ASTM International Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management, and Corrective Action is seeking participation in the development of a proposed new standard, WK15256, Guide for Investigation of Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Equipment Problems and Releases. The proposed guide, under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee E50.04 on Corrective Action, is intended to assist with the development of investigation protocols for underground petroleum storage tank facilities.
 
Dennis Rounds, chair of Subcommittee E50.04 and executive director of the South Dakota Office of Risk Management, Public Entity Pool for Liability and Petroleum Release Compensation Fund, says that despite a 1998 deadline for owners and operators of regulated underground petroleum storage tanks to upgrade their tank systems, new releases are still occurring.
 
“Few of the new releases are actually from the tank itself, but rather from other components of the tank system, such as the piping distribution system, fill spouts, dispenser and flex connectors,” says Rounds. “There was not a consistent or standardized way to properly identify the cause of the release or what equipment failed.”
 
Rounds notes that root-cause analysis can help identify the major causes of releases. Once these causes are known, steps can be taken to minimize the risk of new releases occurring. “It is also important to have standardized methods for evaluating the cause of petroleum releases to determine if it was due to faulty equipment, improper installation or operator error,” says Rounds. “This can be important if or when cost recovery actions are initiated.”
 
WK15256 will be useful to owners and operators of underground storage tank systems because it will provide a consistent and standardized approach to identifying the cause of a release and preserving the failed equipment involved so that it can be properly investigated. The regulatory and insurance communities will also benefit from WK15256 because it will help identify problem areas with tank systems that pose a high risk of future releases. 
 
For further technical information, contact Dennis Rounds, South Dakota Office of Risk Management, Pierre, S.D. (phone: 605/773-5879; Dennis.Rounds@state.sd.us). Committee E50 will meet Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the October Committee Week in Tampa, Fla. For membership or meeting information, contact Daniel Smith, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9727; dsmith@astm.org).

Release #7712