Tanks A Lot
Wondering what to do about an old underground tank?
Take it from us, this one time you don't want to discover oil in your back yard!
The Oregonian Monday, December 12, 1994
If you live in Texas, the discovery of oil in your back yard is reason to
celebrate. If you live in Oregon, get out the crying towel-and your checkbook.
Removing a leaking underground oil tank and paying for the environmental
cleanup can cost several thousand dollars. Its presence on your property also
could foul up the sale of your home as well as fouling your soil and creating
a safety hazard.
Homeowners concerned about heading off those problems can act preventively
to avoid them. You can disconnect, clean and fill and old abandonded tank and
leave it in the ground, disarmed. You can yank it out and dispose of it, then
fill the hole.
Or, the ever-popular choice for many homeowners: You can try to pretend it's
not there and deal with it later, if it becomes a problem. This one, of course,
is chancier.
There are no laws or regulations-that are being enforced, anyway -that require
you to do anything with an old underground residential tank.(Commercial tanks
are a whole different matter.) State Sen. Ron Cease, D-Portland, has a task
force looking at the situation, but that group has no immediate intention of
proposing a law to make tank disposal mandatory, reports one of its members.
The law does enter the picture if a tank is leaking or has leaked in the
past. Then it becomes a spill, and is regulated by the state Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ).
Suspected leaks must be reported to DEQ by anyone who has knowledge of them,
not just the homeowner. An oil company serciceman who notices you are using
three times the oil this winter you did last winter may wonder what's happening.
The smell of oil or the sight of its sheen on puddles on your property should
make you wonder, too.
If you are buying a house, pay attention to the clues. While home mortgage
lenders generally haven't made stiff requirements on old tanks, they are getting
more interested.
"We don't require written documentation on oil tanks," said Bill Ehrlich,
spokesman for a major Portland lender, Washingtion Mutual. "If we are made aware
of a potential problem, though, prior to making loan we do require that the
property is brought to code for that particular jurisdiction."
Oregon's real estate disclosure law gives home sellers a choice: They can
disclose everything they know about their property, which is apt to appeal to
buyers; or they can sell it in the traditional "buyer beware" manner and keep
mum about faults by siging a disclaimer. Since the law took effect Jan.1, sellers
most often have been choosing the second method, to the disappointment of reformers
who had hoped the law would promote more disclosure in real estate transactions.
Even if your tank has leaked, it's not the end of the world.
The Oregon Oil Heat Commission, financed by a 3 percent tax on heating oil
sales, may help you pau for the cleanup, which can be simple or complex, depending
upon the amount, soil type, location, and other factors.
Terrie Heer, administrator of the Oil Heat Commission(731-3002), said her
commission pays for about 150 environmental protection fund claims a year. The
program pays an average $7,000to remove contaminated dirt, conduct soil tests
and restore the property.
The program doesn't cover the cost of removing the old tank and buying and
installing a new one. It also doesn't cover abandoned tanks.
Oil dealers sell insurance that covers the cost of a new tank if yours fails.
The commission also sells such policies, at a cost of $29 annually. They cover
removal of the old tank, and replacing up to 400 gallons of lost oil. That package
is worth about $1,500, she say's.
If your tank isn't leaking but you want to deal with it, you can fill it
up and leave it buried, called "decommissioning in place"; or you can pull it
out, check the soil below it for leaks, and backfill.
Doing the work yourself is probably more than most people want to undertake,
but it's possible. Look over the steps in the accompanying illustration and
get details from the DEQ.
Once you go to all the trouble to decommission or remove a tank, you'll want
proof you've done it correctly to show to future buyers or lenders. The Portland
Fire Marshal's office will sell you a permit (minmum $31.80, based on the value
of the job) and certify your documents.
The permit desk at the marshal's office also can help you determine what
you've got in, or under your property, if your house isn't too old. Their records
date to the 1930s. Clerk Norma Scott said she can help find the size of a tank
or when it was installed.
If you decide to hire someone to decommission or remove your tank, try a
company like Residential Tank Servive or Portland Tank Service. They'll pump,
clean and fill or remove your old tank. Cost ranges from $495 for decommissioning
a 300-gallon tank to $1,000 or more for removing one.
"I figured there's no use waiting until I get in a real bind," said Portlander
Ben Wohler, who recently paid Portland Tank $775 to pump out the remaining oil
and pump in a cement slurry mixture from his old 675-gallon oil tank. The Wohlers
converted to natural gas sometime ago.
He got a "certificate of abandonment" and a rebate of about $25 for the oil
that was still in the tank.
Barbara Reilly, owner of Residential Tank, said her service includes digging
down to the tank, cutting it open to clean and inspect it, photodocumenting
and reporting results to the owner.
"At that point, it's the property owner's responsibility to deal with the
problem.