The Nebraska Department of Environment & Energy equipment reuse program is yielding savings for Nebraska taxpayers to the tune of more than $5.5 million since its inception 15 years ago.
When cleaning up petroleum leaks, new equipment to get the job done can be a major cost. But through the Petroleum Remediation Section’s reuse program, contractors can find petroleum remediation trailers that fit their requirements.
One of those trailers has been to five sites to clean up petroleum from leaking underground storage tanks – a new record for trailer reuse sites. This trailer (fondly called “top gun”) was first purchased in 2007 to clean a site in Burwell. Since then, it has been used in North Bend in 2012, Valley in 2015, Clarks in 2016 and Barneston in 2019.
Phil Hargis, a geologist with NDEE’s petroleum remediation section, said the trailer cost more than $52,000 to build new. If new trailers had to be purchased at the same price for the four additional sites top gun has visited, it would have cost Nebraska taxpayers another $200,000.
Read more about the program here.
