Connecticut’s Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Cleanup Program is in danger of loosing their approval from the EPA as a mechanism of financial responsibility.  The program was created to serve as an alternative to private insurance to gas station owners who could not get insurance through the private sector.

Currently the state owes more then $17 million dollars to businesses who have received approval to be reimbursed for cleanup costs, and more then $81.6 million worth of applications for reimbursement.  

Due to state cutbacks and troubling economic times the fund has lost much of its state funding.  "At current funding levels, most owners and operators will not receive reimbursement in their lifetime," James T. Owens III, director of the EPA's Office of Site Remediation and Restoration, wrote to state Environmental Protection officials. "Clearly, in its current condition, the use of the state fund as a means of financial responsibility does not encourage -- or in some cases enable -- releases to be addressed promptly."

January 26, 2012 the EPA sent a letter to Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse Chief Betsey Wingfield stating “EPA will begin the process of withdrawing approval of the CT DEEP Program state fund as a mechanism of financial responsibility should a solution not be achieved by the end of the legislative session on May 9, 2012.”

If the state can not find a solution by May 9^th and the EPA ends its recognition of the program, gas stations across the state will be forced to find private insurance, with the high costs these station owners  will be forced to raise prices or to close down completely.

 -Victoria DiBacco, Complaince Analyst