Contact Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, (302) 739-4506.

DNREC Issues $31,500 penalty order to Merit Oil
of Delaware for storage tank and air quality violations

DOVER (April 15, 2011) – Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O’Mara has issued a Notice of Administrative Penalty Assessment and Secretary’s Order to Merit Oil of Delaware, Inc. for violations of the state’s underground storage tank and air quality rules and regulations. The order includes a cash penalty of $31,500 and an additional $4,725 as cost recovery reimbursement for DNREC’s expenses associated with its investigation.

DNREC’s Tank Management Branch conducted a compliance inspection of underground storage tank systems at a Hess gas station on Kirkwood Highway owned by Merit Oil of Delaware on April 8, 2009. At the time of the inspection, Merit Oil of Delaware failed to demonstrate it had proper financial responsibility documentation to pay for the cleanup or third-party damages associated with a potential release from the company’s underground storage tanks. 

Merit Oil of Delaware, remained out of compliance for a year before submitting the required financial responsibility information in March 2010. Also, on August 27, 2009, during a routine stop at the gas station, the Tank Management Branch observed that permitted gas pumps had been replaced without Merit Oil modifying its vapor recovery system permit as required by law. DNREC issued a Notice of Violation letter on January 20, 2010. It was several months before Merit Oil of Delaware submitted the necessary permit applications and to correct this problem underground piping had to be reconfigured and thoroughly tested to ensure that they met Delaware’s leak detection requirements. On November 23, 2010, DNREC issued the permits.  

Merit Oil of Delaware Inc. has 30 days to request a public hearing.

Vol. 41, No. 154