Effective July 1, 2009, responsibility for administering the UST registration and compliance inspection provisions of the Massachusetts UST Program was transferred from the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services (DFS) to DEP.
The transfer of responsibility, authorized by the state legislature, also gives DEP is responsibility for the state UST inventory.
If you are the owner of an existing registered tank, the primary change affecting you is that you will need to send your annual Third Party UST Inspection Form to DEP instead of DFS. You will not need to re-register your USTs with DEP. However, if you install a new tank or remove a tank, you must obtain the required permits and approvals from your local fire department-this requirement remains unchanged. You should also continue to report leaking tanks to DEP's Bureau of Waste.
The DFS forms that should now be submitted to DEP are available below:
DEP requires that you have your tanks inspected by a third-party inspector once every 3 years-at your own expense. The deadline for completing the third-party inspection is August 2010.