United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Land and Emergency Management (5203)
EPA 542-F-19-001 August 2019 Update
Green Remediation Best Management Practices:
Sites with Leaking Underground
Storage Tanks
A fact sheet about the concepts and tools for using best management practices to
reduce the environmental footprint of activities associated with assessing and
remediating contaminated sites
www.clu-in.org/greenremediation
Overview Page 1
Project Planning Page 1
Site Characterization Page 2
UST System Removal Page 2
Remediation of Contaminated Page 3
Environmental Media
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Principles for Greener Cleanups outline the Agency's policy for evaluating and
minimizing the environmental footprint of activities involved in cleaning up contaminated sites.' Best management practices (BMPs)
of green remediation involve specific activities to address the core elements of greener cleanups:
~	Reduce total energy use and increase the percentage of energy from renewable resources.
~	Reduce air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
~	Reduce water use and preserve water quality.
4. • i	j j	4.	Land & Elements Air &
~	Conserve material resources and reduce waste.
Ecosystems	Atmosphere
~	Protect land and ecosystem services.
Water
Overview
Approximately 543,800 releases of petroleum or hazardous substances from federally regulated underground storage tank (UST)
facilities were confirmed by the U.S. EPA as of September 201 8. Of these, approximately 65,450 releases at UST facilities had not
yet reached the "cleanup completed" milestone.2 State agencies maintain responsibility to implement and oversee cleanup of all
UST releases except those on tribal lands, where the U.S. EPA has jurisdiction. The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste
Management Officials (ASTSWMO) estimated that in 2017, alone, state cleanup funds collectively spent approximately $1.1 13
billion in cleaning up UST releases.3 Private insurance policies and other financial responsibility mechanisms, along with a relatively
small amount of money from the federal Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund, additionally fund UST cleanups.
Releases from USTs storing petroleum commonly involve contaminants such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX)
and sometimes other chemicals of concern such as methyl ferf-butyl ether (MTBE), ethanol, or lead scavengers (ethylene dibromide
and 1,2-dichloroethane). UST releases of petroleum hydrocarbons also may result in petroleum vapor intrusion into overlying or
nearby buildings.4 In contrast, a release from an UST storing chemicals could involve any of the approximate 1,200 substances
(excluding radionuclides) currently identified as hazardous under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act.
In addition to one or more tanks, an UST system typically comprises pipes, fittings, pumps, dispensers and leak detection or
containment devices. Common causes of UST releases include corrosion, structural failure, faulty installation or advanced age of
equipment as well as operator errors. The federal UST regulation, as revised by the U.S. EPA in 2015, now specifies requirements
for secondary containment, operator training, and operation and maintenance.5 At some sites, removal of one or more LUSTs and
associated remediation of contaminated groundwater, soil or surface water are conducted under broad cleanup initiatives such as
Superfund, federal facility restoration or brownfields programs.
Use of green remediation BMPs can help minimize the environmental Most UST releases involve petroleum fuel rather than
footprints of cleaning up sites where UST releases have occurred. BMP chemicals containing hazardous substances, and most
implementation at such sites is intended to complement rather than replace involve retail fueling stations on relatively small land parcels.
, i r i i i i	•£• i ict I v A	Many UST cleanup projects are of relatively short duration,
requirements under tederal or state-specitic Uo I regulations.	'	rr 1	'
Project Planning
Environmental footprint reductions throughout the life of an UST cleanup can be gained through BMPs focused on green purchasing
and other aspects of sustainable materials and waste management, such as:
~	Choose products manufactured through processes involving nontoxic chemical alternatives.
~	Select products with recycled and biobased contents such as agricultural or forestry waste.
~	Use products, packing material and disposable equipment with reuse or recycling potential.

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4
Green Remediation BMPs: Sites with Leaking Underground Storage Tanks
~	Operate all or portions of a remediation system during off-peak hours to reduce
demands on the local electricity grid (and cost of electricity purchasing), if the
targeted rate of remediation progress can be maintained.
~	Operate pumps in pulsed mode when nearing asymptotic conditions or when
continuous pumping is not needed to contain a plume or reach cleanup objectives.
~	Optimize treatment systems periodically to maintain peak operating performance
and identify opportunities for taking any equipment offline as cleanup progresses.
~	Switch to a "polishing" technology once effectiveness of an existing treatment
system declines, as evidenced by significant decreases in mass recovery rates.
~	Use passive sub-slab depressurization system to mitigate vapor intrusion in
buildings when practicable.
~	Recover and recycle recovered product or separated non-aqueous phase liquid
through local fuel or waste recyclers.
~	Use automated data logging systems with equipment such as electronic pressure
transducers and thermocouples for in situ monitoring, which minimizes sampling
visits over extended periods.
~	Reuse or reinject treated/uncontaminated groundwater where allowed, instead of
discharging it to surface water or publicly-owned treatment works.
