Main Menu

Underground Storage Tanks Program overview:

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ ) implements the UST program under Article 9 of State Water Control Law. Article 9, first enacted in 1987, enables DEQ to receive UST notifications, receive federal grant funds, develop regulations , conduct cleanups, and provide overall supervision of UST activities in the state. The technical requirements for USTs are included in Virginia regulation 9 VAC 25-580 et seq. entitled "Underground Storage Tanks: Technical Standards and Corrective Action Requirements". The financial responsibility requirements for USTs are found in Virginia Regulation 9 VAC 25-590 et seq. entitled "Virginia Petroleum Underground Storage Tanks Financial Responsibility Requirements Regulation". State housing law Section 36-99.6 provides for local code officials to permit and inspect UST installations, upgrades, repairs, and closures statewide in support of the program. In Virginia there are some 75,000 USTs (30,000 active) at 25,000 facilities with some 13,000 owners. VA-DEQ maintains the notification records for USTs and receives annual federal grant funding to support the program. In general, after December 22, 1998 all regulated USTs must have spill containment provisions at the fill pipe; overfill devices to alert the owner when overfills may occur; corrosion protection on both tank and product lines; release detection on both tank and product lines; and, financial responsibility.

UST Pollution Prevention

Laws: Federal

Except in a few instances, Federal regulations prior to 1984 did not address underground storage tanks (UST) systems. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 regulated only tanks containing hazardous wastes, not tanks storing petroleum or hazardous products. The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 required owners of large underground tanks (greater than 42,000 gallons) to take certain measures to prevent corrosion and to test tanks periodically. These requirements, however, applied only to those tanks that were potentially direct sources of pollution into navigable waters. Because releases from USTs generally contaminated only groundwater, and usually affect surface water only indirectly, the CWA could not be used as a general basis for regulating most USTs. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, commonly known as Superfund, authorized EPA to respond whenever a hazardous substance is released into the environment. Superfund, however, cannot be used to respond to releases from UST systems because petroleum is specifically excluded from the list of hazardous substances defined under CERCLA.

In 1984, Congress prepared amendments to RCRA that would address the problems of leaking UST systems. In October 1984, Congress passed a final version of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) to RCRA. In November 1984, President Reagan signed the amendments into law. Title IV of the Amendments added Subtitle I (sections 9001 through 9010) which specifically provided for regulation of UST systems.

Subtitle I includes requirements for tank notification, interim prohibition, new tank standards, reporting and record-keeping requirements for existing tanks, corrective action, financial responsibility, compliance monitoring and enforcement, and approval of State programs. The law also requires EPA to develop a comprehensive program for the regulation of UST systems "as may be necessary to protect human health and the environment."

The Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) was created in 1985 as part of EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) to carry out the Congressional mandate to develop and implement a new regulatory program for UST systems. OUST has two divisions: The Policy and Standards Division and the Implementation Division. OUST is charged with developing regulations for UST systems in the areas of technical standards for tanks, financial responsibility, and state program approval.

In 1986, Congress passed the Superfund Amendments Reauthorization Act (SARA) which amended Subtitle I to provide Federal funds for corrective actions on petroleum releases from UST systems. This amendment established the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund, commonly known as the "LUST Trust Fund". On September 23, 1988, EPA published the final technical regulations for tanks. On October 26, 1988, EPA published the financial responsibility regulations, indicating the minimum levels of insurance UST owners and operators need to ensure that they can take "corrective action" in response to any leaks that occur from their UST systems and compensate anyone who is harmed by a release. Corrective action includes assessing the release and the extent of damage or danger to human health and the environment, determining what action is needed to repair any damage and remove contaminants, and taking the necessary remedial action (e.g., free product recovery, bioventing).

Laws: Virginia

The History of the Virginia UST Program

In 1984, President Reagan signed into law Subtitle I of RCRA creating the federal Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program. On May 8, 1985 the federal Interim Prohibition became effective banning nationwide, the installation of corrodible tanks and piping until final federal regulations became effective (December 22, 1988). Since May 8, 1986 each existing UST, any new USTs, any changes to USTs and any closure of USTs must be reported to the DEQ-Water on the new official UST Notification forms. Thus far, the DEQ has received over 25,000 facility forms representing over 75,000 USTs.

