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EPA and Shop Rite, Inc. Settle Case Involving Underground Storage Tanks

Release Date: 1/31/2002
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

     On Jan. 25, 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Shop Rite, Inc. agreed to settle a case involving 75 alleged violations of the federal and state underground storage tank (UST) regulations for $175,000.  

     "I am pleased that Shop Rite has agreed to resolve these alleged violations in a fair and reasonable manner, and has implemented the required safeguards. The federal and state inspectors did a great job in finding these problems before public health or safety were threatened or damage to the environment occurred," EPA Regional Administrator Gregg Cooke said.

     The alleged violations involved 27 underground storage tanks owned and/or operated by Shop Rite, Inc., at 10 different facilities in Louisiana listed below. The facilities were jointly inspected by EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in May and June of 1999. No releases were found during the inspections.

     Shop Rite, Inc., is headquartered at 115 East First Street, Crowley, La.  The 10 facilities involved in the settlement include:

Name                 Address                City
 1. Tobacco Plus #7  6068 W Park            Houma
 2. Shop Rite #8     4000 W Congress        Lafayette
 3. Tobacco Plus #14 1563 N. Parkerson Ave  Crowley
 4. Shop Rite #19    1501 N. Parkerson Ave  Crowley
 5. Shop Rite #33    671 Hwy 1 North        Raceland
 6. Shop Rite #35    800 The Boulevard      Rayne
 7. Shop Rite #48    4108 Hwy 90 East       Broussard
 8. Shop Rite #51    310 Hwy 308            Thibodaux
 9. Shop Rite #52    301 Verot School Rd    Lafayette
10. Shop Rite #63    4886 Hwy 1             Mathews


     The Shop Rite settlement is an important part of EPA's ongoing major initiative to improve UST compliance by ensuring that owners and operators of underground storage tanks not only install the required corrosion, release detection and spill/overfill prevention equipment, but also continually operate and maintain the equipment in accordance with the regulations.  

     Since it only takes one gallon of gasoline to contaminate approximately five million gallons of drinking water, and more than half of the drinking water in the United States is obtained from groundwater, releases from underground storage tanks must be prevented.

     Underground storage tank regulations are designed to protect underground drinking water sources from contamination and protect public safety from dangers such as fire or explosions. For example, facilities must install corrosion protection systems to ensure that tanks, piping, valves and other metallic components do not corrode, resulting in a leak. They must have monitoring systems in place to detect if tanks or piping are leaking. They must install spill and overfill prevention equipment.

     Other major federal underground storage tank program initiatives include USTfields (areas with abandoned tanks), increasing the pace of cleanups, and evaluating the performance of underground storage tank systems and regulations. More information on EPA's underground storage tank program initiatives is available on the Internet at https://www.epa.gov/oust.  

     A copy of the Consent Agreement and Final Order detailing each alleged violation is available at https://www.epa.gov/region6/news/shoprite_cafo.pdf.