This is the day that service stations have to meet new federal standards for their underground fuel storage tanks or quit pumping gasoline, but Maryland motorists aren't expected to notice much change.

The vast majority of the Maryland's 2,175 service stations meet the new safety regulations that became effective at midnight, state and industry officials said yesterday.

Herbert M. Meade, chief of compliance at the Maryland Department of the Environment, estimates that 85 percent of the underground fuel tanks are in compliance.

State and industry officials say the bulk of 2,600 tanks in Maryland not meeting the standards are owned by taxi companies, tire stores, farms, lumberyards, trucking companies municipalities and small businesses.

"There are some stations, not too many, that haven't upgraded their tanks," said Roy Littlefield, who serves as executive director of both the Service Station Dealers of America and the Washington, Maryland and Delaware Service Station Association, based in Lanham.

"Nobody knows exactly how many," he added. "They are probably stations in small, rural towns that operate a couple of pumps, or small grocery stores with a single pump that don't sell a lot of gas."

The state Department of the Environment is in the process of mailing letters to the 1,400 owners of 2,600 tanks that it believes don't meet the requirements.

"These operations will have to come into compliance or shut down their operations and drain their tanks," said Quentin Banks, a spokesman for the state Department of the Environment.

Banks said his agency believes that many of the 2,600 tanks have met the standards, but the paperwork has not yet made it into the department's database.

Meade said the department's 24 field workers will begin inspecting storage tank sites today. He estimates that it will take four months to complete the work.

Banks said Maryland has the fifth-highest compliance rate in the nation, behind Iowa, Maine, Wyoming and Florida.

Littlefield said most of the gasoline sold in Maryland is distributed by major oil companies that lease stations to dealers. These companies could afford to make the improvements, he said.

Tank owners have had 10 years to meet the standards.

In 1988, the federal government passed a law that gave tank owners until Dec. 22, 1998, to upgrade their underground fuel tanks to prevent them from allowing fuel to leak into the ground, contaminating soil and water.

Meade said it involved replacing steel tanks with fiberglass units covering the steel with a coating to prevent it from rusting. He said tanks also needed spill or overfill protection equipment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put the cost of upgrading tanks at a three-tank service station at between $15,000 and $35,000. Replacing the three tanks could cost $80,000 or more.

Littlefield noted that the Maryland General Assembly created a low-interest, state loan program to help small operations upgrade gas storage tanks.

The EPA said those that haven't upgraded their tanks have three options: Stop selling gasoline, face fines of up to $11,000 a day or close their tanks until the work is completed.

It estimated that about 20,000 service stations across the country will miss today's deadline and close their pumps.

Pub Date: 12/23/98