In 1986 (and reauthorized in 1990), Congress amended RCRA to create the federal Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund (LUST Fund) with $1 billion from a 1/10 cent per gallon gasoline tax for the purpose of cleaning up petroleum UST leak sites nationwide. Thus far, Virginia has received over $18 million of this money for cleanups. Many more sites are being prioritized for future cleanup actions. There have been over 11,000 leaking tank sites reported to DEQ to date.

Effective July 1, 1987, the Virginia General Assembly created Articles 9 & 10 of the Water Control Law (Sections 62.1-44.34:8-12) which gave the DEQ general supervision of USTs, set financial responsibility requirements, and established the Virginia Underground Petroleum Storage Tank Fund (State Cleanup Fund). The Virginia law initially went further than EPA by regulating as USTs all heating oil USTs with a capacity greater than 5,000 gallons, but this was rescinded July 1, 1996 by the General Assembly. The Virginia law requires that owners/operators notify the DEQ of all USTs taken out of use before January 1, 1974, yet still in the ground. Also effective as a State law change on July 1, 1987 (Sec. 36-99.6), the Department of Housing and Community Development, through the local building/fire inspectors, were given the task of permitting and inspecting the installations, upgrades, repairs, and closures of USTs. These actions are also referenced in the Virginia UST Technical Regulation.

On September 23, 1988 EPA published in the Federal Register the final federal UST Technical Regulations that took effect on December 22, 1988. Generally, these require new systems to have non-corrodible tanks and piping , overfill and spill prevention devices, and leak detection . USTs in use before that date were given 10 years (until 1998) to upgrade to the new UST standards for non-corrodible tanks and piping and overfill and spill prevention devices, but leak detection must have been initiated during a five year period from 1989 to 1993 based on tank age. USTs installed prior to 1965 or of unknown age must have had leak detection installed during 1989; those installed from 1965-1969 during 1990; from 1970-1974 during 1991; from 1975-1979 during 1992; from 1980-1988 during 1993. Leak detection must be continued indefinitely on a monthly basis. Due to a greater incidence of pressurized piping leaks, all pressurized piping nationwide must have begun leak detection by December 22, 1990.

Virginia's UST Technical Regulation which became effective October 25, 1989 is entitled "UST; Technical Standards and Corrective Action Requirements" (9 VAC 25-580-10 et seq.). The Virginia regulation is very similar to the federal regulation, except it requires notifications from owners of all regulated USTs that remain in the ground.

EPA's final Financial Responsibility (FR) Regulation was published on October 26, 1988 and took effect January 24, 1989. It requires owners/operators of USTs containing petroleum to demonstrate evidence of financial responsibility in the amount of $1 million per occurrence for petroleum marketers/$500,000 for non-marketers to cover corrective action and third party liability costs for accidental petroleum releases from their USTs. You may do this using insurance or any of the other mechanisms permitted in the regulation. There was a 5 year phase-in of federal FR requirements based on the category of your business. Owners/operators of 13 or more USTs and non-marketers worth more than $20 million who report financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission or Dun & Bradstreet were required to demonstrate FR. Owners/operators with 1-12 USTs, all other non-marketers, local government entities and petroleum storage tank vendors were not required to demonstrate FR until December 31, 1993. State law changes effective July 1, 1989 and the State FR Regulation entitled "Petroleum UST Financial Responsibility Requirements
" (9 VAC 25-590-10 et seq.) effective May 9, 1990 required owners/operators to demonstrate financial responsibility of $50,000 for corrective action and $150,000 for third party liability. State law was amended effective July 1, 1992 to require all owners/operators to demonstrate financial responsibility based on the total annual gallons pumped through all regulated petroleum USTs owned and operated by them in Virginia. The sliding scale financial responsibility requirement ranges from $5,000 for corrective action and $15,000 for third party claims ($20,000 Annual Aggregate) to a maximum of $50,000 for corrective action and $150,000 for third party claims ($200,000 Annual Aggregate). Owners/operators may then use the Fund to demonstrate FR between the State financial responsibility requirement and $1 million to meet the federal requirement.

