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House approves bill expanding cleanup authority for underground storage tanks
Summary
The Utah House passed Substitute Senate Bill 116 to revise liability and cleanup rules for leaking underground storage tanks, allowing the Department of Environmental Quality to use fund money for site cleanups and clarifying protection for innocent purchasers; lawmakers debated retroactivity, caps and legislative appropriation requirements.
The Utah House on the floor debated and approved Substitute Senate Bill 116, which revises how the state handles liability and cleanups for leaking underground storage tanks. Representative Mel Brown, the bill sponsor, said the measure protects purchasers who did not contribute to contamination, allows the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to use dedicated funds to clean identified leaks and clarifies procedures for identifying responsible parties and recovering damages.
Supporters said the bill corrects ambiguities in earlier law and aligns state practice with the state superfund approach, limiting liability to parties whose conduct contributed to contamination. Representative Brown said the change ‘‘creates a situation where not only we can deal with those problems of people who have to receive the protection under this liability coverage, but it also now allows the Department of Environmental Quality to utilize some of those funds to clean up where there’s identified leaks.’’
Opponents and questioning members pressed the sponsor on retroactive effect, how the law would treat an innocent purchaser and whether the removal of a prior statutory fund cap could leave the program open-ended. Representative Olson asked how a subsequent purchaser could be held responsible for an old spill; Brown said the bill follows state law that evaluates liability based on contribution and that an innocent purchaser who did not contribute would be protected. Lawmakers also noted the prior funding floor and cap discussed in debate: committee remarks referenced a prior cap in the range of $17.5 million with a floor near $12 million and that the substitute removes that hard cap while maintaining that expenditures ‘‘above that’’ must be appropriated by the Legislature.
The House recorded the substitute bill as passing with the clerk’s announced tally of 68 yes, 0 no. The bill will be returned to the Senate for further consideration of House amendments.
What’s next: Sponsor remarks and questions indicated rulemaking will guide DEQ site selection and that any money used beyond existing fund levels must be appropriated by the Legislature, creating a separate legislative check on large expenditures.
