[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 26]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR281.33]

[Page 539-540]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
                           AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 281_APPROVAL OF STATE UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK PROGRAMS--Table 
of Contents
 
                Subpart C_Criteria for No-Less-Stringent
 
Sec. 281.33  Release detection.

    In order to be considered no less stringent than the corresponding 
federal requirements for release detection, the state must have 
requirements that at a minimum ensure all UST systems are provided with 
release detection that conforms to the following:
    (a) General methods. Release detection requirements for owners and 
operators must consist of a method, or combination of methods, that is:
    (1) Capable of detecting a release of the regulated substance from 
any portion of the UST system that routinely contains regulated 
substances--as effectively as any of the methods allowed under the 
federal technical standards--for as long as the UST system is in 
operation. In comparing methods, the implementing agency shall consider 
the size of release that the method can detect and the speed and 
reliability with which the release can be detected.
    (2) Designed, installed, calibrated, operated and maintained so that 
releases will be detected in accordance with the capabilities of the 
method.
    (b) Phase-in of requirements. Release detection requirements must, 
at a minimum, be scheduled to be applied at all UST systems:
    (1) Immediately when a new UST system is installed:
    (2) On an orderly schedule that completes a phase-in of release 
detection at all existing UST systems (or their closure) before December 
21, 1993, except that release detection for the piping attached to any 
existing UST that conveys a regulated substance under greater than 
atmospheric pressure must be phased-in before December 22, 1990.
    (c) Requirements for petroleum tanks. All petroleum tanks must be 
sampled, tested, or checked for releases at least monthly, except that:
    (1) New or upgraded tanks (that is, tanks and piping protected from 
releases due to corrosion and equipped with both spill and overfill 
prevention devices) may temporarily use monthly inventory control (or 
its equivalent) in combination with tightness testing (or its 
equivalent) conducted every 5 years for the first 10 years after the 
tank is installed or upgraded or until December 22, 1998, whichever is 
later; and
    (2) Existing tanks unprotected from releases due to corrosion or 
without spill and overfill prevention devices may use monthly inventory 
control (or its equivalent) in combination with annual tightness testing 
(or its equivalent) until December 22, 1998.
    (d) Requirements for petroleum piping. All underground piping 
attached to the tank that routinely conveys petroleum must conform to 
the following:
    (1) If the petroleum is conveyed under greater than atmospheric 
pressure:
    (i) The piping must be equipped with release detection that detects 
a release within an hour by restricting or shutting off flow or sounding 
an alarm; and
    (ii) The piping must have monthly monitoring applied or annual 
tightness tests conducted.
    (2) If suction lines are used:
    (i) Tightness tests must be conducted at least once every 3 years, 
unless a monthly method of detection is applied to this piping; or
    (ii) The piping is designed to allow the contents of the pipe to 
drain back into the storage tank if the suction is released and is also 
designed to allow

[[Page 540]]

an inspector to immediately determine the integrity of the piping 
system.
    (e) Requirements for hazardous substance UST systems. All UST 
systems storing hazardous substances must meet the following:
    (1) All existing hazardous substance UST systems must comply with 
all the requirements for petroleum UST systems in paragraphs (c) and (d) 
of this section and after December 22, 1998, they must comply with the 
following paragraph (e)(2) of this section.
    (2) All new hazardous substance UST systems must use interstitial 
monitoring within secondary containment of the tanks and the attached 
underground piping that conveys the regulated substance stored in the 
tank, unless the owner and operator can demonstrate to the state (or the 
state otherwise determines) that another method will detect a release of 
the regulated substance as effectively as other methods allowed under 
the state program for petroleum UST systems and that effective 
corrective action technology is available for the hazardous substance 
being stored that can be used to protect human health and the 
environment.