With recent events like the BP gulf oil spill, Americans are more aware of the need for safe steel storage tank options for oil. The 2013 Colorado floods left 48,250 gallons of oil and 43,478 gallons of produced water spilled; this created the initiative to repair oil wells and upgrade above ground storage tanks by 2016. Just this year, Washington state experienced a similar disaster when over 1,500 gallons of motor oil leaked from an above ground storage tank into the Yakima River as of March of 2015. Safe, reliable storage tanks can not only spare you the added expense of wasting oil, but it also proves to be an environmentally sound storage option.
Storage Tank Construction
There are many options for oil storage tanks, however above ground storage tank construction companies have larger tanks with fail–safes in place to protect your investments. Storage tank construction on-site is considered a field-erected storage tank construction job. Generally, such tanks have a capacity exceeding 50,000 gallons. In order to follow new laws and regulations, proper classification is required to see which laws apply to your tank; for instance, a tank that stores product for longer than a month, but less than a year is considered a temporary storage tank and may be exempt from certain regulations.
Storage Tank Regulations
Any above ground storage tank with a capacity of up to 1,000 gallons of used oil or up to 10,000 gallons of virgin oil must have oil operations permits issued by the Oil Control Program in order to remain operational. Furthermore, all above ground storage tanks must have a secondary containment area near the tank with the capacity to hold 100% of the contents of the largest of tanks within the area. Steel storage tanks must also have a protective, corrosion-resistant surface on the tank’s floor. If you ever notice a leak from your above ground storage tank that exceeds 5 gallons, report it immediately to avoid fines.
