Vermont
Aboveground storage tanks
The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources began regulating aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) containing petroleum products in 2011. The Storage Tanks Section of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says most ASTs in Vermont are home heating tanks. The revised AST Rules became effective on August 1, 2024, and supersede the 2017 AST Rules. DEC's AST page says DEC is editing its website to make it consistent with the revised rules.
In a Phase I ESA
DEC's aboveground tank records are the Vermont 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. Two kinds of AST record are described on DEC's pages, and they cover different tanks.
- Bulk storage tank facilities are registered. Before a new installation, AST systems at bulk facilities must be registered with the state using DEC's registration form. A bulk storage tank facility, as DEC defines it, stores heating fuel or motor fuel in an aboveground tank with the principal purpose of distributing heating fuel to consumer homes or motor fuel to a person for sale to consumers, has a total storage capacity of greater than 1,320 gallons, and is stationary at a fixed location. ASTs at bulk facilities may also need a permit from the Division of Fire Safety of the Department of Public Safety.
- Heating tanks are inspected, and noncompliant ones are posted. The AST Rules require an inspection when a new tank is installed and right after it is first filled, when a customer switches fuel carrier, and at least every four years. A tank found deficient on certain listed standards must be designated noncompliant and red tagged, and a red-tagged tank may not receive fuel deliveries until the problem is corrected. Since August 1, 2024, certain residential ASTs installed before that date may be yellow tagged instead, which allows limited deliveries for a limited time (until May 1 of each year). Inspectors must report red and yellow tags to the state, and DEC says all noncompliant tanks reported to it are posted to a public-facing database.
The pages read do not say that tanks other than those at bulk facilities are registered. For a home heating tank, ask the owner for the latest inspection checklist: the inspector must give the tank owner a copy within five business days of the inspection, and fuel dealers that deliver fuel to a tank must keep its inspection records for four years.
A storage tank release is reported through Spill Management. DEC says that if contamination is found or suspected during the removal of a tank, the Agency's Spill Response Program is the contact, reached through the Spill Management page. Certain uninsured cleanup costs for petroleum releases from ASTs may be paid by the Petroleum Cleanup Fund (PCF), subject to available funding.
Where to look a site up
- The ASTs for Heating page links the noncompliant tank database on the Vermont Environmental Research Tool. DEC says it lets a fuel supplier know whether a new customer's system has significant deficiencies and cannot be filled.
- DEC's Waste Topics page links a page it labels Above Ground Storage Tanks, which this handbook did not open, so it does not say which tanks it covers.
- The Storage Tanks Section is at 1 National Life Drive, Davis 3, Montpelier, VT 05620-3521, and at 802-828-1138.
Getting the file
DEC's pages link, in their footer, Request public information and Department of Environmental Conservation Records Liaisons, both on the Agency of Natural Resources' public records page, which this handbook did not read. The pages read for this program give no route of their own for a tank file.
Sources
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: