Allocate funding for petroleum tank cleanup
SB 315 revises Montana’s petroleum tank release compensation laws to add a new reimbursement program for preventive measures at actively dispensing petroleum facilities. The bill authorizes the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board to reimburse owners or operators for specified preventive actions, including removal of inactive tanks, upgrades to automatic tank gauges, replacement of single-walled piping and aging single-wall tanks, investigations of older tanks nearing 30 years of age, and preventive compliance inspections. Reimbursement is capped at $2,000 per facility every 1,000 days, and claims must be documented and submitted in the manner required by the board.
The bill also amends the state’s petroleum release response procedures. It makes a meeting between the owner/operator, the department, the board, and board staff mandatory for releases expected to cost more than $100,000, while keeping such meetings discretionary for smaller releases if requested by any party. It further clarifies the board’s role in reviewing claims, approving corrective action costs, suspending reimbursement when an operator is out of compliance, and adopting rules for claims, corrective action plans, hearings, and the new preventive-measures reimbursements. The act takes effect January 1, 2026.
SB 315 amends sections 75-11-309, 75-11-313, and 75-11-318, MCA, and integrates the new preventive-measures reimbursement authority into Title 75, chapter 11, part 3. It expands the uses of the petroleum tank release cleanup fund to include reimbursement for approved preventive measures, not just cleanup and corrective action costs after a release. The bill also gives the board explicit rulemaking authority over preventive-measure claims and related procedures, while preserving existing reimbursement, compliance, and hearing processes for release response claims.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the Legislature. It passed every recorded committee and floor vote unanimously, with no recorded nays in either chamber. The vote history suggests consensus around using the cleanup fund to encourage preventive maintenance and reduce future petroleum tank releases.
No major opposition is reflected in the available record, and there are no committee transcripts indicating substantive debate. The only potentially sensitive policy choices in the bill are the use of cleanup fund money for preventive reimbursements, the $2,000 per-facility cap every 1,000 days, and the new meeting requirement for larger releases, but the unanimous votes suggest these provisions were generally accepted. Any practical contention would likely center on fund availability, reimbursement limits, and administrative discretion by the board rather than on the bill’s overall purpose.