Chesapeake, Va.-Virginia expects to have statewide regulations in force before the end of the year for large above-ground liquid fertilizer storage tanks in the aftermath of the two-million-gallon spill in November 2008 (GM Nov. 17, 2008) that inundated a nearby neighborhood and injured several individuals. Emory Rogers, deputy director of fire regulations in the Department of Housing and Community Development, told Green Markets the process that began last year with public hearings is in the final stages and will be approved by the department’s code committee by July 26 to be effective in the fall of this year. That’s particularly good news for the Chesapeake and Norfolk areas, where there are already about a dozen of the structures because of the nearness to seaports. Chesapeake city officials pressed for the new rules to gain more authority to inspect tanks in the same way they inspect petroleum tanks. “The changes would bring into the regulations API and industry standards that would be used for construction and then for ongoing maintenance of the tanks,” according to Rogers. “There would have to be secondary containment capable of holding 110 percent of the capacity of the tank, having a berm in place, and then compliance is referenced for converting existing tanks from one content to another.”
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain