UST Inspections

Overview

1523 of the Energy Policy Act amends the inspection provisions in Section 9005 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA). More specifically, it adds additional requirements for underground storage tank (UST) system compliance inspections for states receiving Subtitle I funding. On April 24, 2007, EPA issued the final grant guidelines for these compliance inspections. (View the grant guidelines) The guidelines identify which underground storage tanks were to be inspected, the requirements for the on-site inspections, who is authorized to perform the on-site inspections, and the reporting requirements to EPA. The deadline for the completion of the inspections is August 8, 2007, and following the completion of this round of inspections, each underground storage tank shall be re-inspected for compliance at least once every three years.

Local Response

LDEQ worked closely with LDEQ Contractors and EPA Inspectors in order to meet the initial requirement set forth by this section of the UST Compliance Act – inspecting all un-inspected UST facilities prior to August 8, 2007. In 2007, LDEQ performed 457 inspections, LDEQ Contractors performed 314 inspections, and EPA Contractors performed 913 inspections. The result of this collaborative effort was that Louisiana met the initial requirement of this section of the UST Compliance Act on August 7, 2007, and began planning for the next phase of this section- the three year inspection cycle. As of December 2021, LDEQ has completed four 3-year inspection cycles and is currently in the middle of the fifth 3-year inspection cycle.