North Dakota
Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund (PTRCF)
The North Dakota Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund (PTRCF) was established by the 1989 North Dakota State Legislature to financially assist tank owners for cleanup costs and third-party liability caused by petroleum contamination. It is one of the programs of the Office of the Director of the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name a state tank fund among its standard record sources. The Fund matters for two reasons: it keeps a registration of petroleum tanks, aboveground as well as underground, and it pays toward the cleanup of petroleum releases.
- Every petroleum tank is to be registered. DEQ says all owners or operators of aboveground or underground petroleum storage tanks in North Dakota are required to register their tanks with the Fund and pay an annual registration fee for each tank, of $150 to $300 depending on the tank's risk classification category. DEQ says violation of this law is a class B misdemeanor.
- A release can mean a claim. If a petroleum release occurs or petroleum contamination is discovered, DEQ says an eligible tank owner is reimbursed 90 percent of necessary and reasonable costs between $5,000 and $155,000 for cleanup of contamination or third-party liability, and the Fund reimburses 100 percent of costs between $155,000 and $1,000,000. For a property with a petroleum release, ask DEQ whether a claim was made and what it covered; the pages read give no public record of claims.
- The registration dates have changed. DEQ's page, read October 13, 2026, says the current 2026 registration will be extended until January 31, 2027, and that the 2027 registration will run from February 1, 2027, through January 31, 2028.
The Fund's law is chapter 23.1-12 of the North Dakota Century Code, Petroleum Release Remediation, and its rules are Article 33.1-12 of the North Dakota Administrative Code.
Fund forms
The Fund's page links these forms:
- a petroleum tank registration (SFN 17132);
- a form for the sale or disposal of petroleum storage tanks (SFN 50884);
- an application for the Fund (SFN 17017), with worksheets for environmental consultant expenses (SFN 18731) and excavation expenses (SFN 17331).
The page also links the Fund's tank classification table and a Tank Removal and Cleanup Guidelines document.
Where to look a site up
- The PTRCF Online Portal is where tank owners process and pay for annual registrations and submit new tank registrations and tank sale or disposal forms. DEQ marks it log-in required.
- The pages read link no public list of registered tanks or of claims.
- DEQ's main office is at 701-328-5150.
Getting the file
The pages read give no records route specific to the Fund. DEQ takes open records requests at DEQOpenRecords@nd.gov, on its General Request Form for general records. What to put in a request is on the Open Records Requests page.
Sources
North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: