Petroleum Storage Tank (PST) Program

Utah's Petroleum Storage Tank (PST) Program is run by the Petroleum Storage Tank Branch of the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation (DERR), part of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). DEQ says the program's job is to protect people and the environment from the risks of leaking petroleum tanks. In DERR's usage a petroleum storage tank is either an underground storage tank (UST) or an aboveground petroleum storage tank (APST). This page covers underground tanks; aboveground tanks have their own page, Aboveground Petroleum Storage Tanks (APST).

In a Phase I ESA

DERR's underground tank records are the Utah form of the state registered 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 registered tanks, so the pairing is the handbook's reading. The general reading of a registered tank listing is on the UST / AST page. Releases are a separate record, the Leaking Petroleum Storage Tanks (LPST) Program.

Three Utah details shape the search.

• Not every underground tank is regulated. DERR counts a tank system, piping included, as a UST when at least a tenth of its volume is below ground, and says the federal and state rules reach only USTs holding petroleum products or certain hazardous chemicals. Among the tanks it lists as outside the rules are farm or home tanks of 1,100 gallons or less used noncommercially, heating oil tanks used on the premises, and tanks of 110 gallons or less.
• What an owner must do. Among the duties DERR lists for an owner or operator are telling DERR of each regulated tank on EPA Notification Form 7530-1, holding a Certificate of Compliance, reporting any release to DERR and cleaning it up, and removing a tank properly. Ask whether the file holds the notification form and the Certificate of Compliance.
• The rules. DERR says Utah first set its UST rules in 1986 because of a federal mandate, and that the Underground Storage Tank Act of 1989 set requirements for tank owners and created the PST Fund. The program's rules are in Utah Administrative Code R311, under the Utah UST Act. The fund is on the Environmental Assurance Program (EAP) page.

How a tank is closed

DERR describes two kinds of closure, temporary and permanent.

• Temporary closure. Once a tank has been temporarily closed for three months or more, the owner files a Temporary Closure Notice, leaves the vent lines open and caps and secures the other lines, pumps, manways and equipment. For any length of closure, cathodic protection, where present, is kept running, and so is any leak detection unless the tank is emptied to less than an inch of product.
• Permanent closure. The tank is taken out of the ground, or, if the local fire department and DERR allow it, filled in place with an inert solid such as sand or cement slurry. The owner hires a Utah Certified Tank Remover, files a closure plan and has it approved, and gives the local fire department, the local health department and DERR at least 72 hours' notice. A Utah Certified Soil/Groundwater Sampler takes the samples, which go to a certified laboratory. Contamination that is found must be reported to DERR within 24 hours.
• The closure notice. No later than 90 days after the tank is closed, the owner sends DERR a closure notice signed by the owner or operator and by the sampler, with an updated site map and sample table giving actual sample depths and locations and the depth to groundwater, the laboratory results, and the chain of custody form.

For a tank that was permanently closed, ask whether the file holds the approved closure plan and the closure notice with its results.

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.
• DERR's PST page gives (801) 536-4100 for questions.

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. The routes, viewing rules and copy charges are on the GRAMA requests page.

Sources

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

• Petroleum Storage Tank Branch, last modified September 8, 2026.
• Closing Underground Storage Tanks in Utah (UST), last modified May 18, 2026.
• Petroleum Storage Tanks Rules and Regulations, last modified May 18, 2026.
• Interactive Map Terminology DERR, last modified May 15, 2026.
• Environmental Quality Records Request (GRAMA), last modified April 21, 2026.