North Dakota

Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program

Agency North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality

ASTM search distance Subject property and adjoining properties

North Dakota's registered tank list is kept by the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program of the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), one of the programs of its Division of Waste Management. The program works with owners and operators of underground storage tanks to ensure that compliance, leak detection, new installations, upgrades and tank closures are completed in accordance with North Dakota's Underground Storage Tank Rules. DEQ says owners and operators of tanks regulated under the program are required to notify the program and register their tanks, and that the program maintains a UST registry.

In a Phase I ESA

The UST registry is the North Dakota 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 LUST registry, which the same program keeps.

Three North Dakota details shape how to read a listing.

The facility list mixes tank types. DEQ says: "The UST facility list does not distinguish between Aboveground (AST) or Underground Storage Tank systems." Check the tank records or the file before describing a listed facility's tanks as underground.
There are three lists. The program page links a UST Facility List, a LUST Facility List and a UST Tank List Download, and a document of definitions for the three. DEQ notes that the UST reports are very large.
The Fund keeps its own registration. Owners or operators of aboveground or underground petroleum storage tanks must also register their tanks with the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund (PTRCF).

DEQ says that where owners and operators show a history of violations and refusal to comply with the rules, enforcement will be escalated to notification and the placement of a physical tag on tank fill pipes, which tells suppliers that placing product into the tank is illegal.

Tank forms and guidance

The Division of Waste Management's publications page links, among others:

a form titled Notification for Underground Storage Tanks;
documents titled Temporary Closure of an Underground Storage Tank, and Permanent UST System Closure and Changes In Service;
an Underground Storage Tank Closure Form and a supplement to it;
a document titled UST Systems Closed Prior To December 22, 1988;
under assessment, documents titled Investigations of Contaminant Release Sites, Environmental Site Investigation Report, and Site Assessment Procedures for Abandoned (Closed In Place) Tanks.

For a tank that was permanently closed, ask DEQ whether its file holds the closure form and its supplement.

The program's law is section 23.1-04-06 of the North Dakota Century Code. Its rules are chapter 33.1-24-08 of the North Dakota Administrative Code, Technical Standards and Corrective Action Requirements for Owners and Operators of Underground Storage Tanks. The program page also links a posting in the Federal Register of the codification and incorporation by reference of North Dakota's approved state underground storage tank program, with its date posted given as November 29, 2019.

Where to look a site up

The UST Facility List and the UST Tank List Download are linked from the program page. For the facility list, DEQ says to choose a format from the Export drop-down menu.
UST Online Services is the program's operator portal. DEQ's Data & Maps page marks it log-in required.
DEQ gives the program inbox, ndust@nd.gov, for questions about the UST and LUST database. The Division of Waste Management is at 701-328-5166.

Getting the file

DEQ takes open records requests at DEQOpenRecords@nd.gov, on its General Request Form for general records. Its Open Records page asks that, if a request includes LUST or UST records, you check the UST and LUST online listings first. 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:

Waste Management - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, no modified date shown.
Waste Management - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, no modified date shown.
Waste Management - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, no modified date shown.
Rules, Regulations, and Policies - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, last updated 05/30/2019 as its footer prints it.
Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund - Office of Director - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, no modified date shown.
Data and Maps - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, no modified date shown.
Open Records Requests - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, no modified date shown.