December 21, 2016
Only July 1, 2016 the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) reopened the Abandoned Tank Restoration Program (ATRP). Although there are strict criteria associated with the application into this program, it gives site owners who discover an abandoned tank on their property the opportunity to be covered by the state of Florida Petroleum Cleanup Program should associated contamination be discovered.
This ruling on underground and aboveground storage tank systems came into play recently on a NOVA project. During development on a site belonging to MF Citrus, NOVA’s client discovered an underground fuel storage tank that was not known to exist. During tank closure, soil contamination was identified in excess of the Soil Cleanup Target Levels. NOVA worked with the client to be one of the first in the state to take advantage of the newly reopened ATRP. The acceptance into the program allowed NOVA’s client to finish development and sell the property due to the comfort for the buyer that the state of Florida had accepted assessment and remediation liability. Another instance of doing what we do well, resulting in a happy client.
