[CPEO-BIF] What is the USTfields initiative?

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For the additional info go to US EPA's Office of Underground Storage Tanks
(OUST) Web page:
http://www.epa.gov/swerust1/cat/lustfld.htm

What is the USTfields initiative? 

The USTfields initiative is an effort by the U.S. EPA's Office of
Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) to focus attention on abandoned or idled
industrial and commercial underground storage tank (UST) facilities. Some
of these facilities are gasoline service stations and automobile lots
(i.e., rental car lots) where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by
real or perceived environmental contamination. USTfields are located in
urban, suburban, and rural areas throughout the country. 

OUST's USTfields initiative is committed to help EPA Regions and State
governments collect and distribute information on current or completed
efforts to revitalize such properties, mitigate potential health risks, and
environmentally and economically restore vitality to areas where these
sites exist. OUST's efforts under the USTfields initiative can be grouped
into four broad and overlapping categories: 

Document challenges facing state and local regulatory program efforts to
redevelop abandoned or idled UST sites; Build partnerships;  Implement a
"USTfield pilot" project in Utah to transfer lessons learned to interested
parties to help redevelop actual sites; and Outreach via our homepage to
share lessons learned among federal agencies, states, municipalities, and
communities.

The Brownfield connection 

The USTfields initiative is an offshoot of the Brownfields initiative. Due
to restrictions in the Superfund legislation pertaining to petroleum
releases, federal funding from Superfund cannot be used to address the
problems of sites with USTs.

The term USTfield was coined as a means of emphasizing the different
opportunities and challenges posed as a result of cleanup and redevelopment
efforts at sites which contain USTs as compared to large hazardous waste
sites (i.e., typical "Brownfield" sites). 

Old or abandoned gasoline stations and other commercial or industrial
properties with "orphan" USTs may in fact, currently be identified as
Brownfields. Many of the estimated 100,000 to 450,000 brownfields sites in
the U.S. involve USTs. For example, Illinois estimates that half of the
state's brownfields sites are former UST/UST sites. 

continued...

http://www.epa.gov/swerust1/cat/lustfld.htm


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