Underground Storage Tanks

STATE PROGRAM APPROVAL HANDBOOK

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS

May 1992

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OSWER DIRECTIVE 9650.11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

OUST would like to thank those individuals who helped make these revisions to the original, March 1989 version of the State Program Approval Handbook. Since the initial publication of this manual, a number of Regional offices have reviewed State Program Approval applications submitted by their States. Their successes, but perhaps more importantly, the difficulties they encountered, have taught us much about the State Program Approval process. With the help of Regional and State UST program staff, as well as representatives of the Office of General Counsel, Offices of Regional Counsel, and the Office of Enforcement, we have been able to produce what we feel is a useful, accurate, and up-to-date document which draws on more than two years of Regional experience in proceeding with State Program Approval. OUST feels that the lessons that have been learned over the past two years are reflected in the current document and should lead to a greater number of States seeking and achieving program approval in the near future.

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OSWER DIRECTIVE 9650.11

The policies and procedures set out in this document are intended solely for the guidance of Government personnel. They are not intended, nor can they be relied upon, to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States. The Agency reserves the right to act at variance with these policies and procedures and to change them at any time without public notice.

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OSWER DIRECTIVE 9650.11

NOTE: The document you are viewing is an HTML facsimile of OSWER Directive 9650.11 that has been reformatted for the Internet. This version maintains as much as possible of the original document integrity. Only a couple of non-essential elements are missing, namely facsimiles of the OSWER Directive cover page, and EPA Form 1315-17 (the Directive Initiation Request). Also, the original typed document had the directive number as a header on each page--in this version the directive number appears at the beginning of each new section. For convenience, the document is provided as a number of individual files that are hyperlinked together.

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OSWER DIRECTIVE 9650.11

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION
   1. The Purpose of This Handbook
   2. The Goals of This Handbook
   3. How This Handbook Can Help You
   4. EPA’s Approach to Regulating UST Systems
   5. EPA’s Approach for Implementing the UST Program
2. STATE PROGRAM APPROVAL PROCESS
   1. Purpose of State Program Approval
   2. Approval Criteria
   3. Application Process for Approval
3. COMPONENTS OF THE STATE PROGRAM APPROVAL APPLICATION
   1. Introduction
   2. Components of the Application
      1. Governor’s Letter
      2. Attorney General's Certification and Statement
      3. Demonstration of "Adequate Enforcement" Procedures
      4. Memorandum of Agreement
      5. Program Description
      6. State Statutes and Regulations
4. CHAPTER 4. ATTORNEY GENERAL’S STATEMENT: DEMONSTRATION OF "NO LESS STRINGENT" OBJECTIVES AND "ADEQUATE ENFORCEMENT" AUTHORITIES
   1. Introduction
   2. Objectives of the Federal Technical Requirements
      1. New UST Systems and Notification
      2. Upgrading Existing UST Systems
      3. General Operating Requirements
      4. Release Detection
      5. Release Reporting, Investigation, and Confirmation
      6. Release Response and Corrective Action
      7. Out-of-Service UST Systems and Closure
      8. Financial Responsibility for USTs Containing Petroleum
   3. Adequate Enforcement Authorities
   4. Scope of the State Program
5. DEMONSTRATION OF ADEQUATE ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES
   1. Introduction
   2. Procedures for Compliance Monitoring
      1. Identifying the Regulated Community
      2. Record Review
      3. Inspections
      4. Public Reporting
      5. Data Maintenance
   3. Procedures for Enforcement Response
      1. Compliance Monitoring Checklist
         Enforcement Response Procedures Checklist
         
      2. Informal Means of Encouraging Voluntary Compliance
      3. Formal Enforcement Responses
      4. EnforcementOutreach
6. MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
   1. Explanation
      1. Who Signs
      2. Federal/State Partnership
      3. State Program Appraisal Process
      4. Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement
      5. Scope of the UST Program
      6. Variances
      7. Creative Use of the Memorandum of Agreement
   2. Sample Memorandum of Agreement
7. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
   1. Introduction
   2. Local Implementation
   3. Program Description Questions
      1. General Questions
      2. Program Scope
      3. Organization and Structure of Program
      4. Resource Information
   4. Capabilities Asessment
      1. Purpose of the Capabilities Matrices
      2. Structure of the Capabilities Matrices
      3. Use of the Capabilities Matrices

Appendices

APPENDIX A Sample Application

APPENDIX B Federal Subtitle I Program

APPENDIX C Tools for Implementing State Programs

APPENDIX D Table of National Industry Codes

APPENDIX E Public Participation

APPENDIX F Capabilities Matrices

APPENDIX G Most Commonly Asked Questions about the State Program Approval Handbook and Suggested Procedures Manual

APPENDIX H Final OUST Guidance on Reviewing State Funds for Financial Responsibility

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