The federal regulations are the law of the land nationwide, and the DEQ and local building departments/fire officials implement them in Virginia for the EPA and under State law. There have been no substantive changes to the federal regulations to date. There have been numerous policy calls over the years to EPA and Virginia which have been resolved within the context of the existing regulations.

Regulations: DEQ & other agencies

General UST Requirements:

Release Detection

All USTs were required to begin release detection by December 22, 1993 at the latest. Some of the monthly release detection options include: automatic tank gauging, ground water monitoring, vapor monitoring, interstitial monitoring, and statistical inventory reconciliation. Inventory control and tank tightness testing may be used only for up to 10 years after corrosion protection was initially applied to the tank. Manual tank gauging may be used for tanks up to 2,000 gallons.

Upgrading Requirements

UST system upgrading consists of adding corrosion protection, and installing devices to protect against spills and overfills. Without the protection provided by upgrading, your UST is more likely to leak, damage the environment, possibly open you to third-party lawsuits, and leave you with costly cleanups.

Corrosion Protection

Federal rules require corrosion protection for UST systems because unprotected steel USTs and piping corrode and release product through corrosion holes. Existing steel tanks must be upgraded to meet one of the following requirements according to a code of practice developed by a nationally recognized organization or independent testing laboratory.

You had three options for upgrading existing steel USTs:

1. Interior lining: The interior of a structurally sound tank may be lined with a thick layer of non-corrodible material. The lining material and application method must both comply with applicable industry codes. The lining used must also meet the same federal requirements as for repaired tanks (9 VAC 25-580-110). Tanks using only an interior lining for corrosion protection must pass an internal reinspection in 10 years and every 5 years after that to make sure that the lining (and tank itself) is sound. You must keep records of these inspection results.
2. Cathodic protection: Cathodic protection is one option for protecting an UST from corrosion. There are two types of systems for cathodic protection:

   A. Sacrificial Anode, and

   B. Impressed Current.

   Sacrificial anodes can be attached to a coated steel UST for corrosion protection. Sacrificial anodes are pieces of metal more electrically active than the steel UST. Because these anodes are more active, the corrosive current will exit from them rather than the UST. Thus, the UST is protected while the attached anode is "sacrificed." Depleted anodes must be replaced for continued corrosion protection of the UST.

   An impressed current system uses a rectifier to convert alternating current to direct current. This current is sent through an insulated wire to the anodes, which are special metal bars buried in the soil near the UST. The current then flows through the soil to the UST system, and returns to the rectifier through an insulated wire attached to the UST. The UST system is protected because the current going to the UST system overcomes the corrosion-causing current normally flowing away from it.

   Regulations require that the cathodic protection systems installed at UST sites be designed by a corrosion expert. The system must be tested by a qualified cathodic protection tester within 6 months of installation and at least every 3 years thereafter. You will need to keep the results of the last two tests to prove that the cathodic protection is working. In addition, you must inspect an impressed current system every 60 days to verify that the system is operating. Keep results of your last three 60-day inspections to prove that the impressed current system is operating properly.

   The coating must be of a suitable dielectric material (i.e., a coating that will electrically isolate the UST from its environment and meets applicable industry codes). An asphaltic coating is NOT considered a suitable dielectric coating.

3. Internal lining combined with cathodic protection*: Another option for upgrading existing tanks was to add both cathodic protection and interior lining. The advantages of this combined method are:

   USTs receive greater corrosion protection, and
   The condition of the interior lining does not require periodic inspection.

   These advantages can amount to significant cost savings over interior lining alone. You will, however, have to have the cathodic protection system periodically tested and inspected to ensure that it is working properly. You must keep records of these tests and inspections.

