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Feds sue New York over leaky tanks
From Jonathan Wald
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The federal Environmental Protection Agency has filed suit charging that the city of New York failed to take precautions to prevent hazardous materials from contaminating groundwater and air. The EPA wants the city fined, but officials argue the city should not have to pay, pointing to what it has already spent to meet EPA regulations and to its budget deficit exacerbated by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The EPA alleges the city did not install proper monitoring equipment and failed to upgrade hundreds of underground storage tanks containing petroleum and other hazardous substances. Leakage, spills and overfills from the tanks could contaminate underground water supplies and the air, the agency says. New York City has had 200 to 300 documented underground oil or gas leaks from city-owned storage tanks. The EPA regards the case as "one of the biggest ever of its kind due to the potentially high number of offending locations," a spokesman said. After safety laws were passed in 1988, the agency imposed deadlines for installing safety equipment by 1993 and upgrading or closing tanks by 1998. Investigations and negotiations have been under way since the 1998 deadline was passed. The city could be fined up to $11,000 for every day each tank was in breach of an EPA regulation. "It's difficult to calculate how great the penalties could be," said a spokesman for the U.S. attorney. "We just don't know which tanks were in breach of how many regulations and for how long because the detection equipment wasn't put in place, the city hasn't provided us with the necessary paperwork, and the investigation is still ongoing. We expect the fines to total tens of millions at least." An EPA spokesman said, "People turn their noses up at paperwork, but it exists for a very important reason." The New York City Law Department, in a written statement, said that the city has spent more than $140 million over the past 10 years to bring its 2,000 storage tanks in compliance with federal laws, including a negotiated penalty paid to the EPA. "This past January, given the events of September 11, the city determined that the matter should be settled without a penalty payment to the federal government due to the city's mounting budget issues following the terrorist attacks," the statement said. New York City's budget deficit is expected to reach $1 billion in the fiscal year that ends June 30, and $5 billion to $6 billion the following year. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration recently imposed a citywide hiring freeze, announced property tax hikes and called on the city's agencies to reduce their budgets. The last time the federal government brought a major environmental case against New York City was in 1997 when the city was required to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the source of its drinking water and a build a filtration plant.
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