LUST may be the sexiest name ever given to a government program. And under the federal stimulus package approved this year, the initiative is set to receive a $200 million boost.
But in what could be taken as a sign that bureaucrats indeed have a sense of humor, LUST is actually a clean enterprise devoted to fighting a dirty problem.
The risqué acronym stands for Leaking Underground Storage Tank.
Established by Congress in 1986, the multi-billion-dollar LUST program funds the assessment and cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks that contaminate the groundwater with petroleum or other hazardous substances.
Financed by a 0.1-cent federal tax on each gallon of motor fuel sold nationwide and run by the US Environmental Protection Agency, LUST oversees cleanups by tank owners and pays for the work directly when the responsible parties are unknown, unwilling or unable to finance it themselves. LUST also provides for emergency response to underground tank leaks.
In all, LUST has completed 380,976 cleanups nationwide, and this year, plans are in place to finish work at 12,350 sites.
Cleanup costs vary, depending on state standards and the extent to which sites are contaminated, but the average is estimated at $125,000, according to the EPA. In cases where groundwater is affected, cleanups can run over $1 million, and the presence of MTBE can lead to a substantial increase in cleanup and drinking water treatment costs.
Through July, $146.5 million of federal stimulus dollars have been distributed to 36 states for cleanups identified as shovel-ready. It's a drop in the bucket given the backlog of cleanups stands at 101,190, which, on average, would cost an estimated $12.6 billion. Still, the $200 million in stimulus funds more than doubles the program's annual $70-million budget.
According to the EPA, leaks from underground storage tanks are the most common source of groundwater contamination, and petroleum is the most common contaminant.
For cleanup statistics, please see the UST And LUST Program Performance Measures.
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