Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program: 1999 Annual Report

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Risk-based cleanup objectives and a
healthy UST Fund mean more tank owners
and operators are remediating their sites
and earning releases from liability. This
year, the LUST Program issued 1,022 No
Further Remediation letters to tank owners
and operators -- a 26 percent increase from
1998 -- and paid reimbursement claims
totaling $36.3 million, up 29 percent from
last year.
We are picking up the pace with
information technology improvements as
well. Most notably, we added the LUST
database to our website so now anyone with
access to the Internet can explore our
database of reported tank leaks to find out
the status of each investigation and
cleanup.
Also in 1999, the LUST Program
celebrated its tenth anniversary. In the past
decade, tank owners and operators have
reported over 19,000 tank leaks and spills,
remediated over 8,000 LUST sites, and
received more than $325 million from the
UST Fund to help pay cleanup costs. Who
back in 1989 could have imagined such
numbers?
I am delighted with the progress we have
made and hope you’ll share in our
enthusiasm about the work ahead.
Thomas V. Skinner
Director, Illinois EPA
Welcome
1999
Annual Report
Illinois Bureau of Land March 2000
Environmental 1021 North Grand Avenue East
Protection Agency Springfield, IL 62794-9276
Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program
Number of Acres Remediated
Through the LUST Program
Per Year 1989-1999
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Number of Acres
The LUST Section measures its progress and effectiveness by calculating
acres remediated. Since 1997, the total number of acres remediated has
been on an increasing trend. The period from 1998 to 1999 not only
maintained this trend, but shows a significant increase as compared to the
previous two years.