AS-3816_28937_G_ELIG_20220324_Quick Trip No 2

March 24, 2022
I-S-I Enterprise (L.L.C.) Attn: Mr. Imran Alam
589 Brevard Road Asheville, North Carolina 28806 RE: Commercial State Trust Fund Eligibility Application Quick Trip #2 – Facility ID # 00-0-0000007249
545 Tunnel Road Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina 28805 Incident # 28937 UST # AS-3816 Dear Mr. Alam: This letter is to acknowledge receipt of and respond to your request for an eligibility determination for access to the North Carolina Leaking Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund for the above-referenced property. Review of your application by the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Section of the Division of Waste Management is now complete. Information supplied to the State Trust Fund indicates the following USTs and AST have been, and/or are associated with the site property:
• One 10,000-gallon gasoline UST (installed March 13, 1979, and removed on October 12, 2021);
• One 5,000-gallon gasoline UST (installed March 13, 1979, and removed on October 12, 2021);
• One 5,000-gallon diesel UST (installed March 13, 1979, and removed on October 12, 2021); and
• One 500-gallon kerosene AST (installed July 17, 2015, last used and removed on September 28, 2021). According to information provided in the application and Department records, the release was discovered during an April 27, 2011, inspection where soil staining was evident adjacent to the dispensers. Laboratory
results from several soil samples collected, indicated petroleum compounds were above North Carolina action levels. The release was reported to the Ashville Regional Office (RRO) by submittal of an email on April 27, 2011. Incident #28937 was assigned and is currently an open incident. On January 27, 2014, a LSA report was received that indicated a monitoring well was installed and a groundwater sample was collected and analyzed. Groundwater results were above 2L, but below gross contamination levels. A soil sample collected from beneath the vapor recovery valve exceeded Soil-To-Groundwater MSCCs but were less than Residential MSCCs.
On December 6, 2021, a UST-12 Closure Report was received by the Department indicating three USTs had been removed on October 12, 2021. During UST removal activities, the USTs were observed to have large corrosion holes in the gasoline USTs and smaller holes in the diesel UST. According to the

