Innocence amid "LUST": The Innocent Buyer and Leaking Underground Storage Tanks Containing Petroleum
![handle is hein.journals/byujpl7 and id is 251 raw text is: Innocence Amid LUST:1
The Innocent Buyer and Leaking Underground
Storage Tanks Containing Petroleum
Kevin R. Duncan*
B. Todd Bailey**
I. INTRODUCTION
Petroleum products have been stored in underground
storage tanks (USTs)2 since the 1950s.3 These products are
stored in USTs primarily for safety reasons.4 However, with
the passage of time, many USTs have developed leaks and
have spilled their contents into the surrounding soil and
underlying groundwater. Contamination of our groundwater
has been called a problem of national significance5 which
* Kevin R. Duncan is a Washington attorney and a principle in the Seattle
firm of Duncan, Fritch & Hubbard which specializes in the development of
software for the legal profession. Mr. Duncan has an M.A. in Tax and a J.D. from
Brigham Young University in 1991, and is a member of the Washington bar.
** B. Todd Bailey will receive his B.S. and MAcc. from the J. Willard & Alice
S. Marriott School of Management, and is a candidate for graduation from the J.
Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University in 1993.
1. The acronym LUST was originally used by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) as the designation for leaking underground storage tanks. However,
[clognizant in this era of new morality that '[h]ell has three gates, lust, anger,
and greed,' EPA ... changed its LUST program to 'UST' MICHAEL L. ITALIANO
E'P AL., LIABILITY FOR STORAGE TANKS 1 (2d ed. 1992) (quoting BHAGAVAD GITA
(THE SONG OF GOD) 16 (P. Lal. trans.)). The abbreviation UST will be used
throughout this paper; however, the acronym LUST is used in the title in order
to sound more alluring to prospective readers.
2. For purposes of this article, an underground storage tank is a tank
system, including its piping, that has at least 10 percent of its volume beneath the
surface of the ground. See 42 U.S.C. § 6991(1) (1988).
3. Katherine S. Yagerman, Underground Storage Tanks: The Federal Program
Matures, 21 ENVTL. L. REP. 10,136, 10,136 (Mar. 1991).
4. Id. The safety reasons relate to fire and explosion hazards. Obviously,
environmental contamination from leakage was overlooked as a safety concern. Id.;
see also U.S. EPA Pub. EPA/530/UST-88-0088, MUSTS FOR USTS 1 (Sept. 1988)
[hereinafter MUSTS FOR USTS] (Leaking USTs can cause fires or explosions that
threaten human safety.).
5. HAZARDOUS AND SOLID WASTE AMENDMENTS OF 1984, H.R. CONF. REP. No.
245](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/byujpl7&div=15&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Innocence amid "LUST": The Innocent Buyer and Leaking Underground Storage Tanks Containing Petroleum
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