West Virginia
Aboveground Storage Tanks
West Virginia Aboveground Storage Tanks
Aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) in West Virginia are registered with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) under the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, W. Va. Code § 22-30. ASTs are one of the four groups of the Tanks Unit in WVDEP's Environmental Enforcement section. The Act came from Senate Bill 373, signed on April 1, 2014 and in effect from June 6, 2014. WVDEP says the bill required an inventory and registration of aboveground storage tanks, spill prevention response plans, and certified inspections of tanks.
In a Phase I ESA
WVDEP's AST registrations are a West Virginia 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. Releases are a separate record, on the Leaking Aboveground Storage Tanks page. Five West Virginia details shape the search.
- The Act defines the tank by size. An AST holds more than 1,320 gallons of fluids that are liquid at standard temperature and pressure, with more than 90 percent of its capacity above the ground surface. Mobile devices count when they stay in one location for 365 or more days. WVDEP says a tank that is more than 10 percent below ground is not registered as an AST, though it may fall under other rules such as the underground storage tank regulations.
- Registered is not the same as regulated. WVDEP says all ASTs in the state must be registered and carry signage, but only Level 1 and Level 2 tanks are regulated under the Act. A tank outside those levels, and its secondary containment, may still be regulated under other statutes; WVDEP's example is the Groundwater Protection Act.
- The level says why a tank is regulated. A Level 1 tank is one in a zone of critical concern, a source water protection area or a public surface water influenced groundwater supply source area, or one designated by the secretary; or one holding a hazardous substance as the federal Superfund law defines it, or a substance on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's consolidated "List of Lists", at a concentration of one percent or greater wherever the tank is; or one with a capacity of 50,000 gallons or more. Petroleum tanks are not Level 1 solely because they contain listed constituents. A Level 2 tank is one in a zone of peripheral concern that is not Level 1.
- Levels move. WVDEP says updated mapping of the zones is used in assigning levels. Its August 2026 bulletin reports that Senate Bill 641, effective June 11, 2026, moved tanks of 10,000 gallons or less that hold only brine water from hydrocarbon storage or production from Level 1 to Level 2, and added an exemption for certain tanks of that size inside a surface mining permit boundary. Read a tank's level against the date that matters to you.
- The registry begins with the Act. WVDEP gives July 1, 2015 as the deadline for registering ASTs, and a tank placed in service on or after that date must be registered before it stores fluids. Ask the owner about tanks that were gone before then.
What the record shows
Registration asks about tank size, contents, construction, age and location, and the owner gives the tank's latitude and longitude. WVDEP says the correspondence that assigns a registration number names the nearest West Virginia public groundwater or surface water intake and gives the distance to it.
For a closed tank, the owner or operator must give WVDEP written notice and a closure plan at least 30 days before the closure begins, unless the closure answers a corrective action order. A final closure report then goes in through the registration system, and WVDEP changes the tank's status to permanently out of service (POS). WVDEP's guidance also uses the statuses "Currently in Use" (CIU) and "Empty and Held In Inventory".
Where to look a site up
- WVDEP's Tanks Reports portal. WVDEP says the public uses it to obtain AST, LAST, UST and LUST tank related data.
- The Tanks Unit number on the AST pages is 304-926-0495.
Getting the file
The AST pages name no records route of their own. WVDEP's general routes are its document database, Application Enhancer, and a Freedom of Information Act request through the electronic form on its Request Information page or by email to depfoia@wv.gov. See the Application Enhancer page.
Sources
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: