Georgia Underground Storage Tank Regulations and Requirements

If you own or operate an underground fuel or chemical tank in Georgia, the Georgia Underground Storage Tank regulations require you to register the system with the Environmental Protection Division, meet federal equipment and leak-detection standards, keep trained operators on site, prove you can pay for a cleanup, and report any suspected release within 24 hours. The program lives in the Georgia Underground Storage Tank Act (O.C.G.A. § 12-13-1 et seq.) and Chapter 391-3-15 of the administrative rules, which pull in the federal UST regulations at 40 CFR Part 280 by reference and add Georgia-specific paperwork on top.¹ Penalties reach $10,000 per day per tank for most violations and $25,000 per day for defying a cleanup order.

What Counts as a Regulated Underground Storage Tank

A tank is “underground” for regulatory purposes when at least 10 percent of the total volume of the tank and its connected piping sits below the ground surface. A mostly above-grade tank can still fall inside the program if enough of the piping runs underground.

Georgia treats the person holding legal title (the owner) and the person running daily operations (the operator) as separately responsible. Both carry their own compliance obligations, and EPD can pursue either one.

Tanks That Are Exempt

Several categories sit outside the federal UST program that Georgia adopts:

Farm and residential motor-fuel tanks of 1,100 gallons or less used for noncommercial purposes.
Heating oil tanks storing oil consumed on the same property.
Septic tanks and other wastewater or stormwater systems.
Emergency spill and overflow containment tanks not used for long-term storage.²

Being exempt from registration and trust fund rules does not shield you from liability if the tank leaks. Broader state environmental laws still apply if contamination occurs.

Registering the Tank

Initial Notification

You have 30 days from bringing a new tank into use to submit EPA Form 7530-1, the Notification for Underground Storage Tanks, to Georgia EPD.³ The same 30-day window applies when a tank changes ownership.⁴

The form asks for owner and operator contact information, facility address, tank age, size and location, the substance stored, construction materials, and corrosion protection methods. Filing false information is itself a penalty-bearing violation. Submissions go through the Georgia EPD Online System (GEOS), which lets you file and track requests electronically.⁵

Annual Registration

Every UST facility must complete an annual registration between August 1 and December 31 each year.⁵ Georgia law makes it a violation to deliver a regulated substance into a tank at a facility that has not filed its annual notification and received EPD confirmation.⁴ A lapsed registration means distributors cannot legally fill your tanks, which stops operations.

Operator Training

Georgia requires three classes of trained operator at each facility:

A Class A operator holds ultimate responsibility for the facility’s regulatory compliance.
A Class B operator handles day-to-day operations, maintenance, record-keeping, and flagging repairs. The same person can hold both the Class A and Class B roles.
A Class C operator responds to alarms, spills, and releases and must be a facility employee physically present whenever the system is in use or being filled.

Every facility, including tanks in temporary out-of-use status, must have at least one Class A and one Class B operator. Active facilities also need designated Class C operators. A facility without a certified Class A and B operator cannot complete its annual registration.⁶ Class A and B certification comes through classroom or online providers approved by EPD; Class C operators can be trained in the field by a certified Class A or B operator, with the completed certificate submitted to EPD.

Equipment and Monitoring

Georgia’s rules pull in the federal equipment standards from 40 CFR Part 280.¹ Every regulated system needs:

Spill prevention through catchment basins around fill pipes.
Overfill prevention through automatic shutoff valves, ball float valves, or alarms.
Corrosion protection for metal components in contact with the ground, typically cathodic protection or dielectric coatings.
Leak detection through methods such as automatic tank gauging, interstitial monitoring on double-walled systems, or statistical inventory reconciliation.

Equipment has to be tested on a schedule. Repair records must be kept for the life of the tank system. Leak-detection results and calibration records must be kept for at least five years.

Reporting and Cleaning Up a Release

The 24-Hour Rule

You must report a suspected release to EPD within 24 hours of discovery.⁷ “Suspected release” covers more than visible fuel in the soil. It includes unexplained inventory losses, erratic dispenser behavior, unexpected water in a tank, monitoring alarms, and vapors or free product in nearby soils, basements, or utility lines.

You can avoid a full report only if you can quickly show a monitoring device was defective and a retest comes back clean, or the issue was contained within secondary containment and immediately handled.

Corrective Action

Once a release is confirmed, the owner or operator must submit a Corrective Action Plan (Part A) to EPD within 60 days. Georgia uses this Part A in place of the separate federal initial abatement, site characterization, and free product removal reports. It must be prepared and sealed by a Georgia-registered professional engineer or professional geologist.¹

Part B follows the site investigation and covers proposed soil and groundwater cleanup objectives. The process can run for years depending on contamination severity, and the owner remains liable for all corrective action costs the state incurs unless a consent agreement is in place.

Closing a Tank

Temporary Closure

If a tank is out of service but you plan to use it again, corrosion protection and leak detection must keep running. A tank is considered empty only when commonly employed practices have been used and no more than one inch of residue remains.⁸ After three months, vent lines stay open and all other lines, pumps, and access points must be capped. After 12 months, any tank that does not meet current performance standards for new or upgraded systems must be permanently closed. EPD can grant extensions, but only after a completed site assessment.

Permanent Closure

Permanent closure requires notice to EPD at least 30 days before work begins. The tank must be emptied and cleaned of all liquids and sludge, then either removed or filled with an inert solid.⁹ A site assessment of the excavation zone must be completed before closure is finalized. Georgia adds a closure report on EPD-provided forms, due within 45 days of completing the closure.¹ If the assessment turns up contamination, the closure rolls into the corrective action process.

Financial Responsibility and the GUST Trust Fund

Federal law requires every UST owner to demonstrate financial responsibility for potential releases. Georgia’s state-managed option is the Georgia Underground Storage Tank (GUST) Trust Fund. Participation is optional but encouraged by EPD.¹⁰

The fund is financed through an environmental assurance fee of 0.75 cents per gallon on petroleum products imported into Georgia, in effect since July 1, 2013, and collected at the point of bulk fuel purchase.¹¹ Coverage runs up to $1 million per occurrence cumulatively for corrective action and third-party bodily injury or property damage claims.¹ The deductible is $10,000 per occurrence for corrective action and third-party liability, and the fund does not pay to replace the tank or piping. Owners who skip the trust fund must show financial responsibility another way, such as private environmental liability insurance.

Buying or Selling a Site With Tanks

Ownership changes trigger their own set of deadlines. The new owner must register the facility within 30 days of the change.⁵ To join the GUST Trust Fund, the new owner has one year from acquisition to pass a precision tightness test on the tank system, complete a site check acceptable to EPD, pay all environmental assurance fees owed from the acquisition date, and submit a sworn statement that the previous owner has no controlling interest in the new entity.¹

If the site has an unremediated release, the new owner may not qualify for trust fund coverage until the contamination is addressed. A pre-closing site assessment protects the buyer from stepping into someone else’s cleanup.

Penalties

Georgia’s civil penalties for UST violations run in three tiers:

Up to $25,000 per day for each day of continued noncompliance with a state cleanup order.
Up to $10,000 per tank for failure to notify or for submitting false information.
Up to $10,000 per day for each tank in violation of any other UST Act requirement or rule.¹²

Because these are civil penalties, EPD does not need a criminal conviction to impose them. A single facility with multiple tanks can face separate daily penalties on each tank at the same time.

1
Georgia Secretary of State. Georgia Code 391-3-15 – Underground Storage Tank Management
2
US EPA. UST Technical Compendium: Applicability, Definitions and Notification
3
United States Environmental Protection Agency. Notification Forms for Underground Storage Tanks
4
Justia. Georgia Code Title 12 Chapter 13 Section 12-13-13 – Notification by Owner of Underground Storage Tank
5
Environmental Protection Division. UST Tank Registration
6
Environmental Protection Division. UST Operator: Class A, B, and C
7
eCFR. 40 CFR 280.50 – Reporting of Suspected Releases
8
eCFR. 40 CFR 280.70 – Temporary Closure
9
eCFR. 40 CFR 280.71 – Permanent Closure and Changes-in-Service
10
Environmental Protection Division. UST New Owner Registration and GUST Trust Fund
11
Cornell Law School. Georgia Comp. R. and Regs. R. 391-3-15-.13 – Georgia Underground Storage Tank (GUST) Trust Fund
12
Justia. Georgia Code Title 12 Chapter 13 Section 12-13-19 – Violations; Imposition of Penalties