Industry News for April 23, 2019
UST Reforms Bill Signed by Governor Ducey
Governor Doug Ducey has signed HB 2704 into law!
APMA worked closely with ADEQ on a package of reforms to benefit UST owners and operators by
- Increasing the Tank Site Improvement Program (TSIP) site cap from $100,000 to $300,000, as well as increasing various activity caps as follows:
- Tank system upgrades from $100,000 per site to $200,000 per site
- Suspected release confirmation from $10,000 per site to $20,000 per site
- Baseline assessment from $30,000 per site to $40,000 per site
- Tank removal from $20,000 per tank to $25,000 per tank plus up to $15,000 per site for over-excavation if contaminated soil is discovered
- These increases will help create parity between state lead vendors and private contractors and incentivize removal of aging tanks
- The new caps apply to applications before the legislation becomes effective
- Allowing reimbursement of some preapproval preparation costs (site reconnaissance, kickoff meeting attendance, application and consulting expenses) subject to a cap of two percent of the project costs incurred in the first year
- Payment of claims for “equity” scenarios when site owners incurred corrective action costs before receiving preapproval
- due to being out of financial responsibility compliance between 12/31/15 and 12/31/19 OR
- due to the urgency of the corrective action between 12/31/15 and 12/31/19
- Instructing the Department to develop an expedited preapproval process for scenarios when it is impractical to wait to begin work
- Giving the Department settlement authority for liens associated with certain sites
The bill will take effect 90 days after the legislative session ends. Today is the 100th day of the legislative session, and budget negotiations are barely underway, so it is likely that session will continue into May or even June. However, the TSIP cap increases apply retroactively so site owners should not delay in submitting applications.
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