~	Develop a remediation infrastructure that can be integrated with site reuse, such as
designing subsurface pipe networks that can first convey water for treatment and
later convey water for onsite irrigation.
Decisions about BMP selection and implementation can be enhanced by assessing the pumps up to 1.5 gallons per minute,
environmental footprint of cleanup activities on a site-specific basis, particularly for a large
or complex site. For example, EPA's M etho do logy for Understanding and Reducing a Project's Environmental Footprint can help
project teams identify and quantify relevant footprint metrics and select BMPs that best target contributions to the footprint.15
Implementation of some BMPs at an UST site may be restricted or infeasible due to requirements of a state's LUST program and
other state regulations or to factors such as limited availability of preferred products and services.
Organizations managing multiple UST cleanups may save resources by using EPA's methodology, the ASTM Standard Guide for
Greener Cleanups or other tools to develop a BMP implementation plan tailored to site-specific conditions. Practices established
by federal or state programs and business sectors also could be explored. The state of Arizona, for example, recommends certain
practices to improve environmental outcomes of site cleanups, including those involving tank excavation or replacement.16
This fact sheet provides an update on information compiled in the December 2008
"Best Management Practices for Excavation and Surface Restoration" fact sheet (EPA 542-F-08-012),
in collaboration with the Greener Cleanups Subcommittee of the U.S. EPA Technical Support Project's Engineering Forum.
To view BMP fact sheets on other topics, visit CLU-IN Green Remediation Focus: www.clu-in.org/greenremediation.
References
1	U.S. EPA. Greener Cleanups. Principles for Greener Cleanups, https://www.epa.gov/greenercleanups
2	U.S. EPA. Semiannual Report of UST Performance Measures: End of Fiscal Year 2018. https://www.epa.gov/ust/ust-performance-measures
3	ASTSWMO. State Fund Survey Results 201 7. http://astswmo.org/category/tanks/state-fund-financial-responsibility-task-force/
4	U.S. EPA. Technical Guide for Addressing Petroleum Vapor Intrusion at Leaking Underground Storage Tank Sites. June 2015. https://www.epa.gov/ust/technical-guide-
addressing-petroleum-va por-intrusion-lea king-underground-storage-tank-sites
5	U.S. EPA. Revising Underground Storage Tank Regulations - Revisions to Existing Requirements and New Requirements for Secondary Containment and Operator
Training; Final Rule. July 2015. https://www.epa.gov/ust/revising-underground-storage-tank-regulations-revisions-existing-requirements-and-new
6	U.S. EPA. State Underground Storage Tank (UST) Programs, https://www.epa.gov/ust/state-underground-storage-tank-ust-programs
7	ASTM International. Standard Guide for Greener Cleanups (ASTM E2893-16). https://www.astm.org/Standards/E2893.htm
8	ASTM International. Public Library of E2893 Greener Cleanup Reports. July 201 7 - Telles Ranch (US EPA Region 9).
https://www.astm.org/COMMIT/E2893_GreenerCleanupReports.html
9	U.S. EPA. Green Remediation Best Management Practices: An Overview. December 2015 update. https://clu-
in. o rg /g ree n re med iatio n/d ocs/G R_BM P_fa cts heet_ove rv iew. pdf
10	U.S. EPA. Verified Technologies for SmartWay and Clean Diesel, https://www.epa.gov/verified-diesel-tech
11	California Environmental Protection Agency. Air Resources Board. Verification Procedure - Currently Verified, https://www.arb.ca.gov/diesel/verdev/vt/cvt.htm
12	Indiana Brownfields Program. Bulletin: Winter 201 6. http://www.in.gov/ifa/brownfields/files/BB%20Winter%202016%20FINAL%201-29-2016.pdf
13	U.S. EPA. City Green: Innovative Green Infrastructure Solutions for Downtowns and Infill Locations, https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/city-green-innovative-green-
infrastructure-solutions-downtowns-and-infill-locations
14	U.S. EPA. CLU-IN Green Remediation Focus. Profile: Rainbow Valley Citrus Maintenance Yard Facility, https://clu-in.org/greenremediation/profiles/rainbowvalley
15	U.S. EPA. Methodology & Spreadsheets for Environmental Footprint Analysis (SEFA). https://clu-in.org/greenremediation/methodology/
16	Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Technical Support Document: Options to Encourage Green Remediation Practices. February 201 6.
https://azdeq.gov/GreenRemediation
Cleanup at the 34-acre former AM
General/LTV Aerospace and Defense
Facility brownfield site in South Bend,
Indiana, involves remediating soil and
groundwater contaminated by petroleum
fuels, solvents and other materials stored
in 39 USTs. About 99% of the materials
deconstructed from the site's 665,000-
square-foot former manufacturing plant
were salvaged for recycling or onsite use
such as constructing buildings. The site's
multi-phase extraction system is
supported by a fuel product recovery
process partially powered by two
mechanical windmills, each of which

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