Town gas tanks not in line with EPA regs

Town leaders learned recently that the two municipal aboveground gas tanks, which are used to fuel all town vehicles, were not registered with the state Department of Environmental Service (DES).

At a meeting with the Budget Committee last week Town Administrator Jeanne Beaudin reported the problem and outlined what the town is doing to bring the tanks back into compliance with state regulations.

“Through the process of registering the tanks significant upgrades were necessary and have been paid for through the town’s Environmental Contingency line (in the 2007 budget),” she said.

“An additional expense of $17,286 is anticipated in 2008,” she added.

Late last week Fire Chief Jim Davis said he doesn’t know why the tanks, which sit on the Fire Department’s property off Rte. 140 near the village, were not registered with the DES. The department is responsible for inspecting all in-ground and aboveground tanks that are installed in town for safety purposes but Davis said there’s no provision about making re-inspections at regular intervals.

The tanks have been on the Fire Department’s property since the building was built with a combination of a massive volunteer effort and some town funds back in 1995. “But I was only a lowly firefighter then,” Davis joked. (Chief Davis took over his job several months ago.)

Davis said there are two tanks, one that can hold 2,000 gallons of gasoline and one that can hold 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel. He said the work needed to bring the tanks into compliance with contemporary DES regulations has already begun.

“I don’t know all the details but we’ve already placard them with ‘hazardous gasoline’ and ‘diesel fuel’ signs,” he said. “There’s a special overfill alarm that’s been put on it. And there are new gauges put on the interior of the tanks.”

In addition Davis made sure fire extinguishers and an alarm was added to the facility, which is part of his responsibilities as fire safety inspector.

“I think they (also) want to add remote fill units so they can be filled from the outside,” Davis said.

Those “remote fill lines” are what will add $17,286 to the 2008 budget, Beaudin told the Budget Committee last week.

Until all work is done on the tanks, the delivery of gas and diesel fuel to the town is being done by small “puddle trucks for which we pay a delivery fee of $75,” she added. “It is proposed to retrofit the tanks to allow for tanker delivery.”