West Virginia Reminds Above Ground Storage Tank Owners to Register Their Tanks By July 1st

West Virginia Reminds Above Ground Storage Tank Owners to Register Their Tanks By July 1st

White oil storage tanks
Above ground storage tank (AST) owners in West Virginia must register their tanks with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) by July 1st.

WCHS-TV8 in Charleston reports that the DEP is reminding AST owners across the state to register their tanks by the end of the month or else be subject to enforcement action by the state. Any modifications to ASTs already registered must be completed by the end of the month as well.

The state is also requiring AST owners to inform the state if their tanks are actually considered AST units under state law. West Virginia recently passed an amendment to the Above Ground Storage Tank and Public Water Supply Protection acts that altered the definition of an AST. Tank owners who registered tanks that no longer qualify as an AST must deregister them or else face a registration involve of $40 per tank.

For tank owners unsure of the status of their tanks, the DEP runs a survey on its website for assessment. Entitled “Do I Need to Modify My Existing Registration?”, the survey enables tank owners to determine the status of their tanks and provides links to modify an existing registration.

Tanks that remain unregistered by July 1st will be deemed out of compliance with state law and subject to violations, fines, and other censures. The original deadline for registration was October 1st of last year in order to give tank owners time to research and potentially modify their tanks. All AST units that remain unregistered by July 1st are not allowed to store liquids.

The DEP offers another online survey, called “Do I Need to Register My AST?”, that helps tank owners determine whether they need registration or deregistration and offers links for those ends. Paper registration forms are also accepted in addition to online ones.

The DEP will propose recommendations for the current AST program at the 2016 legislative session.

ASTs are already subject to strict regulations by the American Petroleum Institute (API). One API code, for example, mandates that AST units must be build inside a secondary containment area capable of holding the entirety of the tank’s contents.

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