Oil Tank Soil Remediation in Philadelphia

Contamination is confirmed by laboratory analysis of soil taken from beneath and around the tank, not by how the ground looks or smells in the hole. Stained soil and a strong odor are why samples get taken; the result is what establishes the position.

This is the argument for sampling at the point of removal rather than skipping it. The samples cost a fraction of reopening the ground later, and a clean result is a permanent answer rather than an absence of information.

Under 25 Pa. Code section 245.305, the owner or operator has to notify the appropriate DEP regional office as soon as practicable and no later than 24 hours after a release is confirmed. That is a real deadline attached to the property owner, not to the contractor.

There is a narrow exception, and it is worth knowing precisely because it is often misquoted. Reporting and further corrective action are not required where the owner has control of the release, it is completely contained, and the entire volume is recovered and removed within 24 hours, which includes a petroleum release to an above-ground surface of less than 25 gallons. A tank that has been seeping into soil for years satisfies none of those conditions.

Heating oil, for the purposes of the chapter, covers the standard fuel oil grades used in heating equipment, boilers and furnaces, which is what a residential tank holds.

The regulation says the appropriate regional office, which is not much use at nine on a Friday evening. For every county this site covers it is the same one. DEP's Southeast Regional Office at 2 E Main Street, Norristown PA 19401 serves Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia, and its main line, 484-250-5900, is answered 24 hours.

There is also a Commonwealth-wide environmental emergency number, 800-541-2050, monitored 24 hours a day every day of the year. For a release found late in the day or over a weekend, that is the one to use rather than waiting for office hours to open inside a 24 hour deadline.

On a job we are running, the notification is made by us. The duty under section 245.305 still sits with the owner or operator, which is why the number is printed here rather than kept in a contractor's phone.

Contaminated soil is excavated and disposed of, and further samples from the sides and base of the enlarged excavation establish whether the contamination has been removed or whether it continues. That is the loop: dig, sample, read, decide. It is why nobody can price a remediation accurately on day one.

How far it goes depends on how long the tank leaked, how much product left it, and what the ground is made of. Contamination that has reached beneath a foundation, under a neighboring property or into groundwater is a materially larger undertaking than a stained pocket directly under the tank, and the honest thing a contractor can do is tell you which of those you appear to have as soon as it is visible.

Pennsylvania runs an Underground Heating Oil Tank Cleanup Reimbursement Program for tanks of 3,000 gallons or less that stored heating fuel used on the premises. Where there was a release from the tank, its lines, a spill or an overfill, occurring or discovered on or after January 30, 1998, the tank owner pays the first $1,000 and can be reimbursed for eligible costs above that up to a maximum of $4,000.

Claims go through the Pennsylvania Electronic Single Application system with itemized invoices and proof of payment, which is a reason to keep the invoicing clean and itemized from the start. The reimbursement guide works through the eligibility questions one at a time, including why the separate USTIF fund does not apply to a standard residential tank.

The final cost. Anyone who quotes a fixed price for a remediation before the extent is known is either guessing or building in a margin large enough to cover the guess, and both come out of your pocket.

What can be established early is the shape of it: whether the contamination is confined to the tank pit, whether it appears to run under a structure, and whether it looks like a matter of extra cubic yards or a matter of a groundwater investigation. That assessment is worth more than a number that is going to change anyway.