Opinion ID: 2221968
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Purpose of Tank Fund Act.

Text: The Board claims its broad interpretation is derived from the goal and purpose of the statute, to provide adequate and reliable financial assurance for the cost of corrective action for preexisting petroleum underground storage tank releases. 1989 Iowa Acts ch. 131, § 2; see Hagen, 526 N.W.2d at 543. It argues this goal will not be met if petroleum suppliers like Mobil are excluded from liability. The Board also argues the history of the companion federal CERCLA and RCRA legislation supports the conclusion that Mobil was an operator under our Iowa statute. In determining legislative intent, we not only look to the language of the statute, but the objects sought to be accomplished, the purpose served, the underlying policies, the remedies, and the consequences of the various interpretations. United Fire & Cas. Co. v. Acker, 541 N.W.2d 517, 519 (Iowa 1995). We agree a goal of our Iowa statute is to provide financial assurance for the clean up costs of petroleum release from underground storage tanks. Yet, this goal does not express a further intent to define the particular means of financing the clean up. There are a variety of possible sources to finance clean up of petroleum releases, and the imposition of the clean up costs on those who supplied the petroleum is one approach. For example, in enacting CERCLA to deal with the clean up of hazardous waste sites, Congress specifically imposed liability on those who supplied the pollutants to the site. See 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a)(3). It envisioned that the clean up costs would be recouped from those responsible for the problem, and the taxpayers would not be required to shoulder the financial burden. See United States v. Witco Corp., 865 F.Supp. 245, 247 (E.D.Pa. 1994). Similarly, after leaded gasoline became an environmental concern, Congress responded to the problem by making refiners and suppliers liable for their branded stations who failed to comply with the ban imposed on the sale of leaded gas. 42 U.S.C. § 7545(n). Our legislature, however, specified six sources of revenue for the fund, including issuance of bonds, use tax revenue, storage tank management fees, insurance premium income, proceeds from cost recovery enforcement, and other sources of revenue intended for the fund. Iowa Code § 455G.8. Our legislature made no direct reference to suppliers or refiners as a source of cost recovery. If anything, the six sources identified by our legislature reveal an intent for the cost to be shared from a variety of sources. There is no indication refiners and suppliers were a target of the financial scheme. It may be an acceptable public policy to look to those who are best able to pay for the clean up, but we are not free to adopt a particular policy not supported by the language or history of a statute. See Stroup v. Reno, 530 N.W.2d 441, 443 (Iowa 1995).