Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§6991k Delivery Prohibition

Title 42 › CHAPTER 82 — SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL › SUBCHAPTER IX — REGULATION OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS › § 6991k

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Starting 2 years after August 8, 2005, it is illegal to deliver, put into, or accept a regulated substance into an underground storage tank at any facility that the Administrator or a State implementing agency has listed as ineligible. Within 1 year after August 8, 2005, the Administrator must publish guidelines, made with States and industry, that explain how to decide which sites are ineligible, how to tell tank owners and fuel suppliers, how a site can become eligible again, and how to identify the geographic areas covered. States that get money under this law must follow those procedures. A person is not breaking the rule if they did not receive the notice required by the guidelines. The Administrator or a State may, for up to 180 days after a decision, choose not to treat a tank as ineligible if doing so would harm fuel access in rural or remote areas, unless the Administrator determines there is an urgent public health threat. This does not stop a State from banning deliveries on its own.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §6991k

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Requirements
(1)Prohibition of delivery or deposit
Beginning 2 years after August 8, 2005, it shall be unlawful to deliver to, deposit into, or accept a regulated substance into an underground storage tank at a facility which has been identified by the Administrator or a State implementing agency to be ineligible for such delivery, deposit, or acceptance.
(2)Guidance
Within 1 year after August 8, 2005, the Administrator shall, in consultation with the States, underground storage tank owners, and product delivery industries, publish guidelines detailing the specific processes and procedures they will use to implement the provisions of this section. The processes and procedures include, at a minimum—
(A)the criteria for determining which underground storage tank facilities are ineligible for delivery, deposit, or acceptance of a regulated substance;
(B)the mechanisms for identifying which facilities are ineligible for delivery, deposit, or acceptance of a regulated substance to the underground storage tank owning and fuel delivery industries;
(C)the process for reclassifying ineligible facilities as eligible for delivery, deposit, or acceptance of a regulated substance;
(D)one or more processes for providing adequate notice to underground storage tank owners and operators and supplier industries that an underground storage tank has been determined to be ineligible for delivery, deposit, or acceptance of a regulated substance; and
(E)a delineation of, or a process for determining, the specified geographic areas subject to paragraph (4).
(3)Compliance
States that receive funding under this subchapter shall, at a minimum, comply with the processes and procedures published under paragraph (2).
(4)Consideration
(A)Rural and remote areas
Subject to subparagraph (B), the Administrator or a State may consider not treating an underground storage tank as ineligible for delivery, deposit, or acceptance of a regulated substance if such treatment would jeopardize the availability of, or access to, fuel in any rural and remote areas unless an urgent threat to public health, as determined by the Administrator, exists.
(B)Applicability
Subparagraph (A) shall apply only during the 180-day period following the date of a determination by the Administrator or the appropriate State under subparagraph (A).
(b)Effect on State authority
Nothing in this section shall affect or preempt the authority of a State to prohibit the delivery, deposit, or acceptance of a regulated substance to an underground storage tank.
(c)Defense to violation
A person shall not be in violation of subsection (a)(1) if the person has not been provided with notice pursuant to subsection (a)(2)(D) of the ineligibility of a facility for delivery, deposit, or acceptance of a regulated substance as determined by the Administrator or a State, as appropriate, under this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2006—Subsec. (a)(2)(D). Pub. L. 109–168 substituted “of a regulated” for “or a regulated”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 6991k

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110