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Tennessee

Underground storage tank notifications

Agency Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
ASTM search distance Subject property and adjoining properties

Tennessee underground storage tank (UST) notifications

Tennessee's registered tank records come from the notifications that tank owners file with the Division of Underground Storage Tanks (UST) of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The Division regulates petroleum underground storage tanks, and its rules require tank owners, buyers and sellers of tanks to notify the state at different times during the lifetime of a tank.

In a Phase I ESA

The Division's notification records are the Tennessee 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 notification says a tank system exists or existed. Releases are a separate record, underground storage tank releases.

Three Tennessee details shape the search.

  • Petroleum, and underground. The Division regulates petroleum underground storage tanks. It says non-petroleum underground tanks are regulated by US EPA in Atlanta, and that aboveground storage tanks are not regulated by the Division. A search of the Division's records therefore does not cover aboveground tanks.
  • Some tanks never had to notify. Notification is required of persons who have stored petroleum in an underground storage tank after January 1, 1974, or who bring a new system into use. TDEC says tanks removed from the ground are not subject to notification. Its examples of other exemptions are farm or residential tanks of 1,100 gallons or less used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes, tanks storing heating oil for consumption on the premises where stored, and septic tanks. So the absence of a notification does not show the absence of a tank.
  • A notification is amended, not renewed. TDEC says the notification does not expire, but any change to the system requires a new form. A form is due 15 days before a system is brought into use, within 15 days after installation is complete, and within 30 days of any change. After a permanent closure, an amended form marking the system closed is due within thirty days.

The program's authority is the Tennessee Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Act, Tenn. Code Ann. sections 68-215-101 to -204, and Rule 0400-18-01.

What the record shows

TDEC says the notification form asks for the tank owner, the contact person, the landowner, the name and location of the facility, a description of each tank, certification of compliance for installation, release detection, spill and overfill protection, and evidence of financial responsibility for corrective action.

Three of the files the Division publishes from its database describe registered tanks:

File What TDEC says it holds
Tennessee UST Compartments All tank compartments that the Division regulates
Tennessee UST Facilities Each reported facility with the corresponding owner, the total number of tanks, and the status of the tanks at the facility
Tennessee UST Owners Each reported owner, with the total and active number of facilities registered to them, and the total number of compartments and their current status

A closure leaves its own paper. An owner must file a closure application whenever a tank is removed from service by removing it from the ground, filling it with an inert solid material, or changing its contents from a regulated product to an unregulated one. The application goes to the field office for approval 30 days before closing any portion of the system. TDEC's summary of closure requirements includes determining whether there is any soil or water contamination from leaks or spills. For a closed tank, ask for the closure application and what that determination found.

The Division also publishes a weekly list of facilities that should not be receiving petroleum deliveries. Its page quotes the law behind the list, which allows the Commissioner to "affix a notice or tag to a dispenser and/or fill port and/or give notice on the department web site for any tank that has not paid fees or is in violation of the rules." Check the list when the property is an operating fuel station.

Where to look a site up

  • The three files are on the Division's UST Data and Reports page. TDEC says they are updated monthly, and that it corrects data when errors are discovered.
  • The Division also has an external GIS dataviewer, which TDEC's viewer page lists as the Underground Storage Tanks Map Viewer. TDEC says the data driving it is continuously under review.
  • The weekly list is on the Sites Under Delivery Prohibition page. TDEC says it is posted no later than Wednesdays at 1200 Central Time.

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. It provides the data files at no charge and says only limited technical support is available for interpreting them. TDEC's Public Records Request page carries the department's records request route.

Sources

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

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