BUREAU OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK REGULATIONS (BUSTR)
Welcome to the Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations (BUSTR), a bureau
of the State of Ohio Fire Marshal’s office.
The regulation of underground storage tanks is a federally mandated program. On
March 30, 1987, the State Fire Marshal created BUSTR to develop the underground
storage tank program and to administer the federal Leaking Underground Storage Tank
Trust Fund. BUSTR is financed through a combination a federal grants in combination
with annual registration fees and permit fees.
BUSTR’s mission is to effectively regulate the safe operation of underground storage
tanks and to ensure appropriate investigation and cleanup of releases from underground
storage tanks for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment for
the citizens of Ohio.
The goal of BUSTR is to assure the rules by which the bureau operates under are
followed by owners and operators. This is accomplished through “Compliance” to attempt
to assure owner and operators are educated on the processes of underground storage
tank regulations, “Correction” to make reasonable attempts to assist owner and operators
to come back into rule compliance and “Enforcement” to assure compliance for those
owner and operators that do not come into rule compliance.
The Bureau presently consists of 30 employees and performs the following:
- Conducts inspections of permitted work on underground storage tanks.
- Performs operational compliance inspections to ensure underground storage tanks
are operating properly and thus preventing releases into the environment.
- Receives and reviews reports of releases and suspected releases, and oversees all
immediate response, assessment and cleanup activities.
- Responds to public record requests for environmental information about properties
containing or formerly containing underground storage tanks.
- Administers enforcement of BUSTR regulations.