State Data Listed Kern Medical's Single-Wall Diesel Tank After Closure Deadline

One Kern County facility appeared in the state's August inventory

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — California's latest public map of facilities with remaining single-wall underground storage-tank components listed one Kern County location as of August 5: Kern Medical Center at 1700 Mount Vernon Avenue.

The state record identifies one diesel tank, marks it as an emergency-system tank and names Kern County Hospital Authority in the owner, operator and property-owner fields. The record also places the site within 1,000 feet of a drinking-water well or surface water body used as a drinking-water source.

That is a database finding, not a contamination finding. Geographic proximity does not prove a hydrologic connection, a release, exposure or a threat to patients, workers or nearby residents.

The listing came after a statewide permanent-closure deadline

California law required regulated underground storage systems with specified single-wall components to be permanently closed by December 31, 2025. The State Water Board explains that a single-wall tank or piping system lacks the required secondary containment and continuous leak-detection system.

The Water Board says systems not permanently closed by the deadline are out of compliance, cannot operate, may be red-tagged and can face penalties of $500 to $5,000 per tank per day.

But appearance in the August 5 inventory does not establish that Kern Medical operated the tank after January 1, was penalized, lacked a permit application or removal schedule, or failed to complete a legally recognized closure process. Permanent closure can involve removal or approved closure in place, and the dataset does not show the site's procedural status.

The statewide query returned 21 facilities and 57 tanks

What’s the Scoop With Broach queried every feature in the same state layer and counted 21 facilities representing 57 tanks across 11 counties. Kern Medical was the only feature with Kern in the county field, accounting for one facility and one tank in that snapshot.

The official progress page says California has closed 49,918—99.8%—of roughly 50,000 original single-wall tanks. It reports fewer than 82 remaining tanks, including tanks with permit applications or scheduled removal dates, and about 19 tanks at eight sites not yet in formal removal planning.

The map count and progress-page count are not necessarily identical measures. The map records facilities and component tanks as of its stated date, while the progress page summarizes administrative status and may reflect a different update cycle.

The environmental-burden field needs careful interpretation

The Kern Medical feature assigns the surrounding census tract to the 80th-to-85th percentile CalEnviroScreen band. CalEnviroScreen combines pollution-burden and population-vulnerability indicators to compare California census tracts.

That percentile is community context. It does not show that this tank caused the tract's score, that diesel reached water or soil, or that anyone was exposed. The state layer provides no sampling result, enforcement order or leak record for the facility.

What the public record still does not answer

The August snapshot does not say whether the tank was empty, red-tagged, removed or closed in place after August 5; whether a permit or removal date was active; whether it ever operated after the deadline; or whether closure sampling found a release.

It also does not explain how emergency backup fuel is now supplied or whether the map has been updated to reflect later work. Those questions require current confirmation from Kern Medical and the local Unified Program Agency, not inference from a six-week-old snapshot.

Accordingly, the documented finding is narrow: a state inventory dated August 5 listed the tank more than seven months after the closure deadline. Calling the hospital a current violator or saying the tank is leaking would go beyond the available evidence.

How the analysis was done

What’s the Scoop With Broach used the State Water Board's public ArcGIS service to query all features and then an exact county filter for Kern. We counted facilities as map features and summed the layer's tank-count field, preserving the August 5 date shown in the item's metadata.

The analysis treats blank proximity fields as unknown rather than assuming those sites are farther away. It also does not treat the statewide estimate that some remaining tanks may leak from corrosion as evidence about this specific tank.

The direct Kern query, statewide query, metadata, governing guidance and scoring methodology are linked with this report so readers can reproduce the finding.

About the image

The accompanying image is an authentic May 2011 photograph by Versageek showing a backhoe removing three underground storage tanks from a gas station. It is licensed through Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0.

It illustrates the type of removal work discussed in state guidance. It does not depict Kern Medical, Bakersfield, the tank in California's inventory, a leak, an enforcement action or current closure work.