* NOTE: Prior to adding cathodic protection, the integrity of the UST must have been ensured using one of the following methods:

the UST is internally inspected and assessed to ensure that the tank is structurally sound and free of corrosion or holes,

the UST has been installed for less than 10 years and uses monthly monitoring for releases,

the UST has been installed for less than 10 years and is assessed for corrosion holes by conducting two tightness tests the first occurs prior to adding cathodic protection and the second occurs 3 to 6 months following the first operation of cathodic protection, and

Alternative Integrity Assessment: the UST is assessed for corrosion holes by a method that is determined by the implementing agency to prevent releases in a manner that is no less protective of human health and the environment than those listed immediately above. Upgrading bare steel piping is accomplished by adding cathodic protection.

NOTE : Damaged metal piping CANNOT be repaired and must be replaced.

The 1998 tank corrosion protection requirements can also be met by new tanks made of non-corrodible material (such as fiberglass) installed inside an existing steel tank. Such new tanks must meet a code of practice developed by a nationally-recognized association or independent testing laboratory.

Spill Prevention

Your USTs must have catchment basins to contain spills. New USTs must have catchment basins when they are installed--older tanks can have catchment basins retrofitted to them.

You and your fuel deliverer must follow industry standards for correct filling practices.

Catchment Basins

Catchment basins are also called "spill containment manholes" or "spill buckets." Basically, a catchment basin is a bucket sealed around the fill pipe. To protect against spills, the basin should be large enough to contain what may spill when the delivery hose is uncoupled from the fill pipe. Basins range in size from those capable of holding only a few gallons to those that are much larger--the larger the catchment basin, the more spill protection it provides.

You need a way to remove liquid from catchment basins. Manufacturers equip catchment basins with either a pump or drain to remove liquid. You should try to keep water out of catchment basins. Some catchment basins can collect enough water and sediment, along with spilled product, to make draining this mixture into the tank unwise. If this happens, you may pump out the catchment basin and dispose of the liquid properly. If the liquid contains fuel or chemicals, it could be considered a hazardous waste. Contact your state agency responsible for hazardous waste for information on testing and handling requirements.

Correct Filling Practices

Many releases at UST sites come from spills. Spills often occur at the fill pipe when the delivery truck's hose is disconnected. Although these spills are usually small, repeated small releases can cause big environmental problems. Human error causes most spills. These mistakes can be avoided by following standard tank filling practices. For example, you must make sure there is room in the UST for the delivery, and the delivery driver must watch the delivery at all times. If you and the delivery driver follow standard practices, nearly all spills can be prevented. For this reason, federal UST regulations require that you follow standard filling practices.

If an UST never receives more than 25 gallons at a time, the UST does not have to meet the spill protection requirements. Many small used oil tanks fall into this category.

Overfill Protection

Your UST must have overfill protection. New USTs must have overfill protection devices when they are installed. The three main types of overfill protection devices are:

1. automatic shutoff devices,

2. overfill alarms, and

3. ball float valves.

You and your fuel deliverer must follow industry standards for correct filling practices.

Overfills usually release much larger volumes than spills. When a tank is overfilled, large volumes can be released at the fill pipe and through loose fittings on the top of the tank or a loose vent pipe. The tightness of these fittings normally would not be a problem if the tank were not filled beyond its capacity. You can solve overfill problems by:

• Making sure there is enough room in the tank for the delivery BEFORE the delivery is made;
• Watching the entire delivery to prevent overfilling or spilling; and
• Using overfill protection devices.

If an UST never receives more than 25 gallons at a time, the UST does not have to meet the overfill protection requirements. Many small used oil tanks fall into this category.

NOTE: If you have "pumped delivery" where fuel is delivered under pressure, you must make sure your overfill protection device works compatibly with pumped deliveries. Also, remember that overfill protection devices are effective only when combined with careful filling practices.

The various upgrading options are summarized in the following table:

UST System Upgrading Requirements

  Back to Top