KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Everything You Need To Know About Storage Tanks
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by Chris Durden
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment's Bureau of Environmental Remediation (BER) is the agency responsible for regulating aboveground storage tanks like those at Barton Solvents in Valley Center.
The state defines an aboveground tank (AST) as those with 90% of tank equipment located on the surface or above the floor of an underground area such as a basement.
Some tanks are exempt from KDHE oversight. The following is a list of substances kept in tanks that are regulated by the state:
Tank Construction & Maintenance
The Kansas Fire Marshal must sign off on all new AST's in Kansas. The tanks must meet state rules and be up to local fire codes.
In addition, KDHE must have on file information about the tank's owner, location, age, size and type.
Permits to operate tanks must be renewed once a year. Owners fill out an invoice and send one copy to the state and another to emergency planners in their area.
Penalties For Violations
Owners and/or operators who violate rules regarding storage tanks face stiff penalties. For example, if a valid permit is not properly displayed during an inspection fines can reach $10,000.
Safety
AST's regulated by the state must have what is called secondary containment. This includes having space inside the tank to handle 110% of whatever is stored inside. That means if the subtance expands, it has room and will not leak.
A double-layered outer wall is another type of secondary containment.
Barton Solvents
The president of Barton Solvents says all 44 tanks on their property caught fire during Tuesday's incident. Eyewitness News looked into the history of the tanks at Barton Solvents.
KDHE lists 47 tanks on the property in Valley Center. At this time, we do not know why there is a discrepancy in the number of tanks on KDHE's list and the one given out by Barton Solvents.
The tanks contained a variety of substances including:
All the tanks were last inspected on June 14, 2006. Their current permits were set to expire July 31, 2007.
