SB2930 SD2

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that underground storage tank and tank system regulations are intended to protect the environment by preventing the release of petroleum and hazardous substances into the environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, underground storage tank systems pose a substantial threat to human health and the environment.

The legislature also finds that the lands and waters of Hawaii are unique and delicately balanced resources, the protection of which is vital to the economy of the State, and the protection of groundwater is a matter of the highest priority. As the primary source of potable water in Hawaii, groundwater must be preserved in as close to pristine condition as possible and accommodate the needs of multiple public and private users.

The legislature further finds that the storage of petroleum products and hazardous substances in underground storage tank systems within the jurisdiction of the State is a hazardous undertaking, and that spills, discharges, and releases of the substances that may occur as a result of private and governmental actions involving the storage of these products can pose serious threats to the environment of the State, to citizens of the State, and to other interests deriving livelihood from the State. These hazards have occurred in the past and future potentially catastrophic threats must be addressed and mitigated.

The legislature further finds that the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility, the State's largest field-constructed underground storage tank system, stores more fuel in a single location than any other underground storage tank system in Hawaii. The facility stores up to 187 million gallons of fuel per day, has a total capacity of 250 million gallons, and is located only one hundred feet above a federally designated sole-source aquifer drinking water source. Previous core samples from nineteen of the twenty tanks at Red Hill have evidence of weathered contamination from past releases, and a release of approximately twenty-seven thousand gallons of petroleum products in 2014 further endangered Hawaii's groundwater resources. However, chapter 11-281, Hawaii Administrative Rules, exempts field-constructed underground storage tanks, tank systems, and related piping, including the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility, from some of the requirements that must be met by owners and operators of other underground storage tanks or tank systems. Field constructed tanks, including the tanks at Red Hill, are governed by parts of chapter 11-281, Hawaii Administrative Rules, including subchapter 6 (release reporting, investigation, and confirmation), subchapter 7 (release response action), subchapter 8 (closure and change-in-service), section 11-281-12 (tank requirements), and section 11-281-13 (piping requirements). Providing the State's largest field-constructed underground storage tank facility with an exemption from other regulatory requirements that must be met by other underground storage tank and tank system owners is extremely detrimental to human health and the environment.

The purpose of this Act is to protect the State's underground drinking water sources and surrounding environment by requiring the department of health to adopt rules for underground storage tanks, tank systems, and related piping that conform with 2015 revisions to federal regulations and include additional requirements no less stringent than any regulation established pursuant to federal law for certain field-constructed underground storage tanks, including compliance with certain requirements in chapter 11-281, Hawaii Administrative Rules, or successor rules.

SECTION 2. On or before October 13, 2018, the department of health shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, including necessary revisions, to conform Hawaii's underground storage tank and tank system rules with the July 15, 2015, revisions to the United States Environmental Protection Agency underground storage tank regulations codified in title 40 Code of Federal Regulations part 280; provided that the department shall additionally require through rules that:

(1) All field-constructed underground storage tanks with storage capacities greater than fifty thousand gallons shall:

(A) Be required to upgrade with secondary containment with interstitial monitoring by July 1, ; and

(B) Be subject to the permitting requirements specified in chapter 11-281, Hawaii Administrative Rules, or successor rules;

(2) All onsite integral piping connected to any field-constructed underground storage tanks with storage capacities greater than fifty thousand gallons shall:

(A) Be required to upgrade with secondary containment with interstitial monitoring by July 1, , if the piping is in contact with the soil, concrete, or cannot be visually inspected; and

(B) Be subject to the permitting requirements specified in chapter 11-281, Hawaii Administrative Rules, or successor rules;

provided that "onsite integral piping" means on-site piping, originating or terminating at the regulated storage tank or tanks, that conveys regulated substances. Vapor, or other recovery lines, pipeline facilities, and vent lines, are not considered integral piping. Integral piping includes all valves, elbows, joints, flanges, pumps, and flexible connectors associated with the pipe originating at the storage tank up to the union of the integral piping with the dispensing system, the fill valve, the forwarding pump used for transferring regulated substances to a flow-through process tank or an industrial production or manufacturing point of use, the first flange or connection within a loading rack containment area, or the first shoreside valve after the marine transfer area for on-site piping at regulated underground storage tank facilities;

(3) Owners and operators of field-constructed underground storage tanks that fail to meet the deadline specified in paragraphs (1)(A) and (2)(A) shall empty the storage tank system, take the system out of service by July 1, , and permanently close the tank by July 1, , in accordance with chapter 11-281, Hawaii Administrative Rules, or successor rules; and

(4) The department of health shall revoke the permits of any owners and operators of field-constructed underground storage tanks that fail to meet the deadline specified in paragraphs (1)(A) and (2)(A) for upgrading with secondary containment.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2930
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII