Introduction Maine's underground and aboveground petroleum storage facilities located across the state store motor fuels and heating oil. In addition to spills associated with transporting and delivering fuel, the storage tanks and associated piping can fail due to corrosion, physical damage, inadequate maintenance and vandalism. The spilled petroleum can contaminate soil, groundwater and air and exposure to petroleum contaminated media can b harmful to ones health., DEP has guidelines to measure levels of petroleum contamination and determine the clean-up necessary to minimize risk to public health.
Written approval of clean up plans required. Oil discharges are required by Maine statute (38 MRSA §568) to be cleaned up to the satisfaction of the Commissioner. Maine statute also limits payments to reimburse applicants to the Maine Groundwater Oil Clean-up Fund to those clean up expenditures that are in accordance with a written agreement between the applicant and the Commissioner and which includes a remedial action plan and schedule (38 MRSA §568-A.4). Remedial action agreements are to be entered into before the start of clean up. For non-emergency response clean-ups, remedial action plans are expected to include a thorough evaluation of the feasible clean up alternatives and their cost effectiveness.
Contacts The Petroleum Remedial Planning Unit manages the cleanup at large or complex sites. For further information, contact Tom Benn at 287-7662 or 287-2651. For information on Remediation Hydrogeology, contact Bruce Hunter at 287-7672 or 287-2651. For Engineering questions, contact Fred LaVallee at 287-7677 or 287-2651. For indoor Air Issues Contact Peter Eremita at 822-6364 or 287-2651.
Petroleum Clean Up Program Guidelines, Information, Lists, Policy and Procedures:
LUST Program Quality Assurance Plan- Guidelines for environmental sampling and analysis under the Leaking Underground Storage Tanks program.
Fund Coverage Cost Guide: The Fund Coverage Cost Guide is intended to give guidance regarding what will be considered as eligible for payment or reimbursement from the Ground Water Oil Clean-Up Fund on a site where an applicant has been found eligible for coverage by the Fund program, under 38 M.R.S.A. Section 568-A. For further information, contact the Oil Remediation and Claims Unit at (207) 287-7860.
Long Term Petroleum Remediation Priority Lists (Updated April 2009) - The following Priority List refers only to petroleum-contaminated sites referred to the Division of Technical Services for long-term remediation. It is presented in two documents that differ only in how they are sorted: one sorted alphabetically by towns, the other sorted by its state priority ranking.
Petroleum Pre-Qualified Consultants List (Updated January 2008) - The following list contains the names, contact information and qualifications of companies places on the Pre-Qualified Consultants List for projects at petroleum remediation sites.
Land Treatment Guidelines - The file is the guidance for land treatment of petroleum contaminated soils. October 2006. (pdf format) Contact: Robert Sypitkowski - (207) 941-4564
February 2, 2009 - Soil Gas Sampling - Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
Ground Water Oil Clean-Up Fund - Information sheet on the fund. Explains fund coverage for owners and operators of underground and aboveground oil storage facilities.
