KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT BILL GRAVES, GOVERNOR Gary R. Mitchell, Secretary

November 21, 1997

Contact: Juan Sexton

785-296-1685

State Environment Staff Take Unique Customer Service Approach

What do you do when your efforts to educate underground storage tank (UST) owners about a compliance deadline are not reaching all of your audience? You try something new. In the case of the Kansas UST program, you mail a videotape to each storage tank owner affected by the deadline.

"Initially, we thought the cost of duplicating and mailing the videotape would be too high," said Juan Sexton of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Bureau of Environmental Remediation. "But when we compared it to the cost of staff time, travel, and expenses for the seminars we'd previously been involved in, the videotape approach was much more cost effective."

By partnering with Tank Management Services, a Topeka storage tank loss prevention firm, department staff reduced the cost even further. TMS paid to duplicate the 1,950 copies of the 17 minute videotape, obtained free from the State of Tennessee UST program. KDHE staff stuffed the mailers and paid for the postage.

KDHE staff and TMS had been conducting seminars for tank owners -- many of whom are service station owners -- for years. However, attendance was dropping.

"We realized, if we wanted to communicate with tank owners, who couldn't take a day off from work, we'd have to find a different way to deliver the message," said Sexton.

The videotape details requirements tank owners will need to meet by December 22, 1998. The requirements address corrosion protection, spill protection and overfill protection, as well as, the options available to the tank owners.

Once the remaining tank owners meet the new requirements, the risk from underground storage tank releases and spills will decline appreciably. That is good news for the environment and for the health and safety of Kansans.

Kansas began phasing in new underground storage tank requirements in 1990. Since then, 7,683 UST sites have been investigated with 3,845 releases being confirmed. Cleanups have been initiated at 3,319 locations and 1,850 of those have been completed.

Cleanups have been financed largely by the Petroleum Storage Tank Trust Fund, based on a gasoline tax of $0.01 per gallon. Tank owners pay a per tank deductible as their share of the cleanup.

"The role of the regulator can be a difficult one," said KDHE Secretary Gary Mitchell, who has pledged to make the agency more customer friendly. "The fact that almost half of the storage tank owners are in compliance with the 1998 requirements, indicates that Kansans want to do right for the environment. This innovative approach to sharing information, shows we're willing to work with the remaining tank owners to achieve compliance."

For more information about the UST requirements, tank owners can call either KDHE at 785-296-8061 or TMS at 800-530-5683.