Department’s records, cathodic protection had been turned off previously. The water table was approximately three feet below the ground surface on the date of the tank removal. Soil samples were
unable to be collected from the tank pit due to the pea gravel and shallow bedrock. On November 16, 2021, a groundwater sample was collected from MW-1 located adjacent to the UST basin. Benzene was detected at a concentration of 5,110 µg/L, exceeding Gross Contamination Limits (GCLs): toluene, IPE, naphthalene, 1-methylnaphthalene, C5 to C8 and C9 to C10, C11 to C22 exceeded 2L. As per an affidavit by Mr. Imran Alam (landowner), dated March 21, 2022, one aboveground storage tank (AST) had been out-of-use since September 28, 2021 and was removed prior to the removal of the UST system in October 2021. The 500-gallon kerosene AST was located on the opposite, southeastern side of the building. Therefore, based on the distance and direction, no reported releases, and the condition of that AST prior to its removal, the AST is not being considered in this eligibility determination. However, if new information becomes available and a release is discovered at a later date that is associated with this AST,
and becomes commingled with the current UST release, then this eligibility determination will be reconsidered. The USTs had been upgraded to meet the required federal corrosion protection, leak detection, and spill/overfill prevention standards at the time of release discovery. A review of the tank operating fees database indicates that all fees were paid prior to the release discovery. Based on the aforementioned information, the release associated with the UST system is conditionally eligible for reimbursement from the Commercial Trust Fund for reasonable and necessary costs incurred for any environmental assessment and cleanup of this site. To remain eligible, you must proceed with corrective action, if required, by and in accordance with North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC) 15A 2L .0115 or 15A NCAC 2L .0106, whichever is applicable. Failure to mitigate the spread of contamination may cause you to be determined ineligible to receive reimbursement from the Commercial Trust Fund.
In accordance with North Carolina General Statute (N.C.G.S.) 143-215.94B(b)(3), any discharge or release reported on or after January 1, 1994, is subject to a $20,000 deductible if prior to the discharge or release,
the commercial UST from which the discharge or release occurred met the performance standards applicable to tanks installed after December 22, 1988 or met the requirements that USTs must meet by December 22, 1998 (i.e., the UST systems were required to be protected from corrosion and have spill and
overfill protection equipment installed prior to release discovery). Based on the information available at this time, it appears that the N.C.G.S. 143-215.94B(b)(3) provision for a $20,000 deductible was met. In accordance with N.C.G.S. 143-215.94E, reasonable and necessary costs incurred in the environmental cleanup of this incident may be eligible for reimbursement after incurring an initial deductible of $20,000 per occurrence of these costs. You may be reimbursed for cleanup costs exceeding $20,000 as follows: 100 percent reimbursed for reasonable and necessary costs between $20,000 and $1 million, and 80 percent reimbursed for reasonable and necessary costs between $1 million and $1.5 million. The status of your underground storage tank release assessment or remediation efforts may be affected by
the statutory requirements of N.C.G.S. 143-215.94E(e5), as revised by Session Law 2005-365. Subsections (e 5)(6) through (e 5)(9) of this statute prohibit the Department from pre-approving any work eligible for reimbursement from the Commercial Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund, unless the Department
determines that sufficient funds will be available to pay the claim within 90 days of final claim approval. To meet the requirements of this law, the Department is requiring the following:
1) Per 15A NCAC 2P .0402(b)(9), State Trust Fund preapproval is required for all work for which reimbursement will be requested, with the exception of emergency response actions (applied as per 15A NCAC 2L .0404, Initial Abatement Actions, including mitigation of fire, explosion, and vapor hazards) and assessment activities (applied as per 15A NCAC 2L .0405, Limited Site Assessments).

2) Following the submittal of a Limited Site Assessment Report and associated risk classification
(15A NCAC 2L .0406), the Department will use Notice of Regulatory Requirements to direct responsible parties of a release to assess and/or remediate contaminated soil and groundwater according to 15A NCAC 2L .0407 based on the site’s risk prioritization classification under N.C.G.S. 143-215.94E(e4). 3) The above referenced requirements, 1 and 2, are for sites with NO previous release(s) or incident(s). Any site with a prior release(s) or incident(s) must obtain pre-approval for all work to be conducted. Per N.C.G.S. 143-215.94E(j) and (k), please note that you have one year from task completion or the date of this eligibility determination, whichever comes later, to submit a reimbursement claim. The claim can only include costs beginning December 31, 2020 (one calendar year prior to eligibility application date of
receipt) or later. If a claim is not submitted within one year of the eligibility determination date or the completion of the task, costs may be denied.
The Commercial Leaking Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Funds will reimburse costs based on fund availability. Please note that this does not relieve you of any regulatory responsibility. Therefore, you must continue with all required assessment and/or corrective action, unless the site has received a
Notice of No Further Action. To obtain the latest information on implementation guidance or updated forms, please visit http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/wm/ust/guidance. Please be aware that this letter does not constitute a final agency decision. Any additional information or comments to rebut this letter may be submitted to my attention at NCDEQ, Division of Waste Management, UST Section, 1646 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1646. Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at [phone] or Kristie Oseguera at [phone]. Sincerely,

Wayne Randolph, CPM Trust Fund Branch Head UST Section-Division of Waste Management NC Department of Environmental Quality

KMO: 28937 – Quick Trip #2, 545 Tunnel Road, Asheville, NC 28805 Cc: I-S-I Enterprise (L.L.C.), Imran Alam via email at [e-mail] Philip Thompson, P.G. via email at [e-mail] NCDEQ – Asheville Regional Office, Caroline LaFond via email at [e-mail] NCDEQ – Asheville Regional Office, Maura Clark via email at [e-mail] STF