Petroleum Release Compensation Fund (PRCF)

South Dakota's Petroleum Release Compensation Fund (PRCF), which the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) administers, is a state program that can help tank owners pay for the cleanup of petroleum releases. DANR says the Fund dates from 1988, when it was created under the Petroleum Inspection and Release Compensation Act, that EPA has approved it as a financial assurance mechanism for underground petroleum tanks regulated under 40 CFR part 280, and that it has offices in Pierre and Mitchell.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name tank fund records among its standard record sources. The release itself is the listed record: see the Tanks and Spills Map and the LUST page. The Fund matters because a claim follows a release, and DANR describes when one is opened and what it needs.

• Who can claim. DANR says a responsible person, meaning someone who owned or operated the tank during or after a release, or a person holding a responsible person's property, may apply, and it calls an eligible applicant a covered party. Most tank owners are covered automatically, with no advance registration. DANR says the Fund covers most leaking petroleum tanks, aboveground as well as underground, and that homeowners, farmers, businesses, nonprofits and governments can apply, not only fuel sellers.
• When the Fund becomes involved. DANR says a Fund claims representative makes contact when a petroleum release is reported to DANR, when DANR is told a petroleum tank will be removed, upgraded or permanently closed, or when a contract for environmental services is sent to the Fund for review.
• What a claim needs. Before the Fund considers paying, DANR says the applicant must have sent a complete application with pay requests and documented invoices, met the deductible, worked out the extent of the release, and submitted an acceptable cleanup plan. Costs are treated as necessary generally when DANR or the Fund ordered or recommended the work, and necessary costs are paid only if the Fund approved them beforehand. Equipment upgrades and property improvements are excluded.
• The amounts. The page gives a $10,000 deductible per occurrence, coverage of necessary and reasonable costs up to $1,000,000 per occurrence less that deductible, and $2,000,000 a year in aggregate for an owner with more than one release site. It carries no date for these figures. It adds that a release reported before April 1, 1990 gets no third-party liability coverage.
• A sale during a cleanup. DANR says a new owner can become the covered party, but the Fund recognizes only one covered party at a time, and that coverage against future releases continues after a cleanup is finished.

For a property with a petroleum release, ask DANR whether a Fund claim was opened, and ask whether the file holds the cleanup plan the claim required. The pages read give no public list of claims.

DANR also says the consultants who carry out or oversee petroleum cleanups in the state must be certified, and that the South Dakota Board of Technical Professions can supply a current list of certified professionals. DANR gives the Board's number as (605) 394-2510.

The Fund's page links its statute, SDCL 34A-13, and its rules, at 74:32 of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota.

Where to look a site up

• The pages read link no list of claims or covered sites. The Fund's page links a Complete Application Packet, Consultant Guidelines and Contractor Guidelines, which this handbook did not open.
• The Fund's main office is in the Foss Building, 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD 57501, at (605) 773-3769.

Getting the file

DANR's page footer links Request Public Records, an address on the state's sd.gov portal that this handbook did not open. The pages read do not say whether Fund claim files are open to the public or how to ask for one.

Sources

South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources pages, read October 13, 2026:

• South Dakota Water and Waste Funding - Petroleum Release Compensation Fund, no modified date shown.
• Closing Tanks, no modified date shown.
• One-Stop Permitting and Regulation Guide (2025 Edition) | SD DANR, no modified date shown; its opening letter is dated July 2026.