Barrow Logo Barrow EP Handbook

Delaware

Aboveground storage tank (AST) program

Agency Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
ASTM search distance Subject property and adjoining properties

The aboveground storage tank (AST) program of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is responsible for ensuring the safe operation of regulated aboveground tank facilities in the state; its page, last modified December 23, 2025, puts their number at over 1,000. DNREC says all registered aboveground tanks have to comply with Delaware's Regulations Governing Aboveground Storage Tank Systems (7 DE Admin. Code 1352). Its Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances inspects facilities with aboveground tank systems, to ensure the systems are properly installed, inspected, tested and maintained, and oversees the cleanup of sites that have had releases from them.

In a Phase I ESA

DNREC's aboveground tank records are the Delaware 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. Underground tanks are a separate program, on the Underground storage tank (UST) compliance program page, and releases from either kind of tank are followed by the Storage Tank Corrective Action Program.

Four Delaware details shape the search.

  • The pages read give no registration line. They do not say which aboveground tanks must be registered. DNREC links separate requirements documents for tanks holding diesel, heating fuel, kerosene or jet fuel; for tanks holding other regulated substances; and for agricultural and farm tanks.
  • DNREC asks to hear of a sale. Registration invoices go to owners each December and cover both the tank registration and the vapor recovery operating permit fees. DNREC asks owners to notify its Tank Management Section if a facility is sold or the owner's billing address changes.
  • Owners and operators are both liable. DNREC's tanks page says that under 7 Del.C. Chapter 74 ยง7402 and Part A, Section 2 of the aboveground tank regulations, owners and operators are both considered a responsible party and are jointly and severally liable for completing the actions required in a Notice of Violation.
  • DNREC's responders are equipped for home heating oil tank releases. DNREC lists residential aboveground heating oil tank releases among the environmental emergencies its Emergency Response Branch is equipped to respond to; see DERNS.

The program's law is 7 Del.C. Chapter 74A, and its rules are 7 DE Admin. Code 1352. DNREC's page also points to EPA's rules for Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC), 40 CFR Part 112, and for Facility Response Plans.

DNREC's forms for aboveground tanks

DNREC's forms for aboveground tanks include a registration form, an activity notification form, a foreclosure form notice, sampling guidance, and approved best management practices for agricultural and farm tanks of less than 40,000 gallons.

Where to look a site up

Getting the file

DNREC's aboveground tank page says a request for information may be made through the Freedom of Information Act; the route is on the DNREC FOIA Requests page. DNREC's Tank Management Documents page says select scanned facility files are available through the Delaware Environmental Navigator.

Sources

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control pages, read October 13, 2026:

Maintained by Barrow. General reference only, not legal or professional advice. Barrow is not affiliated with any government agency, and neither Barrow nor the information as presented here is endorsed by any state or government agency. See how Barrow drafts the report