EPA update

Well, I did hear back from the EPA concerning a local GA airport's efforts
to get an exemption from regulations concerning fuel storage. You see,
one of my most annoying local airports sits atop an important aquifer that
supplies the whole region with groundwater. The local FBO's (who control
the airport board) want a certain regulation concerning fuel storage
voided so that they don't have to pay the cost of constructing a storage
area (and probably because they want to put hangars there, to generate
more profit).

Anyway, the EPA was already on to it. Their response was encouraging.
Here it is (with some minor blackouts -- don't want the poor EPA person to
receive threats from some of the whacko pilots, you know, so I blacked out
a few words...)


"skylune" (my real name was on the letter:

Thank you for the e-mail on August 3rd concerning xxx Airways, a
Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at the municipal airport in xxxxxxxxxxx. The
regulations that xxxxx referred to are the Oil
Pollution Prevention regulations, which are a part of the Clean Water
Act. Specifically, the regulations require the FBO to provide
secondary containment around their fuel trucks at night under their
Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan.

EPA-New England's Regional Administrator had recently received a letter
from Senator Judd Gregg, wherein he forwarded two form letters from
members of the aircraft refueling industry in New Hampshire. xxxxx
had sent one of those letters to Senator Gregg. Similar form letters
had been received at EPA headquarters in Washington DC from aircraft
refueling companies around the country.

This industry is taking exception to EPA's publication, in July of 2002,
of revised SPCC regulations. In the preamble to the regulations, EPA
re-stated its position that airport refueler trucks have always been
considered "mobile and portable tanks" under the SPCC regulations.
The refueling industry has disputed this since the regulations became
effective in 1974, and the debate was re-ignited.

You are correct to be concerned about fuel spills contaminating the
xxxxx aquifer, the main source of drinking water in the xxxxx
area. Such fuel spills, whether from fixed bulk storage tanks, or fuel
trucks left full of product overnight, have the same devastating effect
on groundwater quality. Rest assured that the EPA-New England region
is inspecting airports for SPCC compliance, and enforcing the
regulations at FBO's.
xxxxxx
Regional Spill-SPCC Enforcement Coordinator
xxxxx
xxxxx.gov


Nice job Senator. But I wrote that Senator at the same time, as well as
my other US Senator, Congressman, and state reps urging them to NOT relax
any EPA regulations for the financial benefit of the FBOs.