Understanding the Regulations

Home heating oil underground storage tanks (USTs) are currently non-regulated. This means that a home heating oil UST is exempt from the technical regulations that apply to other regulated tanks, such as the larger USTs used by gasoline retailers and larger businesses. The owner of an unregulated tank is not required to remove the tank from the ground when the tank is no longer in use.

However, leakage from an UST is inevitable!

Once leakage occurs the regulations concerning impacts to soils and groundwater will enforce the assessment and cleanup of leakage from a non-regulated UST.

The Oil Pollution and Hazardous Substances Control Act of 1978 states that "It shall be unlawful ... for any person to discharge ... oil or other hazardous substances into or upon any waters ... or lands within this State ... regardless of whether the discharge was the result of intentional or negligent conduct, accident, or other cause" and that "Any person having control over oil or other hazardous substances discharged in violation of this Article shall immediately undertake to collect and remove the discharge and to restore the area affected by the discharge as nearly as may be to the condition existing prior to the discharge."

For Your Information:

Once a home owner experiences water fouling of their oil-fired heating system or notices a significant loss of fuel, leakage from the UST should be suspected and the contents of the tank should be removed immediately. As the leakage would be expected to impact the underlying soils and groundwater, the UST should be removed as soon as possible. Then, the regulations concerning soils and groundwater would require further assessment, and possibly, remediation.

Removal of non-regulated tanks that have been taken out of service is not required at present but the UST itself is not the issue. It is the condition of the soils under the tank that is of concern. Even if the UST is still in use, leakage can occur for many years before a problem becomes obvious, if it ever does. Cedar Rock recommends that the soils beneath all USTs, whether active or inactive, be tested periodically to protect the property owner's real estate investment and the environment and natural resources.

More Information

These links will provide you with further information from the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources regarding leakage from storage tanks. Please note that these pages will open in a new window or tab.