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GeoInsighter Winter 2002 Newsletter SHOW ME THE MONEY – MASSACHUSETTS 21J Return to the Newsletter Index The Massachusetts Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Product Cleanup Fund (the Fund), established in If you are wondering when you may receive payment for a claim submitted to the Fund, this information should be helpful. There is approximately $2,000,000 remaining in the Fund for fiscal year (FY) 2003. If your claim was submitted prior to June 2002, you should expect payment before July 2003. Claims submitted after June 2002 will not be paid until the legislature appropriates funding for FY 2004. Payment will be on an as-received basis for those claims remaining in the queue from 2003 and payment is expected to occur before October 2004. Based upon the history of claims received and Board voting, there is expected to be approximately $11,000,000 to $12,000,000 in claims already in the queue from FY 2003 for the anticipated $18,000,000 appropriation for FY 2004. To reverse the trend of under-funding, there is a bill awaiting legislative action to increase the $.005 per gallon fee on delivery of petroleum products to $.025 per gallon. The load fee increase should allow the Fund to generate significantly more income to meet its current obligations and the ever-increasing volume of claims. A decision on the fee increase is expected by April 2003. Until an increase is in place, owners of USTs requesting reimbursement need to be patient during the waiting time expected to be one year or more. Brian D. Kisiel, P.G. Return to the Newsletter
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1991 by Massachusetts General Law 21J, is currently administered by the Department of Revenue (DOR). The purpose of the Fund is to provide partial reimbursement to owners and operators of underground storage tank (UST) systems for costs incurred associated with the investigation and remediation of petroleum releases from UST systems at dispensing facilities. Since the start of the Fund, the number of claims processed is approaching 15,000 and over $180,000,000 has been approved for payment to owners and operators of UST systems. Despite these impressive statistics, the Fund is experiencing a severe shortage of funds to meet the demand of submitted claims. According to information obtained from the DOR web site (dor.state.ma.us/ust/ust_home.htm) and discussions with DOR personnel, the number of claims and the size of the claims have been steadily increasing, while funding has not kept pace.