Curren Environmental Blog

Changes in Oil Tank Grants, what now?

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As of May 2011, New Jersey's leaking tank grant and non leaking tank grant are not processing new applications.   What this means for anyone who has yet to submit a grant application is that your chances of receiving funding are less than if you had submitted before May 2011.  The sheer popularity of the grant program inundated the NJDEP with applications and depleted the EDA of funds.   Couple this with a lack of cash infusions by New Jersey (funds come from the corporate tax) and it is easy to see why the well is running dry.  No one can argue that the tank grant program has not helped homeowners remove and remediate tank leaks.   The fundamental idea behind the grant was to encourage homeowners to remove buried steel tank, before they leak and to assist homeowners with remediating tanks that did leak.  There is no question that a buried steel oil tank will leak at some point, be it next week, next year or 20 years from now, rust never sleeps.  So all the tanks that were removed that did not leak saved thousand of dollars in future remediation costs.  

If you were planning to remove your tank due to a leaking concern, it is still a good idea to remove the tank because it is a replaceable item just like a roof or a hot water heater.   But since it is a replaceable item, the oil tank program no longer provides monies for removing non leaking grants.

If your tank leaked, your next step is to delineate the extent of the contamination so a cost can be developed to remediate the oil contamination.  These costs can then be applied to a leaking tank grant, which New Jersey is still accepting (applications are date stamped and will be processed when monies are available).   If you find that the cost to address the tank leak is within your budget, you can hire a certified (UHOT) company to do the work and submit to the grant (when monies are available) for reimbursement.