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UST Branch:
Changes in the UST Act for Participation in the Environmental Assurance Program and the PST Fund
The 2006 Utah legislature amended the Utah Underground Storage Tank (UST) Act (pdf) to change the requirements for participation in the Environmental Assurance Program and the Petroleum Storage Tank (PST) Trust Fund. The changes, which become effective on January 1, 2007, require that UST owner/operators who use the PST Fund must use it for all their petroleum USTs. The changes also allow an UST owner/operator whose tanks do not use the Fund to join the Fund without performing a site check (soil and/or groundwater samples) if the Executive Secretary (UST) determines, with reasonable cause, that soil and groundwater samples are unnecessary to establish that no petroleum has been released.
UST owner/operators who currently have some tanks on the Fund and some off must, by January 1, 2007, place all their tanks in Utah on the Fund or use their alternate financial responsibility mechanism for all their tanks in Utah. The processes to join and leave the Fund are explained below.
To leave the PST Fund:
- Notify the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation (DERR) of your intent to leave the Fund. This notification must be received by the DERR on or before November 1, 2006.
- Specify the date the tanks will leave the Fund. This date must be at least 60 days after the date you notify us, and must be on or before January 1, 2007.
- Complete a Certificate of Compliance application form for each facility to leave the Fund. If you have several facilities, you may complete one application and include a separate list of all facilities that will leave the Fund.
- Specify on the application the financial responsibility mechanism to be used for the tanks to be removed from the Fund.
- Meet all requirements for your alternate mechanism before the date you leave the Fund.
Any claims for coverage for releases that occurred before you left the PST Fund must be made within 6 months of the date you leave the Fund. The Fund will not cover any releases that occur after you leave the Fund.
To join the PST Fund:
- Notify the DERR of your decision to join the Fund.
- Complete a Certificate of Compliance application form for each facility to join the Fund. If you have several facilities, you may complete one application and include a separate list of all facilities that will join the Fund.
- For each facility, submit the required documentation for the time period since the last compliance inspection:
- monthly tank leak detection records or tank tightness test performed in the last 6 months.
- piping leak detection records, including most recent line test and leak detector functionality test.
- required cathodic protection tests, if applicable.
- required internal inspections of lined tanks, if applicable.
USTs that meet the EPA Significant Operational Compliance (SOC) criteria for the last two compliance inspections, and meet SOC for the time period since the most recent inspection, may qualify under "reasonable cause" to join the Fund without a site check. The DERR will review the records you submit and the results of the last two compliance inspections, and determine if the tanks meet SOC. If any tanks do not meet the SOC criteria, a site check will be necessary before those tanks can join the Fund. The site check must be completed and all paperwork to qualify the tanks for the Fund must be received by January 1, 2007.
Please submit requests to join the Fund by October 15, 2006. You may contact the UST section beforehand for assistance in determining SOC status of your tanks. Tanks cannot join the Fund under the SOC criteria until January 1, 2007, but, by statute, you must have all your tanks on the Fund by that date.
The Fund only covers releases that occur after the tank qualifies for Fund coverage.
- Full text of the Final Rule Changes | PDF | MS Word
- Utah UST Act by the 2006 Utah legislature
Comments or Questions
If you have questions, please contact Gary Astin (801-536-4103) or Therron Blatter (801-563-4141).
