LASEPA outlines guidelines for storage tank operation
The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) has spelt out 10 guidelines for the operation of storage tanks in the state.
The guidelines are, registration of tanks by completing and submitting the form provided by LASEPA and paying yearly registration fees prescribed for each tank.
The guidelines also prescribed that LASEPA’s case managers would conduct on-site compliance inspections at all sites with storage tanks, while owners/operators of storage tanks are required to report discharges, spill that occur at tank sites, as well as the immediate discontinuation of any tank confirmed to be leaking and thereby polluting the environment.
They include, the remediation of any impacted site to prevent its further spread, that all activities relating to a release from a storage tank would be supervised by the agency accredited consultant and a direct LASEPA oversight.
The document further stated that anyone or organisation of any operation of petroleum of chemical storage facility in the state that releases hazardous substance to the environment would be subjected to a fine determined by it and that any underground storage tank would be properly decommissioned by either removal from the ground or abandonment in place with an inert material after cut and clean.
It also stipulated that all sites with underground storage tanks must have ground water or vapour monitoring wells installed within the tank and that all reports as well as requests, information must be sent to LASEPA storage tank unit at its secretariat.
Speaking at a meeting with various representatives of the oil downstream sector at the agency’s secretariat, the managing director of the agency, Mr. Adebisi Adesina, said that the release of hazardous substances stored in underground and above ground storage tanks had continued to pose serious threats to the public health and safety of both the environment and the citizens of the state.
Hence its decision to provide guidelines to minimise and stop the increasing trend of air, soil and ground water contamination and degradation.
He also stated that the guidelines were subjected to periodic reviews to enable the input of stakeholders and the public in the whole process.
Adebisi said the state was worried that many drinking water wells had been polluted with the presence of free-floating petroleum hydrocarbons in them.
He added that investigations have revealed that principal sources of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminants were leaking underground storage tanks.
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