner or operator of the tank to apply for and receive grant monies to close the tanks.
2. Requires municipalities to submit a grant application to ADEQ that includes specified information such as a comprehensive cost estimate for the project, a map identifying the location of the tanks, a comprehensive plan and schedule for the closure of the tanks and evidence that the property owner(s) have consented to the closure of the tank.
3. Requires ADEQ to consider grant applications in the order they are received and make grants of no more than $500,000 to each municipality that qualifies for a grant. ADEQ is required to issue a decision on a grant application within 90 days of receiving it. Grants shall be made from the UST grant account.
4. Allows ADEQ to enter into a delegation agreement with a qualifying municipality in order to implement the MTCP.
5. Allows eligible applicants to be reimbursed from the grant account, up to $30,000, for the costs of preparing the grant application.
6. Imposes a temporary, three-year, $.01 per gallon excise tax on regulated substances placed in USTs. Revenues from this tax are allocated as follows:
·
20
percent to the UST grant account for the purpose of paying for the MTPC grants
·
80
percent to the UST assurance account to pay for approved but unpaid claims
against the account
7. Specifies that the temporary excise tax is collected and processed in the same manner as the existing $.01/gallon excise tax that funds the UST revolving fund.
8. Repeals the temporary excise tax from and after June 30, 2003 and specifies that any monies from this tax remaining in the grant and assurance accounts do not revert and can be used for the purposes allowed for those two accounts.
9. Requires ADEQ’s rules for the closure of USTs to allow for in-place closure of the tanks without filling or removing the tank if the director determines the tank cannot reasonably be filled or removed and the tank poses no threat to public health or the environment.
10. Allows a person who is not an owner or operator of a UST who permanently closes a tank after July 1, 2000 to be eligible for 100 percent coverage from the assurance account if the person owned the property before July 1, 2000 or the person had principal control of the property or UST before July 1, 2000.
11. Allows a person who is not an owner or operator of a UST but who undertakes a corrective action for a release from a UST to be eligible for 100 percent coverage from the assurance account regardless of the date when the release is reported.
12. Makes other technical and conforming changes.
13. Contains a Proposition 108 clause requiring a two-thirds vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives for passage.
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 28, 2000