OAR 340-150-0500: Reporting Suspected Releases

(1) An owner and permittee of an UST system must notify DEQ within 24 hours, or another reasonable period allowed by DEQ, and follow the procedures in OAR 340-150-0510 for any of the following conditions: (a) The discovery by any means of a regulated substance at the UST facility or in the surrounding off-site area such as, but not limited to, the presence of free product or vapors in soils, basements, sewer or utility lines or nearby surface water or release into a secondary containment area. Additionally, an owner and permittee must identify and mitigate any fire, explosion or vapor hazards at the UST facility in accordance with OAR 340-122-0220(3); or (b) Unusual operating conditions (such as, but not limited to, the erratic behavior of product dispensing equipment, the sudden loss of product from the UST system, differences or widely fluctuating water levels or an unexplained presence of water in the tank, or liquid in the interstitial space of secondarily contained systems, unless the system equipment or component is immediately tested and found to be defective, but not leaking, and is immediately repaired; or (c) For secondarily contained systems, except as provided for in OAR 340-150-0465(2)(b)(D), any liquid in an interstitial space not used as part of the interstitial monitoring method (for example, brine filled) unless the liquid is immediately removed; or (d) Monitoring results or alarms from any release detection method that indicates a release may have occurred as set forth in OAR 340-150-430 through OAR 340-150-0470, unless (A) The monitoring device is found to be defective and is immediately repaired or recalibrated and subsequent monitoring events as required by the specific release detection method do not confirm the initial result; or (B) The leak is contained in the secondary containment and, except as provided for in OAR 340-150-0465(2)(b)(D), any liquid in an interstitial space not used as part of the interstitial monitoring method (for example, brine filled) is immediately removed, or any defective system equipment or component is immediately repaired; or (C) The alarm was determined to be a non-release event (for example, from a power surge or caused by filling the tank or dispensing during release detection testing). (2) Upon receipt of a notice of a suspected release, DEQ will provide a confirmation number to the owner. An owner and permittee should reference this confirmation number when reporting the results of a suspected release investigation and confirmation under OAR 340-150-0510.