EPA awards Oklahoma group $1.3 million for storage tank leak detection

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday that it has awarded nearly $1.3 million in grants to the Oklahoma Corporation Conservation Commission to fix and clean petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks (UST).

USTs are used to store petroleum products like gasoline, and leaks can cause toxic fumes and vapors to collect in areas like parking garages. This can lead to explosions or respiratory illness, but the biggest danger posed by UST leakages is that they can contaminate soil and groundwater that many people depend on for drinking water.

The EPA works with state, local and tribal governments to keep UST systems in compliance with their regulations, and grants like the ones given to the Oklahoma Corporation Conservation Commission are used for everything from technical assistance to enforcement and remediation. In Oklahoma, $459,000 will go toward responding to the petroleum leaks, while $809,000 will go toward cleaning them up.

The EPA recently strengthened the federal requirements around USTs and bolstered those already in existence as it tries to advance the prevention and detection of leaks.