EPA Returns Midwest Storage Tank Sites to Productive Use


   
   HOUSTON, TX (DTN) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said its 
monitoring and remediation partnerships with Tribal communities returned a 
record number of underground storage tank sites to productive use.

   "In 2026, EPA addressed 10 leaking underground storage tank sites in 
Michigan and Minnesota, removed a leaking tank in Wisconsin while improving 
cleanup standards, and saved taxpayers more than $550,000," an agency statement 
released Thursday (9/25) said.

   Nine of the closures addressed releases at four facilities in the Saginaw 
Chippewa territory near Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Five were associated with the 
operating Next Door Store #5010 gasoline station; two with the operating Next 
Door Store #5039 gasoline station; one with the operating Sagamok Shell 
gasoline station; and one with Krapohl Ford Lincoln Mercury, an operating 
automobile dealership, oil-change facility and body shop.

   The remaining closure addressed a release at Shakopee Dakota Convenience 
Store #2, an operating gasoline station at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux 
territory near Prior Lake, Minnesota. EPA also removed one tank from Mole Lake 
Smoke Shop, a former gas station, located near Crandon, Wisconsin.

   In L'Anse, Michigan, EPA worked extensively with Keweenaw Bay Indian 
Community to test whether contamination had spread offsite from Lute's Corner 
Store. 

   An estimated 542,000 underground storage tanks nationwide hold regulated 
products, primarily gasoline and diesel fuel at gas stations. Leaks or poor 
maintenance can contaminate soil and groundwater and cause fires, explosions or 
hazardous vapors.

   EPA is responsible for monitoring and remediating UST sites in Tribal 
territories and has identified more than 60 potentially leaking tanks in EPA's 
Great Lakes region.




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