Privacy Statement

Eligibility Requirements:

• Abandoned Tank(s)
   
• Lender
   
  • Eligibility Requirements: Certificate of Eligibility
     
  • Certificate of Eligibility - Petroleum Tank Status Sheet
     
• Property Owner
   
• Waiver of $10,000 Deductible

Abandoned Tanks(s)

To establish reimbursement eligibility as a tank owner, tank operator, or property owner who bears no responsibility for the release when an abandoned tank is involved [§8-20.5-206(3)(b) or §8-20.5- 303(3)(b) CRS], you must be able to demonstrate each of the following:

1. You did not install petroleum storage tanks on the property.
    
2. You never operated petroleum storage tanks on the property.
    
3. You never leased tanks on the property to another person for operation.
    
4. You had no reason to know a release had occurred on the site when you acquired it.
    
5. You discovered the petroleum contamination after December 22, 1988.
    
6. The contamination originated from the abandoned petroleum storage tanks on the site.
    
7. You had no reason to know the tank existed on the site when you acquired the property.

Certain documents are required to support a request for eligibility as a property owner. Please submit:

1. Copy of the deed showing when you acquired the property.
    
2. Enclosed Affidavit: Abandoned Tanks, signed before a notary public.
    
3. Copy of any lease(s) whereby you leased the property to another person.
    
4. A brief chronology describing the circumstances under which you acquired the property, whether a site assessment was performed prior to your acquisition of the property, and how and when you found the abandoned tank(s) and the petroleum contamination.

Return to top.

Lender

To establish eligibility for reimbursement from the Petroleum Storage Tank Fund as a lender who bears no responsibility for the release [§8-20.5-206(3)(d), (e) or §8-20.5-303(3)(d),(e) CRS], please submit the following information and documentation:

1. The Affidavit: Lender form, completed and signed before a notary public.
    
2. A copy of the original loan and any reassignment(s) of that loan. The original loan document must show the date of the loan.
    
3. A copy of the foreclosure document or deed in lieu of foreclosure.
    
4. If tanks were not present on the property at the time you acquired it via foreclosure or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, evidence that tanks were present on the property at one time.
    
5. A brief chronology of events related to the site history, when the lender acquired the property via foreclosure or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, and when the tanks and/or contamination was found.
    
6. If the lender acquired the property through a merger, appropriate documentation verifying the merger.
    
7. If the original loan was dated after September 30, 1995, a copy of the Certificate of Eligibility issued by the Division of Oil and Public Safety of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

Note: The Certificate of Eligibility must have been issued before the lender acquired the property via foreclosure or a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Return to top.

Property Owner

To establish reimbursement eligibility as a property owner who bears no responsibility for the release [§8- 20.5-206(3)(a) or §8-20.5-303(3)(a) CRS], you must be able to demonstrate each of the following:

1. You acquired the property no later than June 3, 1992.
    
2. You did not install petroleum storage tanks on the property.
    
3. You never operated petroleum storage tanks on the property.
    
4. You never leased tanks on the property to another person for operation.
    
5. You had no reason to know a release had occurred on the site when you acquired it.
    
6. You discovered the petroleum contamination after December 22, 1988.
    
7. The contamination originated from petroleum storage tanks on the site.

Certain documents are required to support a request for eligibility as a property owner. Please submit:

1. Copy of the deed showing when you acquired the property.
    
2. Enclosed Affidavit: Property Owner, signed before a notary public.

   Note: If you acquired the property by inheritance, request the Affidavit: Property Owner (Inherited Property) form.
    

3. Copy of any lease(s) whereby you leased the property to another person.
    
4. If tanks are no longer present on the property, evidence that tanks were present at one time.
    
5. A brief chronology describing the circumstances under which you acquired the property, whether a site assessment was performed before the acquisition, and how and when you discovered the contamination.

Return to top.

Waiver of $10,000 Deductible

Certain tank owners or operators are not required to pay the first $10,000 of remediation expenses. [See §8-20.5-206(II) CRS] To establish eligibility for waiver of the $10,000 deductible, you must be able to demonstrate each of the following:

1. You discovered petroleum contamination while upgrading underground storage tanks to meet the December 22, 1998, deadline for corrosion protection, spill and overfill prevention, or monthly monitoring.
    
2. You completed the upgrade no later than December 22, 1997, one year earlier than required.
    
3. The annual throughput of petroleum products at the site does not exceed 600,000 gallons during the year preceding the discovery of contamination.

Certain documents are required to support a request for waiver of the $10,000 deductible. Please submit:

1. Enclosed Affidavit: Waiver of $10,000 Deductible, signed before a notary public.
    
2. Installation Inspection sheet verifying upgrade was completed by December 22, 1997.
    
3. Sales records for 12 months immediately preceding discovery of contamination.

Return to top.

Definitions

"Abandoned tank," as defined by §8-20.1-101(1) CRS, is a petroleum storage tank "that the current tank owner or operator or current property owner did not install, has never operated or leased to another for operation, and had no reason to know was present on the site at the time of site acquisition."

"Reason to know" includes by personal knowledge or observation, representations by the seller or any other person, environmental assessments, reports, or any other means that there had ever been a release of petroleum product on this site.

"Release" means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching, or disposing of a regulated substance from an underground storage tank into groundwater, surface water, or subsurface soils. [§8-20-502(8) CRS]

"Upgrade" means upgrading the existing UST, or replacing the existing UST with a new UST or AST that meets all upgrade requirements. "Upgrade" does not mean closing the existing UST – either in place or by removal – and not replacing it.