Q. When are annual tank fees billed each year?: A. Annual fees are billed each year on July 1.
Q. When are annual fees due each year?: A. Annual fees are due each year on July 30th or 30 days from the billing date. This depends on if you are billed on the regular July 1 annual billing or if you have registered new tanks any other time during the year. Whichever occurs, tanks fees are due 30 days from the billing date.
Q. What are tank fees for?: A. Annual fees are required each year in order for you to operate your facility. An example is that you must pay for a drivers license to operate a car, and in essence you need to pay your annual fees to operate your facility.
Q. What capacity size aboveground storage tanks must be registered?: A. Aboveground storage tanks must be 1,320 gallons through 40,000 gallons to register tanks. Tanks smaller than 1,320 gallons and more than 40,000 gallons are exempt from registration.
Q. Since I stopped using my underground storage tanks, do I still have to pay fees?: A. When you stop using your underground storage tanks, you must continue to pay fees during the billing period. The tanks must be placed in temporary closure, allowing you one year to to have the tanks removed.
Q. Are aboveground and underground tanks billed on the same invoice?: A. Underground and aboveground tanks are billed on separate invoices. If you look at the top right hand corner of the invoice ABT indicates aboveground tanks and TKS indicates underground tanks.
Q. Who is responsible for annual tanks fees, the owner or operator?: A. Regulation 12 reads owner/operator, meaning that whoever signed the registration form is responsible for the tanks. Most generally, the owner is the responsible party, however if the owner and operator have made an agreement on this clause and the operator has registered the tanks, then the operator would be responsible for the fees.
Q. When an underground tank is removed and replaced with a new tank, do I have to pay annual fees on the old tanks and again on the new tank?: A. When a tank is remove and replaced with another tank, you must pay fees on both tanks. It doesn't matter if the tank was in the ground one day or 356 days of the billing cycle, which is July 1 through June 30 of the following year. You are responsible for each tank, not the site where the tank is located in the ground.
Q. Do my fees pay for my registration certificate?: A. Your annual fees do not pay for your registration certificate, they are entirely separate entities. Annual fees allow you to operate you facility. The registration certificate allows you to purchase or sell petroleum products, without which you or your distributor may each be fined up to $10,000 per day.
Q. When a facility is sold to a new owner, who is responsible for paying annual fees?: A. The original owner must pay annual fees before the property is sold. The new owner must pay to have the tanks registered in their name, therefore both parties must pay fees.
Q. When I register my tanks do I send the annual fees in with the registration form?: A. To expedite paper work, you can send your tank fee money in with your registration form. If the registration form is sent in without tank fees, ADEQ will register your tanks and bill you for the registration fees. This procedure takes longer to process.
Q. What is the billing period for annual fees?: A. The billing period for annual fees is July 1 thought June 30 of the following year.
Q. When a late letter is mailed out, how long do we have to pay the fee?: A. When a late letter is mailed out with the assessed past due fee, you have 30 days to make the payment.
Q. Why did I not get a new registration certificate this year, but instead got a label to put on my certificate?: A. ADEQ is not issuing new registration certificates, instead they are sending labels with the current coverage year on it to be placed on the certificate you now have in your possession. This label should be placed in an easily viewed area on certificate.
Q. Why is a registration certificate issued?: A. A registration certificate allows you to sell or purchase petroleum products, without the tank owner or oil distributor being in violation with the possibility of being fined up to $10,000 per day each.
Q. Who regulates the Underground Storage Tank Program?: A. ADEQ, Regulated Storage Tank Division, regulates, operates, enforces, bills and receives tank fees for the UST program.
Q. Who regulates the Aboveground Storage Tank Program?: A. State Police, the State Fire Marshall regulates, operates, and enforces the AST program. ADEQ Regulated Storage Tank Division bills and receives tank fees for the AST program.

The contact person for regulated aboveground tanks is Lt. Lindsey Williams, State Fire Marshall at State Police. His phone number is (501) 618-8624.

If you have any other questions or comments contact:

ADEQ, Regulated Storage Tank Division
Phone: (501) 682-0992 / (501) 682-0986

Registration Certificate

To receive a registration certificate, your tanks must be registered with ADEQ and your fees paid. A registration certificate is issued to allow the owner to purchase petroleum products and/or the oil distributor to sell petroleum products to the owner. Without this certificate, the owner and oil distributor could be fined up to $10,000 each per day.