Used Oil Handlers

Used oil is oil refined from crude oil, or synthetic oil, that has been used and "as a result of such use is contaminated by physical or chemical impurities" (40 CFR 279.1). Part 279 sets standards for generators, collection centers, transporters, processors, burners and fuel marketers, and only some of them must notify EPA (40 CFR 279.20, 279.31, 279.42, 279.51, 279.62, 279.73).

What puts a property on this record

The regulation does not say which sites are on the record. It says which handlers must notify.

Generators. A used oil generator is "any person, by site, whose act or process produces used oil or whose act first causes used oil to become subject to regulation" (40 CFR 279.1). Household do-it-yourselfer used oil generators are not subject to regulation under part 279, nor are farmers whose used oil from farm vehicles or machinery averages 25 gallons a month or less over a calendar year (40 CFR 279.20(a)(1), (4)). The generator standards have no notification section (40 CFR 279.20 to 279.24).
Collection centers. A collection center takes used oil from generators in loads of 55 gallons or less, meets the generator standards, and must hold a state, county or municipal registration, license, permit or recognition (40 CFR 279.31).
Handlers that notify. Transporters, owners and operators of transfer facilities among them, processors and re-refiners, burners of off-specification used oil, and fuel marketers that "have not previously complied with the notification requirements of RCRA section 3010" must do so and obtain an EPA identification number (40 CFR 279.40(a), 279.42(a), 279.51(a), 279.62(a), 279.73(a)). Each notifies the EPA Regional Administrator on EPA Form 8700-12 or by letter (40 CFR 279.42(b), 279.51(b), 279.62(b), 279.73(b)). Part 279 names the Regional Administrator; the Tennessee and Ohio pages say the state agency takes the notification or assigns the number. Small and large quantity hazardous waste generators without an identification number apply for one on the same form (40 CFR 262.10(a)(1), 262.18(b)); see RCRA generators.

Processors and re-refiners also report to the Regional Administrator by letter, "by March 1 of each even numbered year", the used oil they accepted for processing in the previous calendar year and how they processed it (40 CFR 279.57(b)).

What a listing shows, and what it does not

The regulation does not say what a listing holds. A letter asking for a number should name the company, its owner, its mailing address, a contact and the type of used oil activity, and, except in a marketer's letter, where its facilities are (40 CFR 279.42(b), 279.51(b), 279.62(b), 279.73(b)). The notification sections say nothing of releases (40 CFR 279.42, 279.51, 279.62, 279.73).

A site that only generated used oil has no notice duty under the part, so the absence of a listing does not show that used oil was never generated or stored there (40 CFR 279.20 to 279.24).

Whether oil at a listed site stayed used oil is a separate question. A mixture with listed hazardous waste is regulated as hazardous waste, and used oil with total halogens above 1,000 ppm is presumed hazardous waste unless the presumption is rebutted, with exceptions for certain metalworking fluids and refrigeration oils (40 CFR 279.10(b)(1)). Used oil with PCBs at 50 ppm or greater is regulated under part 761 instead (40 CFR 279.10(i)).

Generators, transfer facilities, processors and burners must stop, contain and clean up a used oil release to the environment, and repair or replace leaking units if necessary, where the release is not subject to the tank rule's subpart on release response and occurred after the state's recycled used oil program took effect (40 CFR 279.22(d), 279.45(h), 279.54(g), 279.64(g)). Those paragraphs require no report. A processor sends the Regional Administrator a written report within 15 days of an incident that calls for its contingency plan (40 CFR 279.52(b)(6)(ix)). An air, rail, highway or water transporter that discharges used oil gives notice if 49 CFR 171.15 requires it and reports in writing as 49 CFR 171.16 requires, and part 279 names a different office for that report than section 171.16(b)(1) does (40 CFR 279.43(c)(3); 49 CFR 171.16(b)(1)); see hazardous materials transportation incidents.

In a Phase I ESA

Used oil handler records are not a standard source of Table 2, and Table 3, the standard's examples of additional records, does not name them (E1527-21, 8.2.2, Table 2, Table 3). Additional records are checked when the environmental professional judges them reasonably ascertainable, useful, accurate and complete enough for the purpose of the records review, and generally obtained in local practice for the kind of transaction (E1527-21, 8.2.4).

On whether used oil is a hazardous substance, the standard's legal appendix, which is for information only, reports EPA's view, generally upheld by courts, that the petroleum exclusion should not apply to waste oil that use has contaminated with added hazardous substances, or with more than petroleum normally holds (E1527-21, 4.10, X1.1.2.1).

For a listing at the subject property, the answer turns on which handler activity it records, where the used oil was kept and in what condition, whether any release occurred and what was done about it, and what the site visit and interviews show. The site visit looks for storage tanks, drums, stains, drains and sumps (E1527-21, 9.4.12, 9.4.15, 9.4.20, 9.4.21, 9.4.23). Generators, transporters, processors and burners that store used oil in underground tanks are also subject to the part 280 tank standards (40 CFR 279.22, 279.45, 279.54, 279.64); see registered storage tanks. The owner, key site manager and user are asked about documents that include spill prevention plans and hazardous waste generator notices (E1527-21, 10.8.1). Ask also for the used oil notification, a processor's biennial reports, and any record of a release and its cleanup. For a repair shop, see auto repair shop with lifts, floor drains and a separator.

A listing of the subject property, or of another site inside the approximate minimum search distance, from any source the assessment uses gets the professional's judgment on its significance (E1527-21, 8.1.10). See adjoining or nearby property.

What the federal rule says

The inquiry rule does not name used oil records. For the subject property, its list includes:

Records of activities, conditions, or incidents likely to cause or contribute to releases or threatened releases as defined in § 312.1(c)

40 CFR 312.26(b)(2), edition revised as of July 1, 2025

The examples that follow include storage tank records and hazardous waste handler and generator records (40 CFR 312.26(b)(2)). For a party seeking the liability protections, the inquiry is into releases of hazardous substances (40 CFR 312.1(c)(1)); the standard's scope also takes in petroleum products (E1527-21, 1.1.2). The rule lets the procedures of E1527-21 be used to comply with its sections 312.23 through 312.31 (40 CFR 312.11(a)).

Where the record is kept

Notifications go to the EPA Regional Administrator, as do a processor's biennial and incident reports (40 CFR 279.42(b), 279.51(b), 279.52(b)(6)(ix), 279.57(b), 279.62(b), 279.73(b)). A processor keeps an operating record at the facility until closure (40 CFR 279.57(a)). Transporters keep shipment records for at least three years (40 CFR 279.46(d)).

This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not classify any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here; the judgment of the environmental professional on the facts governs.