Curren receives calls from people after their tank is removed that may or may not have an environmental issue and Curren sees this in both NJ, DE & PA.
At Curren, we find homeowners don’t get a tank removal report regardless of if the tank did or did not leak. Of course, if you read the tank removal contract you can clearly see no report is referenced, but people don't know a tank removal report should be expected once the tank is removed and soil sample tests have been received.
Companies are removing tanks and not taking any soil samples and most notably, not including soil sampling in the tank removal cost. When tanks leaks and samples are not acquired (certainly not the 5 to 6 samples you would want if a tank leaked to evaluate if remediation is warranted), the tank owner is informed that remediation is required. The less scrupulous companies that remove tanks want remediation, even when they don't know 100% that remediation is warranted. By not including soil samples many tank removal companies provide a very low-cost tank removal and quickly flip the client a quote for remediation, when often remediation is not warranted and, in many cases, lacks any qualitative data that’s oil levels are above standards. We see this in all three states all the time. You can't tell someone's cholesterol level by just looking at them, right? Bloodwork is needed to know the levels of cholesterol and what types of medication are warranted.
Underground Oil tank removals require permitting in the state of NJ. People do not understand that when a permit is required, the permit is for the tank removal alone, no environmental testing is required to pass inspection. Tank leaks and soil contamination are not a construction matter, which means the permit does not cover that part of the tank removal process, that part is environmental. Some inspectors might not even get out of their vehicles if they see the removed tank aboveground. Other inspectors will be more thorough and ask if holes were found in the tank, which if present will be referenced on the permit of either approval or fail, some inspectors fail tanks if holes are found in the tank. The tank failing inspection complicates matters even more because the permit's objective was achieved, which was the tank removal. There are times when the inspectors fail the tank because holes were seen, but the soil samples come back days later and are clean.