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Utah

Leaking Petroleum Storage Tanks (LPST) Program

Agency Utah Department of Environmental Quality
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Utah's leaking tank cases are handled by the Leaking Petroleum Storage Tanks (LPST) Program of the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation (DERR), part of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). DERR says a petroleum storage tank that leaks becomes an LPST, and that two sections of its Petroleum Storage Tank Branch handle LPST cleanups. The branch page says the Environmental Assurance Section takes sites covered by the state's PST Fund, and the Environmental Assistance Section sites with private insurance or none. DERR's menu and its aboveground tank release page name a Remedial Assistance Section for LPST work instead; the pages read do not say whether the two names are one section. DERR's page on reporting releases calls the underground tank program the Leaking Underground Storage Tanks (LUST) Program.

In a Phase I ESA

LPST cases are the Utah form of the state leaking storage tank records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The pages read link a search of tank files and DEQ's interactive map, not a list of cases, so the pairing is the handbook's reading. The general reading of a leaking tank listing is on the LUST page.

Four Utah details shape how to read a case.

  • Aboveground and heating oil tank releases come here too. Under an agreement with the Division of Water Quality (DWQ), DERR oversees petroleum releases from aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) and underground heating oil tanks (UHOTs). The responsible party signs an application agreeing to DERR's LPST requirements, and if it fails to comply, DERR hands the case file to DWQ. For such a release, ask both divisions for the file. For regulated aboveground petroleum storage tanks, DERR's PST Branch and APST pages say that since the 2021 legislation releases fall under DERR's authority, with the PST reporting requirements and cleanup standards; the AST and UHOT page, which describes the agreement, does not say how the two fit together.
  • Contamination can be left in place. DERR publishes a template for an environmental covenant that gives notice of contamination remaining at a site, and its Petroleum Contamination Notification page links a list of sites in Utah with environmental covenants or institutional controls. See Environmental Covenants.
  • Diggers are warned. When someone plans to dig near a former leaking UST facility, DERR learns of it through the Blue Stakes utility notice system. Its notice says leftover petroleum contamination in soil or groundwater may be in the dig area, offers information on the known impacts, and asks anyone who meets petroleum vapors, stained soil or groundwater with an oily sheen to call DERR at once at (801) 536-4100.
  • The screening tables date from 2005. DERR's LPST page links a table of Initial Screening and Tier 1 Levels that it says is dated November 1, 2005, and its remediation page links a summary of soil and groundwater cleanup screening levels that it says took effect May 15, 2006. This handbook did not open them. For a case closed years ago, see Old closure and today's cleanup criteria.

What a release report asks for

DERR's reporting page asks the person reporting a UST release for the facility ID, a seven-digit number that can start with a zero, the facility's name and address, and the reporter's own name, company and phone, though a report can be anonymous. It then asks for whatever is known about the release: what was lost, how much, when, from which part of the system and how it was found; vapors, damage and free product; the tank's age and material; and the soil, groundwater, nearby wells and utilities, and land use around it. DERR's LPST page also links an online form for reporting spills.

DERR's guidance list for the program includes a LUST Corrective Action Plan Guide, a Subsurface Investigation Report guide and a PST Eligibility Application.

Where to look a site up

  • DERR's PST page links UST and LUST Files, which DERR describes as a step-by-step search of the tank records held electronically. It says not all UST and LUST records are currently available there.
  • DEQ's Interactive Map. DERR's map terminology page lists UST and Leaking UST Sites among the map's terms.
  • The list of sites DERR links from its Petroleum Contamination Notification page, labelled Environmental Covenants or Institutional Controls.
  • Petroleum releases from a UST facility are reported to DERR at (801) 536-4100.

Getting the file

DERR takes records requests on DEQ's GRAMA request form at errgrama@utah.gov or (801) 536-4157, and files are viewed by appointment. DWQ's records requests go to wqgrama@utah.gov or (801) 536 4300. The routes are on the GRAMA requests page.

Sources

Utah Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026:

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