EHS Management

USTs—Which Regs Apply?

If you own or operate an underground storage tank (UST), you may wonder what regulations apply to your operations. For instance, are you regulated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), or both? And others?

UST / Septic system

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Note. This article reviews the UST jurisdiction for the EPA and PHMSA. As for “and others,” always check with your state, which may have stricter UST regulations. Tomorrow we will take a look at some scenarios where there is joint jurisdiction between the EPA and PHMSA.

What’s the Tank For?

As BLR experts have pointed out, in order to determine which federal UST regulations apply, you need to determine the purpose of your tank. PHMSA regulates tanks that are in transportation, and the EPA regulates nontransportation USTs under the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations and the federal and state UST programs. Then there are USTs that are regulated by both agencies.

EPA USTs

The federal UST regulations apply to tanks (with certain exceptions and exemptions) that contain a regulated substance (petroleum products or hazardous substances) and tanks that have at least 10 percent of volume (including piping) underground. The SPCC regulations apply to USTs that contain oil and have storage capacity greater than 42,000 gallons, and that because of their locations, could reasonably be expected to discharge oil into navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines.

PHMSA Breakout Tanks

PHMSA regulates USTs that are breakout tanks.  A breakout tank is a tank used to relieve surges in a hazardous liquid pipeline system or receive and store hazardous liquid transported by a pipeline for reinjection and continued transportation by pipeline.

Complex Facilities

A facility with both transportation and nontransportation activities is known as a complex facility and both EPA and PHMSA regulations apply. A complex facility can be an entire facility or a single UST. An example of a complex facility is a bulk storage container that serves as a tank storing oil and as a breakout tank for a pipeline or other transportation purposes. Let’s take a look at some scenarios where there is joint jurisdiction between the EPA and PHMSA.

Note. The Coast Guard also has jurisdiction at certain complex facilities.

Be sure to check tomorrow’s Advisor for a review of some scenarios where the EPA and PHMSA have joint jurisdiction.

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