Fuel storage tanks and environmental approvals in Alberta

A business that stores fuel on site, such as a farm, a trucking yard, a bulk dealer or a service station, brings two separate Alberta regimes into a sale. One concerns the tank system itself: permits, inspections and records under the safety codes. The other concerns the environment: duties when a substance is released, who can be ordered to clean it up, and the approvals and certificates the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA) provides for. A buyer who checks only one of them can miss the other. This guide sets out what each regime says and where the two meet in due diligence, without assuming any particular site has a problem.

The tank system and the Safety Codes Council

The Alberta Safety Codes Council says the Storage Tank System division of the Alberta Safety Codes Authority (ASCA), part of the Council, provides storage tank services for municipalities that do not provide their own, and that in unaccredited areas compliance is verified through permitting and inspection under the adopted safety codes. Its Where To Get A Permit tool identifies which authority serves a given municipality. For a buyer, the first question is therefore who the authority is for the site. The Council also says owners of storage tank systems must contact the local authority having jurisdiction or the ASCA about the enrolment process for the inventory control requirements that maintain the tank’s certification. Its list of storage tank services includes a form to report a change of owner or operator, so ask the authority whether one is needed at closing.

Using, filling and removing tanks

The Council’s page quotes two rules from Article 2.2.5.2 of Division C of the National Fire Code – 2023 Alberta Edition. No person shall use or fill a storage tank unless they verify with the authority having jurisdiction that the tank meets that jurisdiction’s requirements. No person shall install, remove or abandon a storage tank or tank system before contacting the authority having jurisdiction (or the ASCA in unaccredited areas) to ensure the fire code and any permit requirements are met. Ask the seller for the permits, the verification and any inventory control enrolment for each tank, and for evidence of the authority’s contact before any tank was removed or abandoned. A tank with no paper trail is a question to put to the authority, not a point to assume away.

Searching a property’s tank history

The Council offers a Search for Storage Tanks service, which it describes as historical record searches for tanks located at a specific property. Order it for the site address, and ask the Council what its records cover. Compare the result to what the seller says is there and to what a site visit shows. For the wider picture, see what environmental checks you need and who is liable if an underground oil tank turns up after closing.

Releases, and who is a person responsible

Under section 110 of the EPEA, a person who releases or causes or permits the release of a substance into the environment that may cause, is causing or has caused an adverse effect must, as soon as they know or ought to know of it, report it to the Director and the other persons section 110(1) lists. Section 112 puts a duty to take remedial measures on the person responsible for the substance, and section 113 lets the Director issue an environmental protection order to that person, subject to section 113(2), which limits orders for releases expressly authorized by and in compliance with an approval, code of practice, registration or the regulations, unless in the Director’s opinion the adverse effect was not reasonably foreseeable. The Act’s definition of person responsible includes the owner and a previous owner, every person who has or has had charge, management or control, and any successor, assignee, executor, administrator, receiver, receiver-manager or trustee of those persons, among others; the definition also excludes some persons, such as a municipality in respect of certain land and a person who investigates or tests a parcel to determine its environmental condition, unless that work releases a new or additional substance or aggravates the effect of a release. A buyer who takes over a site with a tank should ask a lawyer how that definition applies to the deal structure.

Approvals and transfer terms

If the business holds an approval or registration under the Act for its activity, section 75 provides that no person shall transfer, sell, lease, assign or otherwise dispose of it except in accordance with the regulations, and that the Director may impose terms and conditions on the transfer. Section 76 requires the holder to submit to the Director forthwith any new and relevant information about actual or potential adverse effects of the activity that comes to its attention after the approval or registration is issued. Ask the seller whether any approval or registration exists, what it covers, and what the Director would require to transfer it. If none exists, ask why the seller believes none is needed, and confirm that with the regulator.

Remediation certificates and what they close

Alberta says remediation certificates are awarded for completed remediation projects to give regulatory liability closure, in two voluntary types: a limited certificate for an area and a site-based certificate for the entire site. Section 117 lets the Director or an inspector issue one where a release has occurred, has caused or may cause an adverse effect, and remediation was carried out in accordance with any applicable approval, an environmental protection order, the directions of an inspector or the Director, or the Act, and section 117(5) allows cancellation if it was issued in error or its terms or conditions are not complied with. Under section 118, once one is issued, no environmental protection order requiring further work on the same release of the same substance may be issued after the date set under the regulations, and section 119 says issuing one does not affect any person’s obligation to obtain a reclamation certificate under the Act. Alberta notes that a Tier 2 Compliance Letter, available where an assessed site meets its Tier 2 guidelines and remediation is not required, gives administrative closure but not that protective closure, and that upstream oil and gas sites are reviewed by the Alberta Energy Regulator.

• Tank permits, the authority’s verification and any inventory control enrolment for each tank on site.
• The result of a Search for Storage Tanks for the address, compared against what the seller discloses.
• Any EPEA approval or registration, its conditions, and the Director’s terms for transferring it.
• Past release reports, orders, Tier 2 compliance letters and remediation certificates, with the exact area each covers.
• Whether the sale is of shares or assets, and who becomes the owner or person in charge of each tank at closing.