Barrow Logo Barrow EP Handbook

Illinois

Underground Storage Tank Registration

Agency Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal
ASTM search distance Subject property and adjoining properties

In Illinois, the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM) registers underground storage tanks, and registering them is the owner's duty. OSFM's Division of Petroleum & Chemical Safety oversees tanks that hold petroleum or hazardous chemicals by registering them, and its page says it has registered more than 73,000 tanks in the state. The division also issues the permits to put in, take out, repair, upgrade or reline a tank or abandon it in place, and decides whether an owner may use the leaking tank fund and at what deductible.

In a Phase I ESA

OSFM's tank registrations are the Illinois 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, on the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Program page.

Three Illinois details shape the search.

  • The online data is only as good as what was sent in. OSFM's disclaimer for its tank database says the information comes from registration details others supplied to it, and may be out of date, incomplete for a given tank, or wrong. Treat an entry as a pointer to the facility file, and read the file.
  • Aboveground tanks are handled elsewhere in OSFM. The division's pages describe underground tanks. OSFM's answers put every aboveground tank application with its Technical Services Division, which also takes questions about them, at 312-814-2425. The pages read describe no OSFM list of aboveground tanks.
  • A tank out of service must still report. OSFM says financial responsibility is required for a tank, out of service or not, until it is removed or abandoned in place under OSFM's rules. It must be reported every year, OSFM sends no reminder, and its answers point to UST Search, by facility number, for the last date it was reported.

What a tank file can hold

OSFM's forms and answers show the paper a tank can generate:

  • the Notification for Underground Storage Tank(s) Form, and notice of any later change in status, product or owner, which OSFM says is due within 30 days;
  • a permit for each installation, removal, repair, upgrade, relining or abandonment in place;
  • a Certification of Removal or a Certification of Abandonment in Place;
  • a Site Assessment Report: OSFM says every removal needs a site assessment by the owner or operator, reported to OSFM with whether contamination was found;
  • the yearly Financial Responsibility Report;
  • a notice of violation, and a red tag if it is not fixed within 60 days, which bars further deliveries of product;
  • an Eligibility and Deductible Application and the Letter of Eligibility that answers it.

For a removed tank, ask for the removal permit, the certification of removal and the site assessment report. OSFM's rules page lists, under Petroleum and Chemical Safety, 41 Ill. Adm. Code Part 172 for contractor licensing and Parts 174 to 178 for underground storage tanks and fund eligibility.

Where to look a site up

Getting the file

OSFM's answers say a facility file cannot be researched over the telephone. Ask for a copy under the Freedom of Information Act, giving the facility name, the full address and the current owner; the answers say the information should arrive in 7 to 10 days. OSFM's Electronic FOIA Request Form, which the division's pages link, takes at most three tank facilities or addresses per request, and asks whether the records will be used for sale, resale, solicitation or advertising. Copies of earlier eligibility letters come by the same route.

OSFM's Freedom of Information Act page says requests must be written; the form may instead be printed and mailed to Illinois State Fire Marshal, Attn: OSFM FOIA Officer, 1035 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, IL 62703, or faxed to (217) 524-5487, but one request should go by one route only. It adds that electronic documents carry no fee beyond any recording medium, and that black and white copies past the first 50 pages may cost $0.15 a page, at OSFM's discretion.

Sources

Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal pages, read October 14, 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