A national fuel company has been fined over a fuel leak at a service station. 

Almost 80,000 litres of fuel escaped from an underground storage tank at a Caltex service station in regional NSW between December 2019 and February 2020. The company discovered that the Kippax petrol station had been leaking petrol into the soil for three months after an underground tank failed.

Ampol Petroleum has now signed an enforceable undertaking with the ACT Environment Protection Authority over the incident, which will see it pay $150,000 to the Ginninderry Conservation Trust and $50,000 to the Ginninderra Catchment Group to fund their environmental work.

The leak came from a 45-year-old steel storage tank, which failed after its floor corroded.

The tank featured no protective measures, such as cathodic protection to prevent corrosion, automatic tank gauging or electronic line leak detection.

Investigations by Ampol also found several risk management controls had not prevented the tank's failure either.

The company notified the EPA when the leak was detected, calling in environmental consultants and remediation contractors too.

Auditors did not find any unacceptable health risks at the site or nearby properties, meaning it continues to be used as a service station and mechanical workshop.

Authorities say remediation work at the site is ongoing. 

EPA chief executive Narelle Sargent says that the enforceable undertaking reached with Ampol “requires action that directly benefits the environment and community”.

The legally-binding undertakings can be used when the EPA is concerned environmental laws have been breached.

“In this instance the EPA considers it is the appropriate regulatory response,” Ms Sargent said.

“It's actually a better option [than prosecution] in terms of the benefits to the community … it actually provides funds back through the community to the environment.”