Guest Columns
LSSI offers Gas Station site owners chance to get Site Rehabilitation Completion Order
For current and former gas station owners operating in today’s economy, it is much easier to refinance your property or purchase a former or current retail gas station if the site is free of contamination and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued a Site Rehabilitation Completion Order (SRCO) relieving the site owner or responsible party from further obligation to address the petroleum impacts related to the eligible discharge. FDEP has established a program for sites with at least one confirmed petroleum release that has been accepted into the state’s preapproval program. The Low Scored Site Initiative (LSSI) was created to assess sites that have a funding priority score of 29 and below. The LSSI program provides owners with the opportunity to have their site addressed out of priority order. The hope is that many of the low scored sites will have been affected by Natural Attenuation, which reduced or eliminated the impacts that were detected some time ago when the site became eligible for State cleanup funding.
The LSSI program is strictly voluntary with a limited funding cap of $30,000 per site. There are no costs to you as the property owner or responsible party to participate. Its purpose is to determine the current status of the site’s contamination and the possible closure options available according to the FDEP as stated below. The sites with the most advantage are those that no longer operate as a retail gasoline station or operate underground storage tanks. These sites have the least risk for uncovering a potential new discharge that may not be related to the eligible discharge. In some cases where a new discharge is suspected based on the LSSI results, the FDEP may require the site owner to file a new discharge and share in the cleanup costs.
-
“A Site Rehabilitation Completion Order (SRCO): If no contaminated groundwater and soil are reported during the assessment, then your site may be granted a SRCO. All monitor wells will be abandoned, and the reported discharge will be officially closed;
-
A LSSI No Further Action (LSSI NFA): This type of closure allows for minimal contamination to remain on your site, as long as the criteria in the Section 376.3071(11)(b), Florida Statutes are met. If you opt for this type of closure, the LSSI NFA Order will state that petroleum contamination remains onsite. However, neither institutional nor engineering controls are required under this type of order. If a LSSI NFA is achieved, then the wells will be abandoned and the reported discharge will be officially closed; and
-
A Site Rehabilitation Completion Order with Conditions (SRCOC): This type of closure allows for contamination to remain onsite, in concentrations that may pose a threat to human health, requiring institutional and/or engineering controls in order to prevent human or environmental exposure. Institutional controls generally take the form of having a deed restriction placed on your property indicating that there is contamination that exceeds human health standards. Engineering controls generally take the form of a concrete or asphalt pad to cover the area of contamination in order to limit human exposure and infiltration of rain or surface water. If this option is desired and granted, the implementation of the appropriate institutional and, if necessary, engineering control(s) will be required. However, the department is not authorized to pay for costs associated with institutional or engineering controls. If you are not the current owner of the above referenced property, you must communicate whether this option would be acceptable to the current property owner prior to the contractor beginning work.”
If the LSSI assessment finds that contamination remains onsite and requires additional cleanup efforts, the site will be parked to await funding availability, which is based on the priority score noted above.
Marc Eichenholtz, president of MAS Environmental LLC, can be reached at (813) 833-1625, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.mas-env.com