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Arkansas

Regulated Storage Tanks (RST) registrations

Agency Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality
ASTM search distance Subject property and adjoining properties

Arkansas's regulated underground storage tanks must be registered with the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ), whose Regulated Storage Tanks (RST) office, in the Office of Land Resources, writes, runs and enforces the state's rules for underground storage tanks and for aboveground petroleum tanks. DEQ says most of these tanks are at stations that sell gasoline and diesel at retail, and that others can be found at bulk petroleum plants, private fleet fueling sites, schools, health facilities and emergency generator stations.

In a Phase I ESA

RST registrations are the Arkansas form of the state registered storage tank records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a registered tank listing is on the UST / AST page. A registration says a tank system exists or existed. Releases are a separate record, the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) case.

Four Arkansas details shape how to read a registration.

  • Underground tanks must register; aboveground tanks may. DEQ requires owners to register regulated underground tanks. The owner or operator of an aboveground tank of 1,320 to 40,000 gallons that stores refined petroleum has the option to register it, which is what makes the tank potentially eligible for the Petroleum Storage Tank Trust Fund; the fee page cites Act 584 of the 2017 Regular Session. So the lack of a registration does not show the lack of an aboveground tank.
  • Some tanks are exempt. DEQ's fee page exempts from registration underground tanks under 110 gallons, farm or residential motor fuel tanks of 1,100 gallons or less used for noncommercial purposes, and the other tanks listed in 40 CFR 280.10. For aboveground tanks it exempts mobile tanks that carry petroleum, tanks used in producing petroleum or natural gas, and farm tanks whose contents serve only agriculture and are not resold.
  • Unused tanks still owe fees until closed. DEQ says owners keep paying the annual fee on underground tanks they no longer use until the tanks are permanently closed under the rules. The RST Database page counts tanks as in use, temporarily out of use or permanently out of use, so check whether a registered tank is still in use.
  • A sale moves the registration. When a facility is sold, DEQ says the new owner must register the underground tanks and pay the fees before any regulated substance is delivered into them, and no later than 30 days after the purchase.

On October 13, 2026, with data the page dated that day, the RST Database page counted 14,283 tank facilities, 4,804 of them active, and 30,725 underground tanks, 23,246 of them permanently out of use.

Closing a tank

DEQ's tank FAQ says closing an underground tank properly takes notice to DEQ's RST office 30 days before closing, a contractor licensed by DEQ, an assessment of the tank excavation to find out whether the tank leaked, and, if it did, the required notification and corrective action. For a tank shown as closed, ask whether the file holds the closure assessment.

Where to look a site up

  • DEQ's RST Database page gives statewide counts, which it says are updated nightly. It links a storage tank facility search form and an owner search form, and offers the full database as a zipped Access file.
  • DEQ's Regulated Storage Tanks 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. Search SEEK as well as the older forms.
  • DEQ's Databases page links a page it labels Red-Tagged (Disabled) Regulated Storage Tank (RST) Facilities, and the tank page links a PDF it labels UST PUBLIC RECORD (2025). This handbook opened neither.
  • DEQ's Office of Land Resources lists the Petroleum Tanks Program at 501-682-0856. The tank FAQ says the RST Office can check registration and fee payment at 501-682-0999.

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:

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