MO-29901_48992_G_ELIG_20230918_20K

September 18, 2023 Nisbet Oil Company
Attn: Mr. James J. White, IV, President P.O. Box 35367 Charlotte, North Carolina 28235
RE: Commercial State Trust Fund Eligibility Application
Handy Corner – Facility ID # 00-0-0000014377 2076 Startown Road Lincolnton, Lincoln County, North Carolina 28092 Incident #48992 UST # MO-29901 Dear Mr. White: This letter is to acknowledge receipt of and respond to your request for eligibility determination for access to the North Carolina Leaking Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Funds 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 that the following USTs were associated with the subject site:
• One 10,000-gallon gasoline UST (installed June 6, 1979, and still in use);
• Two 6,000-gallon gasoline USTs (installed June 6, 1979, and still in use);
• One 10,000-gallon diesel UST (installed June 6, 1979, and still in use); and
• One 2,000-gallon diesel UST (installed June 6, 1979, and still in use). A release was discovered when a soil sample was collected from beneath the regular unleaded spill bucket
on January 4, 2023. The total petroleum hydrocarbons – gasoline range organics (TPH-GRO) results exceeded the reportable allowable concentrations. The release was reported to the Mooresville Regional Office by submittal of a UST-61 Form dated March 8, 2023, and incident number 48992 was assigned. The USTs had been upgraded to meet the required federal corrosion protection, leak detection, and spill/overfill prevention standards at the time of the 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 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 may be eligible for reimbursement. 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
(e5)(6) through (e5)(9) of this statute prohibit the Department from pre-approving any work eligible for reimbursement from the Commercial or Noncommercial 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 June 30, 2022 (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] or email at [e-mail]. Sincerely,
Wayne Randolph, CPM Trust Fund Branch Head
UST Section-Division of Waste Management NC Department of Environmental Quality
KMO: 48992 – Handy Corner at 2076 Startown Road in Lincolnton, Lincoln County, NC 28092 cc: Nisbet Oil Company, Mr. James White via email at [e-mail] Geological Resources, Inc., Ms. Tomie Benton via email at [e-mail] NC DEQ – Mooresville Regional Office, Mr. Ron Taraban via email at [e-mail] NC DEQ – Mooresville Regional Office, Mr. Ryan Mills via email at [e-mail] STF