More About Petroleum Fund Claims

he State of Nevada Petroleum Fund (the Fund) was initially implemented in 1989 by state legislation to assist owners and operators of regulated underground storage tanks in meeting the federal requirement for financial responsibility pursuant to 40 CFR 280.90 through 280.99. The Fund also allows voluntary enrollment of non-regulated petroleum storage tanks and automatically covers releases from residential heating oil tanks.

The Fund provides reimbursement to qualified storage tank owner/operators for corrective action costs associated with cleaning up petroleum product releases. Requests for reimbursements are reviewed by staff of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and payments from the Fund are approved by the Board to Review Claims. The Board is composed of three designated members and four governor-appointed members.

The Fund is supported by a $0.0075 fee for each gallon of motor vehicle fuel, diesel fuel of grade number 1, diesel fuel of grade number 2, and heating oil imported into, or refined in, Nevada. There is also an annual registration fee of $100 per tank for enrollment into the Fund.

Since inception, over 1,374 cases have been submitted to the Fund for reimbursement of cleanup costs associated with leaks or accidental releases from petroleum storage tanks. As of June 9, 2011 the Fund has provided nearly $168 million towards the cleanup of petroleum releases in the State of Nevada. The current available cash balance in the Fund is approximately $7.5 million.