TankCheck / Guides

Guide 01 — Records

How to find out if a property has an underground storage tank — for free

Consultants charge $100–$300 for a regulatory radius report whose first section is exactly this: which registered tanks and leak cases sit near a property. Here is how to answer that question yourself in an afternoon, spending nothing.

Start with the 60-second screening

Paste the property address into the TankCheck screening tool. It queries EPA's UST Finder — the national compilation of state tank registries, 742,855 facilities and 531,310 release records — and maps every registered underground storage tank (UST) and reported leak (LUST case) within a mile. You get a Screening Grade, the distance to each site in feet, and the cleanup status of every leak on record. That is the same dataset that opens a commercial radius report, and it takes under a minute.

Two honest caveats. First, the national snapshot was compiled from state data between 2018 and 2021, so a tank registered last year may not appear — always verify with the state program office (all 50 listed here). Second, and more important: registries only contain registered tanks. Residential heating-oil tanks under 1,100 gallons are exempt from federal registration in almost every state, which means the rusting 550-gallon oil tank in a 1950s front yard is usually invisible to every database. Finding those takes the steps below.

Step 2 — Ask the local fire marshal and building department

Tank installations and removals have required local permits for decades. The building department's permit history for the address will often show an "oil tank abandonment," "UST removal," or "tank fill in place" permit — proof a tank existed, and a paper trail of what was done with it. The fire marshal (or fire prevention bureau) frequently holds the older records, because tanks were historically a fire-code matter before they became an environmental one. A phone call or a public-records request costs nothing; in most towns the counter clerk can pull the file while you wait.

Step 3 — Read the property itself

Physical evidence finds unregistered residential tanks better than any database. Walk the property and look for:

• Fill and vent pipes: a 2-inch capped pipe flush with the ground or poking out of a flowerbed, and a smaller mushroom-capped vent pipe against the foundation. These are the classic signs of a buried heating-oil tank.
• Copper lines in the basement: a pair of small copper supply lines entering the basement wall below grade, often near an old furnace location, even if the furnace is now gas.
• An oil-fired past: a chimney thimble patch, an oil-stained boiler-room floor, or a converted burner. If the house ever heated with oil and there is no above-ground tank, the oil lived somewhere.
• Ground clues: a rectangular depression or a patch of concrete or asphalt that does not match the rest of the yard, especially within 10 feet of the foundation.

Sellers' disclosure forms in many states (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut among them) ask directly about underground tanks — read the answer carefully, and note that "unknown" is not "no."

Step 4 — When the clues stack up, scan

A private tank-sweep company will scan a typical residential lot with a magnetometer and ground-penetrating radar for roughly $200–$500. That is the definitive answer for unregistered tanks, and it is still a fraction of what an unexpected leaking tank costs — cleanups for a residential oil-tank release routinely run $10,000–$100,000+ when soil and groundwater are involved. If you are buying, make the sweep a condition of the contract in oil-heat country.

What the free records actually tell you

When TankCheck (or the state registry) does show a facility near your address, read three things: the tank status (open means in service; closed means removed or filled in place), the substance (gasoline and diesel at old service stations are the common groundwater risks), and any release records. A release with status "No Further Action" was investigated and closed by the state; an open release is an active cleanup case, and its plume map is a public record you can request from the state program. Distance matters enormously — contamination risk falls off quickly beyond a few hundred feet — which is why the screening weights everything by distance bands.

Frequently asked questions

Are home heating-oil tanks in the EPA database?

Usually not. Residential heating-oil tanks under 1,100 gallons are exempt from federal UST registration in nearly every state, so they rarely appear in EPA's UST Finder. Registered tanks are mostly commercial: gas stations, fleet yards, schools, hospitals. For a house, combine the records check with physical inspection and, if clues stack up, a $200–$500 tank sweep.

Is the EPA UST Finder data current?

The national layer is a snapshot compiled from state registries between 2018 and 2021. Tanks change slowly, but new installations, removals, and new leak cases since then may be missing. Treat it as a screening layer and verify anything material with the state UST program office, which holds the live record.

What does a 'closed' tank mean — is it gone?

Closed means the tank was taken out of service under the rules of the day: either removed from the ground or cleaned and filled in place with sand or slurry. A properly closed tank with a clean closure report is a low risk. Ask the state file whether soil samples were taken at closure — older closures sometimes predate sampling requirements.