AT&T will pay a $40,000 penalty for violating federal rules on spill prevention, inspections, and operator training at three of its underground petroleum storage facilities in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday.
According to a consent agreement reached on Sept. 13, the EPA determined that AT&T failed to document periodic walkthrough inspections, maintain a list of designated Class A, Class B and Class C operators, and use spill prevention equipment for two of its tanks.
“EPA’s requirements are designed to ensure proper maintenance of underground storage tanks. When these tanks are not properly maintained, they can leak and put people and the environment at risk,” EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia said in a statement. “EPA takes these requirements very seriously and owners will face penalties if they do not comply.”
The tanks — which store fuel for emergency power generators and are located at 401 Northside in Estate Northside in Frederiksted on St. Croix, and at 51 A and B Kronprindsens Gade and 1 Estate Peterborg on St. Thomas — were inspected in April and October 2022.
Specifically, the EPA found that AT&T:
- failed to satisfy the spill prevention requirements for two tanks at the Estate Peterborg facility from Dec. 25, 2021 to June 24, 2023.
- failed to maintain documentation of periodic walkthrough inspections for the tanks for the Estate Peterborg facility from Nov. 17, 2021 to Oct. 5, 2022; its Estate Northside facility from April 14, 2021 to May 30, 2022; and its Kronprindsens Gade facility from Nov. 17, 2021 to Oct. 9, 2022.
- failed to maintain a list of designated Class A, Class B and Class C Operators, as required, for the Estate Northside facility from April 14, 2021 to Aug. 17, 2022.
As of July 17, AT&T had provided documentation of its current compliance with all the underground storage tank requirements that EPA determined to have been violated, according to the agreement.
Should it fall out of compliance the company will face financial penalties ranging from $2,000 per violation per day for days 1 through 20, up to $5,500 per violation per day after day 46, according to the agreement. If it violates the EPA’s reporting and record-keeping requirements, it will face incremental penalties ranging from $2,000 up to $4,000 per day.
In agreeing to the penalty, AT&T did not admit or deny the findings, the EPA said.
The consent agreement also covers violations at 25 of the company’s facilities in New York and New Jersey, for which it has agreed “to conduct a comprehensive audit of its compliance with all [underground storage tank] rules,” the EPA said.
AT&T sold its wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in a $2 billion deal with Liberty Puerto Rico in October 2019, with the transition expected to take two to three years.
For more information on underground storage tanks, visit the EPA’s Region 2 website, which covers New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight Indian Nations.
