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Legislative panel hears bill to let petroleum cleanup fund pay for prevention inspections
Summary
The House Appropriations Committee heard Senate Bill 315, which would allow the petroleum tank release cleanup fund to be used for prevention activities including compliance inspections; proponents said the change repurposes existing money and could avoid larger cleanup costs later.
Senate Bill 315, which would allow additional preventive uses of the petroleum tank release cleanup fund, received a hearing before the Montana House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 3, 2025.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator John Esp, Senate District 29, told the committee the measure would add uses for Petro Fund dollars to pay for preventive measures and to “incent those inspections and sent compliance inspections” so releases can be caught earlier and costs avoided later. He said the change reallocates existing fund dollars rather than adding new revenue.
The bill drew support from industry and state officials. Brad Longcake, representing the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said his members operate the tanks and support the proposal as “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and emphasized that the bill does not create new revenue…
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