District fined for storage tank violations
State panel said school district failed to properly monitor petroleum tanks.
The Round Rock school district received state fines initially totaling $13,500 due to improperly monitoring petroleum tanks at district facilities, according to a report.
The fines stem from a 2016 investigation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, alleging the district failed to monitor underground petroleum tanks for leaks at two district facilities.
“Human health or the environment could or will be exposed to pollutants that would exceed levels that are protective of human health or receptors as a result of the violation,” the environmental commission report read.
Both the school district’s Brushy Creek Complex and the Transportation East Facility use the underground tanks for refueling its fleet of school buses and other vehicles.
According to the report, both sites failed to ensure the tanks were not leaking at an interval not to exceed 35 days.
Because both facilities are over the Edwards Aquifer, additional monitoring is required and also was not being done, the report says.
The added protections required by the environmental commission included installing a system that continuously monitors both the tanks and pipes for leaks, and would alert a school employee immediately if the tanks started to leak.
Jenny Caputo, a spokeswoman for the district, said district staff quickly remedied the issue because the needed systems were already on-site at the time of the inspection.
“The equipment for this function was present but was not set up correctly to function properly,” she said.
While the equipment had been purchased but was not functioning, the report indicates the district did not meet the criteria for making a “good faith” effort to put the required protections in place.
Because the school district was able to bring the monitoring systems online fewer than 30 days from the time of the infraction, the commission reduced the fines by $2,700, bringing the total down to $10,400 for both storage violations.
“All violations were addressed, repaired or fixed within 30 days of the original inspection,” Caputo said.
Caputo couldn’t say why the equipment wasn’t functioning at the time of the inspection. The district would also not comment on which staff had the responsibility for maintaining compliance with environmental rules.
The two fines will be given as contributions to Supplemental Environmental Projects, according to the commission’s report.
The Texas Association of Resource Conservation and Development Areas will receive $5,400 to clean up unauthorized dump sites for tires trash and debris. The Galveston Bay Foundation will also receive $5,400 for the district to help re-establish a marsh habitat in the bay.