The paperwork
About TankCheck
A free screening layer over the public record of America's buried fuel tanks. Built to be honest about what it is — and what it is not.
Data sources
| Data | Source | Vintage |
|---|---|---|
| Tank facilities (741,447 in county aggregates; 742,855 points) | EPA UST Finder, Feature Layer 0 (queried live) | 2018–2021 state snapshots |
| Releases / LUST cases (530,062 in county aggregates; 531,310 points) | EPA UST Finder, Feature Layer 1 (queried live) | 2018–2021 state snapshots |
| Individual tank records (substance, capacity, wall type, install date) | EPA UST Finder, Layer 4 (queried live) | 2018–2021 state snapshots |
| County & state aggregates on the browse pages | EPA UST Finder county layer (compiled at build time) | 2018–2021 state snapshots |
| Geocoding | US Census Geocoder, with OpenStreetMap Nominatim fallback | live |
| Basemap | Esri World Imagery | live |
The vintage, plainly
EPA's UST Finder is a national compilation of state tank registries assembled by EPA and ASTSWMO from data collected between 2018 and 2021. Tanks change slowly — but new installations, removals, and newly reported leaks since a state's snapshot date will not appear here. Every result page therefore names the state UST program that holds the live record, and any decision that matters should be verified there. Residential heating-oil tanks are generally exempt from registration and are mostly absent from this data.
How the Ground Screening Grade works
The grade starts at 100 points and subtracts for everything found within one mile of the searched point, weighted by distance band (within 500 ft / ¼ mi / ½ mi / 1 mi):
| Finding | ≤500 ft | ≤¼ mi | ≤½ mi | ≤1 mi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open leak case (not closed / No Further Action) | −45 | −30 | −18 | −8 |
| Closed / NFA leak record | −6 | −4 | −2 | −1 |
| Facility with tanks in service | −8 | −5 | −3 | −1 |
| Closed-only facility | −2 | −1 | −0.5 | −0 |
Letters: 90+ A · 75+ B · 60+ C · 45+ D · below 45 F. Two overrides: any open leak case within 500 ft caps the grade at D, and within 250 ft caps it at F. A point with nothing registered within a mile is an automatic A. The grade is a screening of proximity to public records — it is not a safety rating, attaches to the searched coordinates rather than any named address, and cannot see unregistered tanks or unreported leaks.
What TankCheck is not
Informational screening from public EPA/state data — not a Phase I ESA, inspection, or legal advice. A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (see our guide) performed by an environmental professional is the instrument that carries legal weight in a transaction.
Privacy, briefly
Searches are stateless: addresses you screen are geocoded and discarded, never stored. Details in the privacy note.