HOUSE BILL REPORT

ESSB 6741

As Amended by the House

BYSenate Committee on Environment & Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Senators Metcalf, Kreidler and Sellar)

Relating to storage tanks.

House Committe on Environmental Affairs

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (13)

      Signed by Representatives Rust, Chair; Valle, Vice Chair; Brekke, Ferguson, Jesernig, Lux, May, Pruitt, Schoon, D. Sommers, Sprenkle, Unsoeld and Walker.

House Staff:Bonnie Austin (786-7107)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 3, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Storage tanks, especially underground storage tanks, are being recognized as a major environmental concern due to the number of potentially leaking tanks and the threat that they pose to groundwater.  According to the Department of Ecology, more than 33,000 underground tanks have been identified in the state.  More than 40 percent of these tanks are over fifteen years old, at which time they become statistically more likely to leak.  Estimates on the number of leaking tanks vary widely, from 1 percent to 35 percent depending on the source.

Washington has no program which comprehensively regulates underground storage tanks. In pursuing enforcement action on those whose tanks are leaking, the agency must use other laws, such as water pollution and hazardous waste statutes.

The federal government has developed several storage tank regulatory programs, primarily aimed at underground tanks. In 1984, Congress passed legislation (Subtitle I, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) requiring all tank owners to notify state environmental agencies by May 1986 that they have tanks.  This process has been completed in Washington.  In 1986, as part of the reauthorized federal Superfund hazardous waste cleanup law, Congress imposed tank standards and required owners or operators of tanks to have at least $1 million of insurance or other proof of financial responsibility.

SUMMARY:

A Joint Select Committee on Storage Tanks is established with six members of the House of Representatives and six members of the Senate.  The committee is to seek input from persons and organizations representing various specified groups.

The committee is to report to the appropriate legislative committees by December 10, 1988 on: (1) requirements needed for full state authority to manage the federal underground storage tank program; (2) provisions necessary to implement a state-wide underground storage tank program; (3) the cost of tank program administration and methods of funding; (4) the advisability of and methods for providing tank owners and operators with a program to assure compliance with federal financial responsibility mandates including programs such as risk retention pools for those who cannot obtain adequate and reasonably priced private insurance; and (5) a timetable for implementing the state underground storage tank program.

By December 10, 1988, the Department of Ecology is to provide a report on above-ground storage tanks.  The department is to establish a definition for above-ground petroleum storage tanks with the advice of the joint select committee.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Tim Hamilton, Automotive United Trade Organization; Randy Ray, Oil Heat Institute; Gary Smith, Independent Business Association.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    Small businesses in the state that utilize underground storage tanks have no ability to insure against risks.  More information is needed so that the state can develop options for insuring these risks.  The study approach is appropriate at this time, pending the promulgation of federal regulations.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.