EPA announces new underground storage tank regulations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to strengthen the federal underground storage tank (UST) requirements on Monday, aiming to prevent groundwater contamination with petroleum releases through better preventative and detection measures.

USTs are housed at facilities throughout the country, ranging from retailers, such as gas stations, to nonretail facilities, such as taxi dispatches and boat marinas. The new regulations will remove loopholes, account for new technologies, focus on proper maintenance and operation of UST systems, and will apply to tribal lands.

“These changes will better protect people’s health and benefit the environment in communities across the country by improving prevention and detection of underground storage tank releases,” EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus said. “Extensive and meaningful collaboration with our underground storage tank partners and stakeholders was vital to the development of the new regulations."

Some of the new measures include secondary containment requirements, operator training requirements, periodic operations and maintenance requirements, and the addition of new release prevention and detection technologies. The new regulations were developed with UST stakeholders and are already in effect in many states.