Tennessee Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Fund

The Tennessee Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Fund reimburses the cost of investigating and cleaning up petroleum releases from underground storage tanks, where the release is fund eligible. The Division of Underground Storage Tanks of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) describes the Fund as like an environmental insurance policy, used for investigation, identification, and reasonable and safe cleanup, including monitoring and maintenance, of petroleum release sites within the state.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name a state cleanup fund among its standard record sources. The Fund matters because it decides who pays for a tank cleanup, and TDEC publishes which facilities have applied to it. The release record itself is on the underground storage tank releases page.

• Eligibility has two conditions. For a tank owner, tank operator or petroleum site owner to be reimbursed, the Division must have received notification registering the tank before the release occurred, and an Application for Fund Eligibility must have been filed by the deadline.
• The deadlines are short. The application must be received within 60 days of a release identified in any manner other than the rules' process for confirming a suspected release, or within 90 days of the discovery of evidence of a suspected release that is later confirmed. TDEC says the 90-day deadline applies even if confirmation takes longer than 90 days.
• A missed deadline moves the cost. TDEC says a release whose application misses the deadline will not be fund eligible, and that fund ineligibility means the tank owner, tank operator and petroleum site owner are financially responsible for the costs of release response, hazard mitigation, investigation and subsequent cleanup. Ask whether a release at the property was found fund eligible.
• Unpaid fees can cost eligibility. TDEC's closure page says failure to pay tank fees results in a 5% per month late penalty and loss of fund eligibility for the site.
• The deductible changed in 2026. Fund eligible releases that occur on or after April 9, 2026 are reimbursed with a maximum deductible of $5,000, which may be decreased by up to 100% if certain criteria are met. Site checks required under Rule 0400-18-01-.05(3)(b) are covered in full at the reasonable rate schedule for those releases. The pages read do not give the deductible for earlier releases.

TDEC says that under the 2008 amendment to the Tennessee Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Act, all regulated tanks registered with the Division are fund eligible for costs associated with releases that occur on or after July 1, 2008, and that the Fund serves as the financial assurance mechanism for registered petroleum tanks that Tennessee regulates and that are not deferred from fund eligibility by regulation.

Only costs associated with the investigation and cleanup of environmental problems are eligible for reimbursement. Since April 9, 2026, payments for corrective actions or third-party claims are issued by direct deposit to the provider of the corrective action services or the third party.

What the record shows

TDEC's Reimbursement Activities file holds all facilities that have applied for reimbursement from the Fund. For each it gives the name of the owner that made the request, the name and address of the facility, the amount requested, the amount disallowed, the deductible applied, and the amount of the payment. TDEC says applications are tracked by facility ID number, invoice number and application number.

The Fund is paid into by tank fees. TDEC's Notification and Fees page gives an annual tank fee of $125 per compartment, deposited into the Fund, and its Reimbursement page says the annual tank fee suspension is extended to June 30, 2031.

Where to look a site up

• The Reimbursement Activities file is on the Division's UST Data and Reports page. TDEC says the files there are updated monthly.
• Fund eligibility applications go to ust.fund@tn.gov. Reimbursement applications go to ust.reimbursement@tn.gov.

Getting the file

The Division says that anyone who needs site history, past tank owners, more detailed environmental issues, compliance matters or reimbursement of releases should call it at (615) 532-0945 and schedule a file review appointment.

Sources

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation pages, read October 7, 2026:

• Fund Eligibility and Reimbursement, last modified August 12, 2026.
• Reimbursement, last modified August 24, 2026.
• Notification and Fees, last modified August 12, 2026.
• Tank and Piping Closure, last modified March 21, 2025.
• UST Data and Reports, last modified October 1, 2026.