I wouldn’t have the same company in charge of testing the soil,removing the tank AND cleaning the soil. I had a tank removed one time from this company. My intention was to stay there and watch them during the whole operation. However, I had to run out for an hour or two on an emergency. Came back and had $10k in remediation costs. Ever since then, I use a separate company to test the soil and an honest second company to remove the tank.
Re: Removing Underground Oil Tank - How Much? - Posted by Frank Chin
Posted by Frank Chin on August 21, 2007 at 02:41:19:
Gary:
I had a 550 Gallon tank removed, and certification issued for around $2,000 in Brooklyn NY four years ago.
Can’t tell you about above ground, because we the business we had, where we had to store waste oil in such a tank, we used a number of 35 gallon portable drums instead. Reason was we were told that the state was planning regulations later on of above ground tanks, maybe even 50 gallon tanks. There were no plans for under 50 gallon tanks.
Make sure the firm is state certified to do it. Here in NY State, owners of such tanks has to obtain two year renewal licenses, and be forever be liable for ground contamination, and having a certified firm removing it, and certifying no contamination exists, removes the existence of the tank from the watchful eyes of the state and federal authorities altogether.
let’s hope the tank is 60 years old, and was emptied out when it was stubbed off.
underground tanks can be one of those “d@mned if you do and d@mned if you don’t situations.”
you can hire a (less than reputable)contractor who can excavate it and remove it, and do so without pulling permits or having the soil testing done. but if you get caught, and if the soil is contaminated with diesel, expect serious consequences.
I had a client who owned a warehouse in Mountain View, California. the warehouse next door was the site of some kind of chemical spill. The local and state enviro-cops descended onto the scene. in the cleanup process and soil testing that followed, a new contaminant was discovered. diesel distillates. and the chemical spill did not involve diesel. after some investigating, a 1000 gallon diesel tank was discovered under my clients warehouse. it had been out of service for decades, and the plumbing had long since been stubbed off and concealed in the wall. but there it was. $800,000 and 4 years later, the ordeal was over.
I had another client who owned gas stations in the peninsula south of San Francisco. The ground water near his stations started showing elevated levels of some kind of funky gasoine additive. Over a 5 year period, he had to dig up all of his tanks, remove a few hundred thousand cubic yards of dirt, dispose of said dirt and tank at an EPA licensed facility, and then install some kind of “double-hulled” tanks. expensive process, but he had some assistance from one of the state agencies. not nearly as painful a process as was experienced by my Mountain View guy.
I think I paid about $1800 to have it removed. Hopefully you’re not using the same company to test the soil AND remove the tank: possible: conflict of interest.
Not sure of the cost to have one installed.
I have a good trustworthy company for you to use if you wish for the referral.