NEIWPCC News and Resources

New Tanks Staff Member

NEIWPCC has a new tanks program manager — Lillian Zemba came to NEIWPCC in July of 2022. Prior to starting at NEIWPCC, Lillian worked as an environmental scientist at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM) in their tanks program. While at RI DEM, Lillian conducted UST compliance inspections, managed LUST sites, and worked with the state fund to process LUST site reimbursement claims.

National Tanks Conference Presentations

The 27th National Tanks Conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in September of 2022. The conference was a great opportunity to meet other tanks professionals in person and offered incredible workshops and presentations. Programs and presentation slides can be viewed in NEIWPCC’s NTC archive. Additionally, the following sessions were streamed and are available to view online:

Site Assessment I: Bedrock Sites

The session provides information regarding quantitative High Resolution Site Characterization (qHRSC) consisting of soil and groundwater sampling to evaluate the horizontal and vertical extent of LNAPL in saturated soil. The data collected from the discrete soil and groundwater sampling provided information to assist in choosing optimal injection locations and groundwater remediation design. Using results from LUST sites in the desert southwest, geophysics data for conceptual site model (CSM) development, plume mapping, and the geophysical response to natural attenuation is demonstrated.

Site Assessment II: High Resolution Site Characterization

This session provides case studies highlighting strategies for site characterization methods to refine the conceptual site model. This session enforces the importance of relevant physical and chemical data. Case studies highlight technologies and techniques to apply scale-appropriate investigations, measurements, and sample density to define contaminant context and distribution, with greater certainty to provide and support more effective site cleanup, and lessons learned.

Emergency Power Generator (EPG) UST Systems: One of The Last Frontiers

This session provides an overview of the federal UST requirements applicable to emergency power generator UST systems and highlight two recently posted EPA publications specific to these UST systems. It discusses the wide variations in system designs as a result of application of inconsistent design standards. This session also discusses certain complexities that are inherent to EPG UST systems such as having an UST or AST with delivery pipe going underground only to enter a building to fuel gensets, and/or boilers and the presence of atypical components such as different types of pumps, filtration systems, and complex controls. Learn what to look for and how to test sites like these to ensure regulatory compliance and safe fuel delivery.

UST Removal Time

This session addresses the massive challenge to Underground Storage Tank (UST) and Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) programs of a wave of aging UST systems nationally. How big of an issue is it, really? What
does it look like in terms of national data, and from the inside of a 30+ year old system? Most states don’t yet require older UST systems be removed, so this session communicates how some states have attempted to limit their downsides and require or encourage the removal of older UST systems through various regulatory, compliance assistance, or funding approaches. What did they do, and what did they learn? What lessons might be helpful for your own state?

UST/LUST Webpage Updates

Over the past few months, there have been updates to NEIWPCC’s UST/LUST webpages. Both the LUST Site Management and UST Inspection and Release Prevention webpages now include webinar libraries that allow for easy access to resources.  The updates make it easier to find webinars like the recent Air Sparge, Soil Vapor Extraction, and Dual-phase Extraction at LUST Sites or more vintage videos like Tank Closure Without Tears – An Inspectors Safety Guide (a video produced by NEIWPCC in 1987.)

L.U.S.T.Line Updates

L.U.S.T.Line has two new staff members, Lillian Zemba and Cheyenne Ellis, who are collaborating to curate and edit articles. They are excited to join the team and bring forth new issues of L.U.S.T.Line.

NEIWPCC will continue providing the quality and character of content that readers have come to expect from L.U.S.T.Line over the past 38 years, while adding a few updates that make the articles easier to find. This L.U.S.T.Line issue is available in two formats. It can be viewed  as a PDF, with all articles in one document or in a blog-style format, where each article is available as its own webpage.