Austin, TX — Tanknology Inc., (www.tanknology.com) the world’s largest provider of UST compliance solutions, announced today that the company’s third-party certification of its VacuTect® UST testing system has been updated to include the ability to test empty tanks. The third-party certification was performed by Ken Wilcox Associates, one of the nation’s leading evaluators of UST leak detection systems, in accordance with EPA standard test procedures. The updated certification has been accepted by the National Work Group on Leak Detection Evaluations and now appears on the organization’s website of listed evaluations. According to Allen Porter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tanknology, it is convenient to test empty tanks in several situations: At the time of a change-in-ownership of a property, to verify the current condition of an empty tank for the protection of both the buyer and seller of the property; at the time of a new installation, to verify tightness prior to the introduction of fuel; and following tank repairs, again to verify tightness before adding fuel back into the tank. Porter said currently, the largest application for the testing of empty tanks is at the time of property transfer. “We’re seeing an unprecedented number of fueling facilities changing ownership,” Porter said. “In many cases, the facilities have been taken out of service and fuel has been removed from the tanks. Historically, in most cases, fuel must be added back into the tanks, just for the purpose of performing a tightness test. This certification now allows us to perform EPA third-party certified tests on those tanks without the cost, time and potential liability associated with temporarily adding, then removing fuel, merely to test them.” Porter said the convenience afforded by the ability the test tanks without having to add fuel is as applicable in other parts of the world as it is in the US. “Our international licensees, now spanning more than 30 countries, will see tremendous benefit from this new capability with our VacuTect system,” he said. “Many countries are experiencing the same trends in increased divestiture of retail stations by major oil companies, so a lot of facilities are changing hands around the world. Like in the US, a significant percentage of the sites have been closed and fuel removed, so the ability to test the tanks in that state will provide significant cost savings to our customers.” Based in Austin, Texas, Tanknology has regional offices covering all areas of the United States, in addition to international licensees throughout the world, providing UST environmental compliance testing and related services at more than 50,000 sites per year, for more than 3,000 customers. Internationally, Tanknology licensees span 30 countries, providing services to the largest petroleum retailers in the world.  Visit www.tanknology.com for more information. For more information about Tanknology’s services worldwide, call us at 1 (800) 964-1250 or visit us online at www.tanknology.com. More information about the National Work Group on Leak Detection Evaluations can be found on the group’s website at www.nwglde.org.