View Single Post
  #6   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
[email protected] trader4@optonline.net is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,500
Default Underground oil tank removal costs

On Dec 16, 5:13*pm, Claude Hopper
wrote:
RonABC wrote:
I have a rough idea of what it costs to have an underground oil tank from a
residential property when it is not leaking and there are no complications.
I also hear horror stories of it sometimes costing many thousands of dollars
when the tank was found to have leaked (stories like 50K, 75K, or even
more). *I know that it costs a lot more when a leaking tank is near a house
or structure that needs to be jacked up or supported so contaminated dirt
can be excavated from underneath and around the structure.


My real question is, if an underground oil tank on a residential property
needs to be removed, and it is found to have been leaking, -- and it is NOT
near any structures and is out in the open -- is the cost of removal more or
less self-limiting? *In other words, is it mostly the cost of removing the
tank and removing and disposing of the contaminated dirt around it, and then
refilling the hole with clean soil? *If so, would a situation like that tend
NOT to cost in the 10's of thousands of dollars, and be more like under 10K
to get the job done?


If you tell, you'll pay. Keep it quiet and get rid of it yourself or cut
the top open and fill it with sand, landscape over it and plant grass.
Of course you should pump out any petroleum products in there and
dispose of it at a facility.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -



Before anyone thinks they can remove an oil tank without any permits
and make it go away, they should consider the disclosure laws for the
state they live in. Many states have real estate disclosure laws and
specific check list forms which must be filled out by the seller prior
to sale. So, if you remove a tank without the proper permits and
procedures, the next step in many states would be that you have to lie
about it when you sell the property. Also, it's customary today for
many buyers and mortgage companies to ask specific questions about
whether the property ever had an oil tank. And if you lie about it
you open yourself up to not only civil suit from the new owner, but
potential fines and action from the state/municipality. If the tank
is not leaking, the proper and legal removal process is not all that
expensive and is the right thing to do.

To answer the OP's question, which no one here has really addressed,
in the case of a tank removal where it has been leaking, but a
structure isn;t involved, it still could cost in the tens of thousands
of dollars. It all depends on how much oil has leaked out and the
extent of the resulting cleanup. That could be anything from a
couple trucks of dirt for a small leak, which probably would be under
10K, to many loads followed by groundwater pumping and cleansing,
etc. if the plume has spread and even worse if it's spread to a
neighbors property, etc.