SB 26-122

Senate Bill 26-122, which has been signed into law, changes the rules around how much money can be covered by a fund that deals with leaks and spills from underground storage tanks. Previously, this fund could cover up to $2 million for any single incident, but now it allows owners or operators of these tanks to get permission to have higher coverage limits if they need it. The bill also gives the director of oil and public safety more flexibility to make exceptions to certain fuel standards when necessary. This affects businesses that own underground or aboveground storage tanks for petroleum products and those involved in setting and enforcing fuel quality standards. Since the bill has been signed, these changes are now law and will impact how incidents involving leaks from storage tanks are handled financially and how fuel standards can be adjusted under specific circumstances.

Official Summary

Under current law, the maximum amount of liability of the petroleum storage tank fund for an individual occurrence of a leak, spill, or release of a petroleum product from an underground storage tank (occurrence) is $2,000,000. The act allows an owner or operator of an underground or aboveground storage tank (owner or operator) to exceed this amount of liability with the permission of the director of the division of oil and public safety (director) and the petroleum storage tank committee (committee). If the director and the committee grant such permission, the director and committee shall establish a new maximum amount of liability per occurrence for the owner or operator.     Under current law, all class I, II, and III liquid fuel products must comply with the most current applicable standards of ASTM International. The act allows the director to adopt a rule or issue policy guidance that provides exceptions to specific requirements established in an ASTM standard.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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