HCS/SCS/SB 907 - This act modifies provisions relating to the regulation of motor fuel storage tanks and equipment. The Hazardous Waste Management Commission shall propose rules by February 13, 2009 to establish requirements for the reporting of releases and corrective action taken in response to releases from underground petroleum storage tanks. The Board of Trustees of the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund shall be a type III agency and shall employ staff as needed. Under current law, the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund expires on December 31, 2010, or upon revocation of 40 CFR Parts 280 and 285, which are federal standards and corrective action requirements for owners of underground storage tanks. This act extends the expiration date until December 31, 2020, and removes the clause concerning revocation of federal law. Under current law, an owner or operator of petroleum storage tanks may participate in the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund to "partially" meet the applicable financial obligations required by state law. This act removes the word "partially" to allow this participation to fully meet the financial obligation. The act additionally changes the statute reference for the financial obligations to a single section in Chapter 319, RSMo, and an additional section in Chapter 414, RSMo, which concerns aboveground storage tanks. Under current law, the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund Board of Trustees' advisory committee is composed of insurers and owners and operators of petroleum storage tanks. This act allows other interested parties to also serve on the committee. The requirement that the committee report to the General Assembly on the status of private insurance for fuel storage tanks is changed from annually to every two years. The act requires that after December 31, 2010, owners or operators of aboveground storage tanks containing petroleum shall maintain evidence of financial responsibility in an amount sufficient to cover at least $1 million per occurrence of a spill, up to $2 million annually in aggregate, to pay for corrective action, third-party bodily injury compensation, and property damage. Participation in the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund is sufficient to meet this requirement. The Department of Agriculture shall promulgate rules for this requirement. The act provides that after December 31, 2017, the current legal owner of a site where an aboveground or underground storage tank was taken out of use by December 31, 1997, shall be considered the responsible party for cleanup of any remaining petroleum pollution. Creditors of legal owners of such sites shall not be subject to greater or lesser responsibility for corrective action after December 31, 2017 than they were prior to that date. Under current law, each participant in the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund shall pay a per-tank fee each year in an amount of at least $100 but not greater than $300. This act raises the maximum from $300 to $500. The Board of Trustees for the Fund may require new applicants, who have not had any previous insurance or financial responsibility for the tank, to conduct site assessments prior to participating in the Fund. The Board may also require these new applicants to pay a surcharge per tank per year for each year after which the tank was eligible for coverage by the Fund, with the amount of each year's surcharge not to exceed the surcharge that was actually in effect for that year. An underground storage tank is ineligible to receive petroleum if certain spill prevention, overfill protection, leak detection, or corrosion prevention equipment have not been installed. The act requires the Department of Natural Resources to affix a red violation tag to any underground storage tank that it determines to be ineligible to receive petroleum and the Department must notify the owner or operator of the tank of its action within 14 days. No person shall deposit petroleum in any tank with a red violation tag and removal of the tag is prohibited except in certain circumstances. Upon the receipt of documentation from the tank owner or operator that satisfactorily indicates resolution of the problem, the Department must immediately authorize the removal of the violation tag. If the Department determines that an inspection is needed before issuing approval to remove the tag, the inspection must be conducted within 24 hours of receiving notification from the tank owner or operator. If the Department does not conduct its inspection in that time period, the owner or operator may remove the violation tag and return the tag to the Department in a pre-paid envelope provided by the Department. In addition to any administrative remedy available, tank owners or operators may appeal any decision by the Department to the circuit court within 10 business days of the Department's action. The act modifies the definition of "environmental response project" for purposes of the Missouri Environmental Covenants Act, by specifying that an environmental response project shall not include plans or work performed for environmental remediation of releases from aboveground or underground storage tanks containing petroleum. Any transfer fee, declaration, or covenant that requires the payment of a fee to a specified person upon a transfer of interest in real property shall not be binding or enforceable against any subsequent owner, purchaser, or mortgagee of an interest in the real property. Water or sewer line easements shall not be construed as a transfer of title of real property to any county. Provisions of this act are similar to provisions in SB 601 (2007). ERIKA JAQUES