Aware that high costs would slow tank removals, Michigan lawmakers levied a gas tax and created a fund to subsidize outdated tanks that existed at the time. Jason Thompson, left, and John Laidlaw of Myers Construction use dry ice to help remove remaining gases and vapors before a storage tank in Southfield is removed. Gas taxes of seven-eighths of a cent per gallon couldn't keep up with demand, however, and the fund went bankrupt in 1995, after only seven years of subsidies. Today, state funds no longer exist to bankroll tank removals and pollution remediation. The Legislature has not acted to replenish the financial aid.
Owners are now fully responsible for all costs.
The fund was never a lot. Federal dollars to run Michigan's underground tank enforcement have fared somewhat better. Despite the vagaries of funding, legal confusion over tank ownership and the welter of state and federal officials involved, Michigan has managed to clean up 9,800 leaking tanks during the past decade. That total represents roughly half of known leaks across the state. All but 17 tanks were used to store gas or fuel oil.