The simplest way to get started is to contact the state agencies that regulate underground storage tanks (USTs) and request whatever information they have available on the property in question.  These state agencies include the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA).

The OSFM regulates the installation, operation, and removal of USTs.  This includes registering the tanks and issuing permits.  To find out if the tanks at a property are registered with OSFM, contact the Division of Petroleum & Chemical Safety (217-785-1020).  When calling, you should be able to give the property's street address.  If the tanks are registered, the OSFM may be able to provide other details, including a facility identification number assigned by OSFM.  Knowing the facility identification number will help with future inquiries to OSFM.

Leaks and/or other releases from USTs are first reported to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA).  IEMA records these reports as leaking underground storage tank (Leaking UST) incidents and assigns each incident an eight-digit number (six digits prior to the year 2000).  The investigation and remediation of a Leaking UST incident is directed by the Illinois EPA's Leaking UST Section.  You may access the Leaking UST database or call 1-217-782-6762 to inquire as to whether there is a reported Leaking UST incident on a specific property.  When doing so, you should be able to provide the Leaking UST Section with the property's street address and, if possible, the name of the business that owned and operated the tanks.  You can then search the Leaking UST database for a reported incident at the address you have given.

The Leaking UST database includes information on the tank owner or operator, which is the person or party identified as responsible for remediating the contamination caused by the leaking tanks.  If no Leaking UST incident is found for the property address, it does not necessarily mean the tanks are not leaking, but only that they have not been reported to IEMA as leaking. A Leaking UST incident means that soil and, in some cases, groundwater contamination have been caused by tanks located on the property.  In order to “close” a Leaking UST incident, corrective action in accordance with applicable regulations must be performed to address the contamination.

The OSFM and the Illinois EPA's Leaking UST Section can answer the most important questions:  Are USTs known to exist on the property?  Have there been any reports of leaking tanks on the property?  Although such information is vital, it is also very basic.  Only if the property has a Leaking UST incident may more detailed information be available from the Illinois EPA.

You may obtain copies of reports submitted to the Illinois EPA for a particular Leaking UST Program site and copies of related Illinois EPA correspondence by contacting the Illinois EPA's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) staff.  To make a FOIA request, you should have the property's street address and, if possible, the name of the site and Leaking UST incident number (available from the Leaking UST database).  You may request a copy of the site's entire file or a specific item (a letter, report, etc.).  The request may be submitted through the interactive Web form or through fax, the U.S. mail, or special carrier.

After contacting the OSFM and Illinois EPA, you can research the property on your own.  Determine the property's past usage and identify environmental concerns that may exist there by gathering the following information.  This information can be especially important when the OSFM and the Illinois EPA's Leaking UST Section do not have any data on the property.  Try to answer these questions:

• Have the USTs been removed?

  If the tanks were not registered, the OSFM cannot answer this question.  However, you may be able to determine yourself if tanks are on the property.  The simplest way is to search for other parts of an underground tank system such as intact pump islands, fill pipes, and vent pipes.

  The OSFM's knowledge of tanks at a property hinges on tank registration.  It is possible for tanks to exist on a property, or to have existed and since been removed, and not have been registered with the OSFM.  This may be the case if the business shut down before the UST regulations were enacted or if the tank owner failed to register the tanks.

• When were the tanks installed?  When were they taken out of operation?

  This information may be derived by researching the history of the site through sources such as old phone books, local libraries, city halls, fire departments, etc.  Interviews with nearby property owners can also be of help, but try to back up verbal information with hard evidence.  The date an UST was taken out of service can determine what state regulations apply and whether the tank owner or operator is eligible for payment from the UST Fund.

• What product(s) were stored in the tanks?

  The tank contents determine the kind of contamination that may be present on the property.  This, in turn, dictates what cleanup may be required.  Refer to the paragraph above for help in identifying the tank contents.  Another way to answer these important questions is to retain the services of an environmental consultant, who can perform a Phase I site investigation of the property.  Generally, the Illinois EPA is not involved with these investigations.  Phase I investigations involve researching previous property usage, obtaining any site information from state regulatory agencies, and inspecting the property for evidence of any environmental concerns such as underground tanks.  However, Phase I investigations do not confirm the presence of contamination.  This is done in the next step, a Phase II investigation, which involves laboratory analyses of soil and perhaps groundwater samples from the site.  The Illinois EPA may become involved after the Phase II investigation has confirmed contamination at the site, though Leaking UST incidents are more often reported during tank removal and tank upgrade activities.