EPA Earmarks $7.1 Million to Clean Up Petroleum Leaks in Michigan
EPA announced the distribution of $7.1 million to Michigan under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to assess and clean up underground storage tank petroleum leaks. The agency said the move is an effort to protect people where they live, work, and play, because the greatest potential hazard from a leaking underground storage tank is that the petroleum or other hazardous substances might seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater, the source of drinking water for nearly one-third of all Americans.
"We're providing immediate growth opportunities for communities across the nation, as well as long-term protection from dangerous pollution in the land and water," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "EPA is putting people to work by serving our core mission of protecting human health and the environment."
The $7.1 million is part of $197 million appropriated under the Recovery Act to address shovel-ready sites nationwide contaminated by petroleum from leaking underground storage tanks. The funds will be used for overseeing assessment and cleanup of leaks from underground storage tanks or directly paying for assessment and cleanup of leaks from federally regulated tanks where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling, or unable to finance, or the cleanup is an emergency response.
EPA regional underground storage tank programs entered into a cooperative agreement with Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in July 2009. President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can visit Recovery.gov to see how every dollar is being invested. For more information about EPA's implementation of the act, go to www.epa.gov/recovery/.