Understanding New Environmental Legislation, Part 3 of 5: New opportunities to clean up properties burdened by abandoned petroleum tanks.

Thanks to this year’s Florida Legislative Session, a door that’s been closed for 20 years has been reopened.

The statutory application deadline for the Abandoned Tank Restoration Program (ATRP)—previously frozen at June 30, 1996—has been removed. This means the ATRP eligibility program (which provides 100% state funding with no cap, and has a $500 deductible for petroleum site remediation) is once again open to all applicants who can demonstrate:

  • that they meet the established statutory requirements; and
  • the reported discharge is not otherwise eligible for the Petroleum Cleanup Participation Program (PCPP).

This offers a new hope for properties that have been languishing in an uncertain environmental status because of a long-abandoned tank lurking underground.

More specifically, this is potentially good news for anyone who bought property and subsequently discovered contamination stemming from an on-site petroleum storage system not used since March 1, 1990.

If you represent a client who may own a property that seems to fit this description, please contact me immediately, and we’ll evaluate the possibilities together.