Underground storage tank financial responsibility minimum coverage amounts
Owners and operators of petroleum underground storage tanks (USTs) must prove they can cover the cost of corrective action and third-party damage from a release, in specific dollar amounts set by federal regulation and, in some states, by an alternative state-run mechanism. 40 CFR 280.93 sets the federal baseline: $1 million per occurrence for petroleum marketers, $500,000 for other owners, scaling to $2 million annual aggregate for owners of more than 100 tanks. States can adopt these amounts directly (Florida's own DEP quick-guide reproduces the identical figures) or substitute their own compliance route (California lets an owner use the state UST Cleanup Fund as the mechanism, which caps what the Fund pays and leaves a much smaller amount to be carried privately, sized by the claimant's priority class). Each record is one coverage tier: the dollar amount, whether it is a per-occurrence limit, an annual aggregate or a deductible, who it applies to, and the source section, quoted verbatim. Answers 'how much UST insurance coverage do I need', 'what financial responsibility amount applies to my tanks', 'does my state require more than the federal minimum'.
The data
| Coverage tier / owner category | Jurisdiction | Basis | Amount | Condition or mechanism | Source citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a claimant meets the qualifications of paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 25299.52 | California | annual aggregate | five thousand dollars ($5,000) | annual aggregate coverage for taking corrective action | California Code, HSC 25299.32 |
| a claimant meets the qualifications of paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 25299.52 | California | annual aggregate | ten thousand dollars ($10,000) | annual aggregate coverage for taking corrective action | California Code, HSC 25299.32 |
| owners or operators of 1 to 100 petroleum underground storage tanks | Federal | annual aggregate | $1 million | 40 CFR 280.93 | |
| owners or operators of 101 or more petroleum underground storage tanks | Federal | annual aggregate | $2 million | 40 CFR 280.93 | |
| the number of petroleum underground storage tanks for which assurance must be provided exceeds 100 | Federal | annual aggregate | $2 million | by the anniversary of the date on which the mechanism demonstrating financial responsibility became effective | 40 CFR 280.93 |
| Petroleum Marketers | Florida | annual aggregate | $2 Million for more than 100 Tanks | AST & UST Quick Guide | |
| On and after January 1, 2035, an owner or operator of a tank for which a permit that is issued pursuant to Section 25284 is in effect | California | shall not use the fund as a mechanism to demonstrate compliance with the financial responsibility requirements of Sections 25292.2 and 25299.31 and with the federal act | California Code, HSC 25299.32 | ||
| Claimants who comply after December 22, 1998 | California | deductible | in no event less than $20,000 | must pay a deductible that is four times the amount that would otherwise apply to the claim, but in no event less than $20,000 | Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund FAQs |
| Claimants who comply on or before December 22, 1998 | California | deductible | in no event less than $10,000 | must pay twice the amount of deductible that would otherwise apply to the claim, but in no event less than $10,000 | Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund FAQs |
| The amounts of assurance required under this section exclude legal defense costs | Federal | The required per-occurrence and annual aggregate coverage amounts do not in any way limit the liability of the owner or operator. | 40 CFR 280.93 | ||
| a claim filed on or after January 1, 2015 | California | per occurrence | one million dollars ($1,000,000) | the board may only pay for the costs of a corrective action that exceed the level of financial responsibility required to be obtained pursuant to Section 25299.32 | California Code, HSC 25299.57 |
| a claim filed on or before December 31, 2014 | California | per occurrence | one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) | the board may only pay for the costs of a corrective action that exceed the level of financial responsibility required to be obtained pursuant to Section 25299.32 | California Code, HSC 25299.57 |
| a claimant meets the qualifications of paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 25299.52 | California | per occurrence | five thousand dollars ($5,000) | the level of financial responsibility required to be obtained pursuant to Section 25299.31 | California Code, HSC 25299.32 |
| a claimant meets the qualifications of paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 25299.52 | California | per occurrence | ten thousand dollars ($10,000) | the level of financial responsibility required to be obtained pursuant to Section 25299.31 | California Code, HSC 25299.32 |
| all other owners or operators of petroleum underground storage tanks | Federal | per occurrence | $500,000 | 40 CFR 280.93 | |
| located at petroleum marketing facilities, or that handle an average of more than 10,000 gallons of petroleum per month | Federal | per occurrence | $1 million | 40 CFR 280.93 | |
| Petroleum Marketers | Florida | per occurrence | $1 Million | AST & UST Quick Guide |
Where this came from
Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 5 sources this dataset was assembled from.
- leginfo.legislature.ca.govhttps://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=25299.32
- ecfr.govhttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-I/part-280/subpart-H/section-280.93
- floridadep.govhttps://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/STFR_QuickGuide2018.pdf
- waterboards.ca.govhttps://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ustcf/faqs/
- leginfo.legislature.ca.govhttps://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=25299.57
Machine-readable
- data.jsonThe whole dataset — every record with its source URL and source quote.
- Open Knowledge Format bundleOne JSON object per line — every record's frontmatter and quoted span exactly as it is held here, in one fetch.
- How this is made and checkedWhat "verified against source" does and does not mean.
From your own code
Same records, same quotes, without scraping the page: refsource is on PyPI and npm. Each value comes back carrying the URL it was read from and the sentence on that page that states it — .source and .quote sit on the value itself rather than in a side channel, so the checking step is available instead of skipped.
pip install refsource
refsource lookup ust-financial-responsibility-minimum-coverage jurisdiction=California
npx -y refsource lookup ust-financial-responsibility-minimum-coverage jurisdiction=California