West Virginia
Leaking Aboveground Storage Tanks
West Virginia Leaking Aboveground Storage Tanks
Releases from aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) in West Virginia are reported to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), whose Tanks Unit has a Leaking Aboveground Storage Tanks group beside its leaking underground tank group. WVDEP says all AST owners and operators are mandated by law, under the rule 47 CSR 63, to report confirmed, suspected or threatened releases.
In a Phase I ESA
WVDEP's leaking aboveground storage tank records are a West Virginia form of the state leaking storage tank records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a leaking tank listing is on the LUST page. WVDEP's own short name for these sites is LAST. Four details shape how to read the record.
- Every tank reports, regulated or not. WVDEP says the release reporting requirements apply to all ASTs: Level 1, Level 2, and the tanks it calls "register and label (RL)". The levels are explained on the Aboveground Storage Tanks page.
- A release has a narrow meaning. The Act defines a release as fluids from an AST spilling, leaking or otherwise escaping into the waters of the state, or escaping from secondary containment. A confirmed release is one verified to have reached the waters of the state or to have escaped secondary containment. WVDEP says a release from an AST into secondary containment should be treated as a suspected or threatened release.
- The two kinds are reported differently. A confirmed release must be reported immediately on discovery, to the county or municipal emergency management agency where the tank is and to WVDEP's spill line. A suspected or threatened release must be reported to WVDEP within 24 hours, unless the owner determines within that time that it was a false alarm, and the owner must then investigate whether a confirmed release occurred. A confirmed release brings the corrective action section of the AST rule into play.
- The reporting duty has two dates. WVDEP cites section 2.2.a of 47 CSR 11, effective July 1, 1987, and section 6.2 of 47 CSR 63, effective August 1, 2016, for the duty to report confirmed releases at once.
How a cleanup is measured
WVDEP's Corrective Action Guidance Document (CAGD) applies to regulated ASTs as well as underground tanks. WVDEP says it sets an action level for soils at LAST and LUST sites that considers the depth of the contamination, and can consider whether the property's use is residential or nonresidential if certain conditions are met, in a three-tiered approach. Many of these sites are petroleum sites, WVDEP says, so the soil action levels give special emphasis to petroleum. The forms a case generates are listed on the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program page.
Where to look a site up
- WVDEP's Tanks Reporting Portal. WVDEP says the public uses it to obtain AST, LAST, UST and LUST tank related data.
- To report a release: WVDEP's emergency spill line, 1-800-642-3074.
- The Tanks Unit number on the Leaking Aboveground Storage Tanks page is 304-926-0495.
Getting the file
The pages read on leaking aboveground tanks 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: