Reporting And Recordkeeping
Below are the federal reporting and recordkeeping requirements. You should check with your state or local regulatory authority about particular reporting and recordkeeping requirements in your area.
What Do You Need To Report?
You need to report to the regulatory authority on the following occasions:
- When you install an UST, you have to fill out a notification form and submit it to your state or local agency. This form provides information about your UST, including a certification of correct installation. (You should have already used this form to identify your existing USTs. If you haven't done that yet, be sure you do so now.)
- You must report suspected releases to the regulatory authority. If a release is confirmed, you must also report follow-up actions you plan or have taken to correct the damage caused by your UST.
- You must notify the regulatory authority 30 days before you permanently close your UST.
What Records Must You Keep?
You will have to keep records that can be provided to an inspector during an on-site visit that prove your facility meets certain requirements. These records must be kept long enough to show your facility's recent compliance status in four major areas:
- You will have to keep records of leak detection performance and maintenance:
- The last year's monitoring results, and the most recent tightness test.
- Copies of performance claims provided by leak detection manufacturers.
- Records of recent maintenance, repair, and calibration of on-site leak detection equipment.
- You will have to keep records showing the required inspections and tests of your corrosion protection system.
- You must keep records showing that a repaired or upgraded UST system was properly repaired or upgraded.
- For at least 3 years after closing an UST, you must keep records of the site assessment results required for permanent closure. (These results show what impact your UST has had on the surrounding area.)
- You must keep records that document your financial responsibility, as explained in EPA's booklet, Dollars And Sense.
The preceding discussion is summarized from the regulatory language in 40 CFR Part 280.34 as published in the Federal Register, Vol. 53, No. 185, Friday, September 23, 1988. This text is presented below for informational purposes only--for legal issues, you should obtain a printed copy from the Government Printing Office.
40 CFR 280.34 Reporting and recordkeeping
Owners and operators of UST systems must cooperate fully with inspections, monitoring and testing conducted by the implementing agency, as well as requests for document submission, testing, and monitoring by the owner or operator pursuant to section 9005 of Subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended.
- Notification for all UST systems (40 CFR 280.22), which includes certification of installation for new UST systems (40 CFR 280.20(e)),
- Reports of all releases including suspected releases (40 CFR 280.50), spills and overfills (40 CFR 280.53), and confirmed releases (40 CFR 280.61);
- Corrective actions planned or taken including initial abatement measures (40 CFR 280.62), initial site characterization (40 CFR 280.63), free product removal (40 CFR 280.64), investigation of soil and ground-water cleanup (40 CFR 280.65), and corrective action plan (40 CFR 280.66); and
- A notification before permanent closure or change-in-service (40 CFR 280.71).
- A corrosion expert's analysis of site corrosion potential if corrosion protection equipment is not used (40 CFR 280.20(a)(4); 40 CFR 280.20(b)(3)).
- Documentation of operation of corrosion protection equipment (40 CFR 280.31);
- Documentation of UST system repairs (40 CFR 280.33(f));
- Recent compliance with release detection requirements (40 CFR 280.45); and
- Results of the site investigation conducted at permanent closure (40 CFR 280.74).
- At the UST site and immediately available for inspection by the implementing agency; or
- At a readily available alternative site and be provided for inspection to the implementing agency upon request.
- In the case of permanent closure records required under 40 CFR 280.74, owners and operators are also provided with the additional alternative of mailing closure records to the implementing agency if they cannot be kept at the site or an alternative site as indicated above.
Note: The recordkeeping and reporting requirements in this section have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and have been assigned OMB Control No. 2050-0068.