Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ust Cleanup Fund topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State Water Board briefed on near‑complete single‑wall UST closures, GeoTracker rollout and funding shift to SCAP
Summary
Board staff reported the UST Cleanup Fund is modernizing application systems (GeoTracker), implementing Chapter 16 UST rules, and recommending 100% of the three‑mill allocation to the Site Cleanup Subaccount (SCAP) as single‑wall tank closures wind down; presenters said single‑wall closures are ~99.8% complete and the program is monitoring potential new cleanup needs.
State Water Resources Control Board staff on May 5 described major operational changes and recent accomplishments in the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Cleanup Fund program, including near‑complete single‑wall tank closures, a GeoTracker application portal rollout, and a recommended funding allocation shift to the Site Cleanup Subaccount (SCAP).
"As of earlier today, we're 99.8% complete closures for the state," said Steven McMasters, section lead for cleanup programs in the Division of Water Quality, describing the program's work to close legacy single‑wall USTs following the statutory deadline. He said only 29 single‑wall facilities and 82 single‑wall systems remained at the time of the briefing.
Adrian Bettis, UST Cleanup Fund Branch Manager (Division of Financial Assistance), said the fund reimburses eligible cleanup costs from a 2‑cent‑per‑gallon petroleum storage fee and noted recent upticks in applications tied to single‑wall tank removals. Bettis summarized program modernization efforts: updating cost guidelines on a biennial schedule, moving grant management to SharePoint, and transitioning the UST application to a GeoTracker portal to reduce paper and review times.
Staff outlined companion initiatives: the expedited claim account (E‑CAP) that closed 179 stalled cases to date; the orphan site cleanup fund, which completed 44 agreements in FY 2025–26; and an ongoing PFAS sampling planning effort at a subset of UST facilities.
DFA staff proposed allocating 100% of the —three mills— (the statutory per‑gallon mills) to SCAP for the coming fiscal year, citing declining application volume for small UST grants after the single‑wall deadline and a backlog of 446 SCAP applications awaiting funding. Bettis said projected three‑mills revenue for the year would be roughly $43 million and that program revenue and repayments are reducing near‑term demand on UST funding.
The board praised the long‑term trend toward fewer open cleanup cases but asked staff to coordinate with sister agencies on redevelopment decisions to avoid becoming a bottleneck. Board members also highlighted environmental justice analysis showing a large share of closed and open UST sites are located in high CalEnviroScreen burden areas and asked staff to continue disaggregated reporting by regional board.
What to watch: the GeoTracker application portal and biennial cost guideline updates (next scheduled at the start of the next fiscal year), the board staff recommendation to allocate three mills to SCAP, and midsummer reporting on newly identified releases from recent single‑wall removals.
Ending: staff said they will continue to refine the application portal, coordinate with regional boards on redevelopment and residential suitability decisions, and report back on single‑wall closure impacts and any emerging cleanup workload.
