Petroleum Contamination Cleanup In Florida
September 1, 1999
On June 17, 1999, Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed into law HB 2151, which
contains several important changes to the DEP petroleum contamination cleanup
program. One of the more significant changes is a new initiative to conduct free
product recovery in advance of the normal preapproval program priority order at
sites which are eligible for state cleanup. Effective June 17, 1999, the DEP is
authorized to encumber up to $5 million of the cleanup budget to fund this
initiative. DEP has circulated a June 17, 1999, memorandum entitled "Free
Product Recovery Initiative" that discusses the parameters of this new
program.
Other changes contained in the bill include:
- Various modifications to the Petroleum Cleanup Participation Program
- Establishment of a pilot program for several sites to allow use of
innovative mediation technologies
- Establishment of a negotiation process for sites contaminated by both
eligible and non-eligible discharges under which liability and cleanup tasks
will be allocated between the two discharges.