House panel adopts technical changes to Petroleum Storage Tank program, allows limited transfers to orphan-site cleanup fund

The Utah House Revenue and Taxation Committee on an unspecified date unanimously approved House Bill 18, the Petroleum Storage Tank Amendments, after adopting a first substitute and a technical amendment that align treatment of above-ground petroleum storage tanks (APSTs) with underground storage tanks (USTs) and create limited authority to transfer money for orphan-site cleanup.

The bill’s sponsor, Representative Eliason, told the committee the state created the Petroleum Storage Tank Fund decades ago to comply with federal rules requiring financial assurance for petroleum storage tanks, and that the fund is now actuarially sound. "This bill does not do anything to raise fees or taxes in this realm," Eliason said during the hearing.

Committee members and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) staff described HB 18 as largely clean-up language to make regulatory processes consistent between USTs and APSTs and to expand loan eligibility and cleanup authority for above-ground operators. Brent Everett, director of the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation at DEQ, described the measure as a follow-up to 2021’s SB 40 and said the department wants to make loans available for APST infrastructure upgrades and to allow the legislature to transfer limited PST fund reserves to address orphan sites — contaminated properties where no responsible owner remains to fund cleanup. "This bill is in response to SB 40," Everett said. "We think it’s appropriate to make that loan fund available to above-ground petroleum storage tank owner-operators."

DEQ staff and the sponsor discussed fund health, actuarial reviews and the surcharge that feeds the PST fund. Committee members asked whether the current surcharge — described in testimony as 0.065 of a cent per gallon (roughly a fraction of a penny per gallon) and tiered by facility risk profile — is sufficient; DEQ said actuarial reports show the fund is currently sound and that the surcharge has been revised previously to reflect facility risk. DEQ noted the fund balance and multi-year intake and expense variability; the department estimated average annual revenue in recent years in the low millions and said expenses previously exceeded intake before the surcharge and risk-tier changes improved the fund’s outlook.

Under the bill, the PST statutory cap on the cleanup fund the legislature may maintain would be raised from $50 million to $60 million to account for expected releases tied to APSTs over the coming decade; the bill also clarifies eligibility deadlines and fixes ambiguous language in the original draft (for example, replacing an unclear "no later than 30 days after the first install of the year" phrase with a fixed date). Committee discussion emphasized the bill’s technical nature; sponsors said the sub and amendment are intended to provide clarity and administrative flexibility without changing fee levels. "We had noticed...a couple of words left out that provided clarity," a sponsor explained when describing the amendment.

The committee adopted the substitute, approved a correcting amendment, and then moved HB 18 out of committee with a favorable recommendation. Committee members cast unanimous aye votes during recorded voice votes.

The bill’s formal actions in committee consisted of adoption of a first substitute, adoption of House Amendment 1 to the substitute, and a motion to pass HB 18 favorably as substituted and amended. No increase to the surcharge or new taxes were enacted in committee.

Looking ahead, the bill’s changes are administrative and regulatory in scope and are intended to facilitate DEQ’s implementation of prior legislation while preserving the PST fund’s actuarial soundness and providing an option to use fund reserves for orphan-site remediation if authorized by the legislature and justified by actuarial review.