NISTM 2022 Aboveground Storage Tanks Conference and Trade Show Takeaways Blog 2022

HUVR was out in force at the National Institute for Storage Tank Management (NISTM), 15th Annual International Aboveground Storage Tank Conference and Trade Show in The Woodlands, Texas.  The location was great (not that living in the area makes me biased) and the Texas fall was very cooperative, to say the least. 

It was a busy week because we had a full schedule of events: exhibiting, speaking, presenting an educational event with HUVR advisor Earl “The Tank Whisperer” Crochet—plus we wanted to talk to as many tank owners, operators and inspectors as possible. Needless to say, by the time the happy hour we hosted at the Goose’s Acre Bistro and Irish Pub rolled around, we were as ready as our guests to unwind.

New Regulations meet the Great Resignation 

A perfect storm has been brewing for the owners of above-ground storage tanks (ASTs) for some time. It is churned by a powerful mixture of new regulatory requirements, the shrinking number of experienced technicians to ensure compliance and asset integrity and an influx of new technologies that require specialized skills to fully leverage. Together with Earl Crochet, we led sessions on the considerations for tank operations (Earl’s 5 P’s: Philosophy, Processes, Paraphernalia, People and Profit) and also how a fit-for-purpose IDMS together with application specific workflows—The HUVR Tank Solution—can aid the navigation of this perfect storm. 

Furthermore, SB900 has been passed into legislation; Texas now joins the list of other states that have equivalent regulations. Once enforcement begins in September 2023, it is expected that many other states will follow suit. Experienced personnel continue to retire or resign, and it is challenging to entice new recruits to join or simply remain within the industry. The resultant experience gap—in combination with the new regulatory environment—is becoming increasingly worrisome.

NISTM hosted a co-located event titled “SB900: A New Era for Storage Tanks and Its Effect on Asset Owners & Operators”, where Earl detailed the current requirements and regulatory expectations associated with SB900, and HUVR demonstrated how our IDMS platform helps asset owners and inspection providers aggregate, automate and analyze the vast amounts of data derived from both new and existing inspection technologies—in the context of SB900 as well as other complex regulatory requirements. Asking the right questions and providing the right answers to the right people at the right time is more critical than ever. As Earl says, “Start digital, stay digital”. We even had 2 employees of the TCEQ attend our session.

An article published by Inspectioneering, co-authored by Earl Crochet and HUVR, details not only the complexity of SB900, as regulated by the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ), but also the opportunity it affords to increase efficiency and asset safety. It was great to listen to the TCEQ panel discussion and meet with them in person to ensure that the HUVR vision aligns with that of TCEQ…to infinity and beyond! 

If you’d like to know more about our plans for the future, or how we can help you today, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’d love to talk it through with you, as the future is not on the horizon…it is already here.