Fuel storage tanks and environmental approvals — Newfoundland and Labrador

Fuel storage in Newfoundland and Labrador is regulated by the province. The Environmental Protection Act, SNL2002 c. E-14.2, is the base statute, and the Storage and Handling of Gasoline and Associated Products Regulations, 2003 (NLR 58/03) are made under it. For someone buying a business with a tank on site, such as a service station, a bulk plant or any operation that keeps fuel for its own use, that means a provincial registration record, provincial duties when a tank leaks or goes out of use, and a provincial process for contaminated land. This guide sets out what those sources say and where the buyer’s questions sit. It cannot say whether a particular tank complies. That takes the registration record, the test reports and a qualified professional’s review of the site.

What the regulations cover

The regulations deal with gasoline and “associated products”, defined as petroleum or a derivative of it, other than gasoline, that is liquid at ambient temperature and pressure. A “storage tank system” is an atmospheric or low-pressure closed tank with its vents and its fill and withdrawal piping, installed in a fixed location, and the definition includes temporary arrangements on cradles or skids. A “service station” is premises where gasoline or associated products are sold and are put into the fuel tanks of motor vehicles, watercraft or portable containers. The regulations also exempt aboveground and underground systems at or below a capacity they set that are connected to a heating appliance, so check each tank’s capacity and use against that exemption. The department’s petroleum storage page adds that the systems it regulates include residential and commercial heating oil storage tank systems and licenses heating oil storage tank system inspectors, so ask which set of rules applies to each tank at the site.

Registration attaches to the work and the operation

The regulations say a person shall not construct, install, alter or operate a storage tank system unless that construction, installation, alteration or operation is registered under the regulations. They also bar operating, filling or causing a system to be filled when its operation is not registered under section 13, with transitional wording for systems already operating when the section came into force. Because registration is tied to the work and the operation, a buyer should ask what is registered, who is named, and whether any alteration since the original registration is covered. The department’s petroleum storage page lists a heading for requests for confirmation of registration, so start there when asking how to obtain one.

Leaks, idle tanks and abandoned systems

The regulations define the “owner” of a system as the person with possessory rights to it and care, control or management of it. Despite the heating-appliance exemption in section 3, an owner or operator shall not directly or indirectly cause pollution of the soil or water by causing, suffering or permitting leakage or spillage of gasoline or an associated product from a storage tank system or vehicle. Where a system has been or will be out of use for more than 6 months, or another period the minister designates, the Storage and Handling of Gasoline and Associated Products Regulations require the liquid and vapours to be removed from the tank, connected piping and dispensing facilities. Under the Storage and Handling of Gasoline and Associated Products Regulations, a system is “abandoned” if it has been in disuse for more than 12 consecutive months or the owner or minister declares it abandoned. For an abandoned underground system, or one known not to be used again, the Storage and Handling of Gasoline and Associated Products Regulations require the owner, within 30 days, to empty it of all liquid and vapours, and further steps follow. Under the Storage and Handling of Gasoline and Associated Products Regulations, the owner or operator must complete and submit a test result report within 30 days of completing testing, in the manner and form the minister requires.

Contaminated sites and who answers for them

Under the Act, where the minister is of the opinion that a substance that may cause, is causing or has caused an adverse effect is present in an area of the environment, the minister may designate it a contaminated site. The Act’s definition of a person responsible for a contaminated site includes a person responsible for the substance, the owner, occupier or operator of the site, and a previous owner, occupier or operator at the time of the release, along with the successors, assignees, executors, administrators, receivers, receiver-managers and trustees of those persons. The Act also limits the responsibility of some representatives, such as receivers and trustees, and sets conditions on when a secured creditor is responsible, so read those provisions for the facts. The contaminated sites provisions apply regardless of when the substance became present. A person responsible for a contaminated site shall submit to the minister an environmental site assessment and a remedial action plan, and the Act says an order issued under its orders Part is binding on the heirs, successors, executors, administrators, trustees, receivers, receiver managers and assigns of the person to whom it is directed. How these rules reach a buyer of shares or of assets is a legal question, which who is liable if an underground oil tank is discovered after closing begins to explore.

What the department can tell a purchaser

The department’s Impacted Sites Management Section conducts searches of its files for property owners and purchasers and for their environmental consultants, lawyers and realtors. It reviews private and provincially owned impacted sites against the provincial Guidance Document for the Management of Impacted Sites, and site assessment and remediation are completed by a Site Professional as that guidance outlines. A file search shows what the department holds, not the condition of the ground, so it sits alongside an environmental site assessment rather than replacing one. The gas station buyer checklist shows where tank questions fall in a wider review.

• Ask for the registration record for every tank system, and ask the department how to request confirmation of registration.
• Ask what each tank holds, what it is connected to and its capacity, since the regulations above cover gasoline and associated products but exempt some smaller tanks connected to a heating appliance.
• Ask for test result reports and for any leak, closure notice or upgrade history, and confirm whether reports were filed in the form the minister requires.
• Ask whether any tank has been out of use or abandoned, and what was done to empty it, seal it or remove it.
• Ask for the department’s file search for the property and whether the minister has designated any part of it a contaminated site.