The state must replace at least two underground fuel storage tanks that are leaking.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring the Maryland Department of Transportation to replace the tanks.
The tanks hold between 10,000 and 20,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel for buses and other state vehicles, said James Ports Jr., deputy secretary of the department. They are located in Baltimore City, underneath Washington Boulevard and Wabash Avenue, Ports said.
Substances released from an underground storage tank “can find its way into drinking water sources, no matter where you are, in the cities, or rural and suburban areas,” said Carol Amend, the EPA?s chief of compliance and enforcement for hazardous waste and underground storage tanks.
However, Ports said it is not likely that the fuel is in the drinking water supply because the city doesn?t use well water.
The EPA first discovered the problem in 2005 while conducting an inspection. Since then, the department has spent $1.8 million to remove the faulty tanks from the ground. It has also negotiated with the agency, Polks said.
“The discussions we have had with the Maryland [Department of Transportation] have been productive,” said Bonnie Smith, spokeswoman for the EPA.
The tanks the state was using leaked because they had one layer of steel. Two layers have been required since 1998, Polks said.
Now it has to replace the tanks and inspect 10 maintenance facilities and fuel tanks throughout the state, and then fix any problems they have, Ports said.
The department doesn?t know if those other sites will have problems, but it told the Board of Public Works Wednesday that it would spend about $24 million over the next five years to fix the facilities, Ports said.
The department must also pay a penalty of $172,000 to the U.S. Treasury, Ports said.
