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Effective October 13, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revised its Underground Storage Tank (UST) Regulations that impact tank equipment, operations, maintenance, inspection and training requirements. Fuel retailers need to educate themselves on these regulations to ensure UST equipment remains compliant and that they are making cost-effective equipment choices moving forward.
Highlights of the Regulations
The new regulations detail many requirements including:
- All new and replaced tanks and piping must include secondary containment
- New dispensers systems must install under-dispenser containment (UDC)
- Vent line flow restrictors may no longer be used to meet the overfill prevention equipment requirement for new tank installations and replacement overfill prevention equipment
- Owners and operators must permanently close a UST that uses an internal lining as the sole method of corrosion protection for the tank when the lining can no longer perform according to original design specifications
- Compatibility requirements for storing fuel higher than E10 or B20, USTs with field-constructed tanks and emergency generator systems
Upcoming Deadlines
The new regulations outline State Program Approvals (SPA), which give 38 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico until Oct. 13, 2018, to update their regulations and submit a revised SPA application to the EPA. Most states will issue final rules between 2017 and 2018, with regulations becoming effective between 2018 and 2020.
States that do not have SPA must meet the federal requirements according to the schedule in the 2015 UST regulations, including these requirements by Oct. 13, 2018: Spill prevention equipment testing, overfill prevention equipment inspections, containment testing for sumps used for piping interstitial monitoring, release detection equipment testing and walk-through inspections.
The complete UST regulations are available on the EPA’s new UST website. Please contact a Source representative for clarification on the regulations or help with a UST upgrade.
