Arkansas

Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) cases

Agency Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality

Arkansas's Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) cases are handled by the Regulated Storage Tanks (RST) office of the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ). When a facility reports a suspected release, DEQ records the report in its LUST database, checks the facility's compliance, and investigate whether a release is confirmed. If the release is confirmed, DEQ reviews the facility's first reports and, where needed, refers the case to the RST Technical Branch, whose engineers and geologists oversee the cleanups that owners and operators carry out. Releases from aboveground tanks of 1,320 to 40,000 gallons storing refined petroleum are handled as Leaking Aboveground Storage Tank (LAST) investigations, with the same reporting and tracking requirements as LUST investigations.

In a Phase I ESA

LUST cases are the Arkansas form of the state leaking storage tank records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a leaking tank listing is on the LUST page. Five Arkansas details shape how to read one.

A report starts as a suspected release. DEQ's FAQ says a suspected release must be reported within 24 hours of discovery and confirmed or ruled out within seven days. Check whether the file shows the release was confirmed.
The Initial Site Characterization decides a lot. Unless DEQ directs otherwise, an Initial Site Characterization (ISC) is due within 45 days of a confirmed release. DEQ says its technical staff typically use the ISC to decide whether the release needs no further work or needs more investigation or cleanup.
Goals are set site by site. DEQ says Arkansas has no groundwater quality law or rule of its own beyond the nondegradation law that created DEQ, so the tank program works toward two goals taken from 40 CFR part 280: protecting human health and the environment, and removing free product as far as is practicable. Goals for human health are set using ASTM E1739-95, and DEQ assigns the points of compliance.
The state cleans up some sites itself. The RST office also directs cleanups that DEQ's own hired contractors carry out at orphaned or abandoned tank sites.
The fund may have paid. A petroleum release may be eligible for the Petroleum Storage Tank Trust Fund. DEQ's FAQ asks an owner writing about eligibility for the facility identification number and, if known, the leak number.

The reports a case produces

DEQ's technical page describes the documents a release can generate, each submitted to or requested by DEQ:

the Initial Response to a Release (IRR) report, which the compliance page says DEQ reviews once a release is confirmed;
the Initial Site Characterization;
a Site Assessment Report, which DEQ requests in writing, with a work plan that DEQ's technical staff approve before the work starts;
a Corrective Action Plan, which must give the case history, a conceptual site model, goals for each medium with a point of compliance for each goal, the actions and schedule, a monitoring program, and a plan to notify those directly affected and the public near the release under 40 CFR 280.67.

The same page says Arkansas's professional practice laws have been read to require a licensed seal on site assessment reports. One section names a professional engineer or geologist licensed in Arkansas; another names a licensed professional geologist. The page also links a PDF it labels Corrective Action Process for Confirmed Tank Release, which this handbook did not open.

Where to look a site up

DEQ's Regulated Storage Tanks page says its online searches find leaking tank information along with facility, fee, financial assurance and owner information. It links the Storage Tank Facility Data Search and the Storage Tank Operators Data Search.
The same page says tank compliance moved into SEEK on January 11, 2024, and that SEEK will host the most current information formerly found in the Storage Tank Facility Data Search. The pages read do not say whether SEEK shows leaking tank information.
DEQ's Office of Land Resources lists the Petroleum Tanks Program at 501-682-0856, and petroleum tank compliance and complaints at 501-682-0993.

Getting the file

DEQ takes Freedom of Information Act requests by email at EE.FOIA@arkansas.gov, and its Records Management Section arranges visits to review files. See Records Management and FOIA requests.

Sources

Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: