U.S. Legislative Updates

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing revisions to the 1988 federal underground storage tank (UST) regulations by increasing emphasis on properly operating and maintaining UST equipment. These revisions are intended to help improve prevention and detection of UST releases, which are one of the leading sources of groundwater contamination. This is the first time EPA is proposing significant revisions to the federal UST regulations since they were first promulgated in 1988.

EPA’s proposal revises the UST regulations by:

• Adding secondary containment requirements for new and replaced tanks and piping
• Adding operator training requirements for UST system owners and operators
• Adding periodic operation and maintenance requirements for UST systems
• Removing certain deferrals
• Adding new release prevention and detection technologies
• Updating codes of practice
• Making editorial and technical corrections

EPA has developed resources to help fleets and other affected stakeholders review the proposed revisions to the 1988 UST regulations. Comparison of 1988 UST regulations and proposed UST regulations