PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The U.S. Senate has passed legislation authored by Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee that would help prevent groundwater contamination caused by leaking underground storage tanks.
The Underground Storage Tank Compliance Act (S. 195) includes funding to clean contaminated sites, such as the one that fouled the water supply for months in the Pascoag district of Burrillville.
It also mandates inspections of underground tanks every two years.
Chafee, a Republican, said a study by the nonpartisan General Accounting Office showed that more than 200,000 tanks are not being operated or maintained properly. The study also concluded 76,000 tanks have never been upgraded to minimum federal standards, he said.
An underground tank from a local gas station is believed to have leaked the gasoline additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE, into Pascoag’s water supply in 2001. It forced about 4,000 residents to boil water for four months until a supply of fresh water was found.
A group of residents and the district have filed separate lawsuits in Superior Court accusing ExxonMobil Corp. of causing the gasoline leak.
AP-ES-05-03-03 1012EDT
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