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Committee hears bill to expand eligibility for petroleum tank cleanup fund
Summary
A bill that would change an eligibility date for Montana's Petro Fund to allow roughly 20 previously ineligible petroleum tank release sites to seek cleanup assistance drew unanimous support from owners and DEQ at a Senate Natural Resources hearing.
House Bill 189 would change the eligibility date for Montana's Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund so that several sites that previously were excluded could apply for state assistance to clean up petroleum tank releases.
Sponsor Rep. Marta Bertoglio, who represents House District 75, told the Senate Natural Resources Committee the bill would correct a narrow but consequential cutoff that left roughly 20 sites statewide ineligible when the Petro Fund and related regulations were being established.
The bill matters because a small group of owners say they have carried cleanup obligations for years without access to the same fund assistance available to other tank owners. "We pay the tax. Our customers have been paying the tax for 36 years, but we only get half of the coverage because of the date," said David Hunter, who with partner Chris Rehor owns the Montana City store and convenience station. Hunter said one of their two historical spills is eligible under current rules and the other is not.
Terry Dorrington, tanks, brownfields and Federal Facilities Bureau chief at the Department of Environmental Quality, said DEQ supports the bill. Dorrington said the change would let owners of releases that meet the corrected date requirements finish cleanup and close releases more quickly, reducing the backlog of petroleum releases the agency oversees.
Terry Wadsworth, executive director of the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board, testified as an informational witness and walked committee members through a handout listing sites. Wadsworth said about 20 facilities fall into the time window the bill would affect; three of those are not eligible because they are railroad or federal facilities, and three others fall outside the relevant 1984 date.
Committee questions focused on the fund balance and likely costs. Witnesses gave two fund figures: Rep. Bertoglio told members the Petro Fund had about $6,500,000; Brad Longcake, speaking for the Montana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Associations, said the fund had $7,861,000 as of January of the year in his notes. DEQ and the board said average cleanup costs are about $100,000 per site, and several sites are near closure.
Committee members also requested clarification of the program's cost-share structure. Wadsworth explained the typical cost-sharing: a 50/50 split for the first $35,000 of eligible costs (effectively a $17,500 owner copay) and additional fund coverage for costs above that up to program caps; smaller tanks have a $10,000 category with a $5,000 owner share and different upper limits.
The committee concluded the hearing on HB 189 with no vote recorded.
Proponents in the room included tank owners, the Montana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Associations, DEQ staff, and the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board; no opponents appeared.
