A compiled reference of 32 verified statistics on underground storage tanks: the size of the regulated universe and its compliance rates, releases and the national cleanup backlog, what a leak costs, and the operating bill for compliance testing, operator training, financial responsibility, and tank removal. Every figure is drawn from a named public source (EPA's semiannual performance reports, EPA program fact sheets, the Code of Federal Regulations, state agencies, tank service firms' published prices, NACS) and independently checked before publishing, including re-decoding EPA's own report tables.
Key statistics
5 highlights from this report
Key statistics
Key takeaways
America runs a half-million buried fuel tanks and has already buried and dug up two million more. The individual rules are mostly followed, corrosion protection alone scores 90 percent, but only 63 percent of facilities pass everything at once, and the gap is what turns into the 53,777-release cleanup backlog that shrinks by only about 1,500 sites a year.
Only 62.9% of US UST facilities meet full technical compliance.
The average tank leak cleanup costs $154,000; groundwater cases run to $1M+.
581,676 releases confirmed since 1984; 53,777 still await cleanup.
535,060 tanks remain active; 2 million have been closed.
Most facilities spend $1,500-3,500 a year on UST compliance testing.
State compliance ranges from 96% in Missouri to 19% in Indiana.
How we built this report
Every figure was compiled in September 2026 from named public sources and verified against the original document before publishing.
- Compiled from primary sources
EPA's semiannual UST performance reports (FY2024, FY2025, and FY2026 mid-year), the EPA program fact sheet, the Code of Federal Regulations, state environmental agencies, tank service companies' published price lists, and NACS fuel retailing data.
- Tables re-extracted, not trusted
EPA's performance report PDFs use a substituted font that defeats normal text extraction; we decoded the digit mapping and re-verified every national and state figure against the report tables ourselves.
- Only explicitly stated figures
Numbers a named source states directly, attributed inline. Two simple ratios computed from EPA's own table are labeled as arithmetic. Figures that only existed in marketing blogs were left out.
- Independent review
Written by one co-founder, reviewed by the other before publishing.
A scope note: national universe and compliance figures are EPA's end-of-fiscal-2025 report unless a different period is named. Cost figures are published guide and vendor prices, mostly Massachusetts-based for the line items, not an audited national survey; regional variation is real. Insurance figures are one broker's published range and are labeled as such.
The tank universe, by the numbers
All 32 figures, grouped by theme: the universe and its compliance, releases and cleanups, and what operators pay. Each is from a named public source and independently verified.
The universe and its compliance rates
According to the EPA (epa.gov), 533,277 active petroleum UST systems remained regulated at roughly 190,000 facilities as of September 2025, against 2,005,330 systems permanently closed since the program's 1984 start, close to four closed tanks for every active one. States ran 82,484 on-site inspections in fiscal 2025, and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires every regulated facility to be inspected at least once every three years. The compliance picture is a funnel: corrosion protection compliance is 90.2 percent and spill and overfill prevention 84.2 percent, but only 62.9 percent of facilities meet the full technical compliance rate, and the spread across states is enormous.
Statistic 1
535,060 active UST systems (533,277 petroleum) at ~190,000 facilities as of September 2025.
EPA FY2025 end-of-year performance report (2025)
Statistic 2
2,005,330 UST systems have been permanently closed nationally, roughly 4 closed tanks for every active one.
EPA FY2025 report; ratio is RapidEye arithmetic (2025)
Statistic 3
The regulated universe exceeded 2 million tanks at the program's inception; 40% of operating USTs are now over 30 years old.
EPA UST Program Facts (2022); Veeder-Root (2026)
Statistic 4
82,484 on-site UST inspections were conducted in FY2025; federal law requires each facility inspected every 3 years.
EPA FY2025 report; Energy Policy Act of 2005 via EPA FAQ
Statistic 5
62.9% of facilities met the full technical compliance rate in FY2025, up from 60.2% in FY2024.
EPA FY2025 and FY2024 reports
Statistic 6
By requirement: corrosion protection 90.2%, spill/overfill prevention 84.2%, release detection 83.8%, all requirements at once 72.9%.
EPA FY2025 report, compliance table (2025)
Statistic 7
Operator training compliance is 88.6%, financial responsibility 90.3%, and 30-day walkthrough inspections 83.3%.
EPA FY2025 report (2025)
Statistic 8
State technical compliance ranges from 96% (Missouri) and 93% (Colorado) down to 20% (Michigan) and 19% (Indiana).
EPA FY2026 mid-year report, state table (2026)
Statistic 9
California ran 13,383 inspections on 37,489 active tanks in FY2025, roughly 5x Texas's per-tank rate (4,968 on 47,104).
EPA FY2025 report, state tables; comparison is RapidEye arithmetic
Statistic 10
Delivery prohibition is near-universal: 43 states and territories run red-tag programs and 8 run green-tag programs for non-compliant tanks.
EPA State Delivery Prohibition Programs (2026)
Statistic 11
Owners must do walkthrough inspections every 30 days and keep the records one year, under the 2015 federal rule.
40 CFR 280.36 (current)
What this means: the compliance story is not defiance but drift. Nine facilities in ten pass any single requirement; barely six in ten pass all of them at once, because each test, record, and walkthrough is a separate chance to lapse. The 30-day walkthrough is pure documentation discipline, which is why it is the weakest of the routine measures at 83 percent.
The compliance funnel
EPA, FY2025, % of facilitiesPass rates by requirement, and the share passing everything at once.
Releases still awaiting cleanup, end of period.
All figures from EPA's semiannual UST performance reports (epa.gov): FY2024 and FY2025 end-of-year and FY2026 mid-year editions. Funnel is the FY2025 national row; the technical compliance rate additionally requires compliance in states tracking the 2015 rule's categories.
Releases, cleanups, and what a leak costs
The legacy side of the program is enormous: 581,676 confirmed releases since 1984 against 527,899 completed cleanups, per the EPA's fiscal 2025 report, leaving 53,777 releases still awaiting cleanup. The backlog fell by only 1,557 during fiscal 2025, because 4,307 new releases were confirmed even as 5,920 cleanups finished. The money is equally concrete: the EPA's own FAQ puts the average cleanup at $154,000, as low as $10,000 for minor soil work and $100,000 to over $1 million when groundwater is involved, and its fact sheet says 36 states run their own cleanup funds that collectively raise and spend more than $1.7 billion a year. The stakes ride on water: states report UST releases as the most common source of groundwater contamination, and about half the US population drinks groundwater.
Statistic 1
581,676 UST releases have been confirmed since 1984; 4,307 of them in FY2025 alone.
EPA FY2025 report (2025)
Statistic 2
527,899 cleanups are complete; 5,920 finished in FY2025, outpacing new releases by only about 1.4 to 1.
EPA FY2025 report; ratio is RapidEye arithmetic (2025)
Statistic 3
53,777 releases still awaited cleanup at the end of FY2025, down from 55,334 a year earlier; 52,859 by March 2026.
EPA FY2024, FY2025, FY2026 mid-year reports
Statistic 4
The average cleanup costs an estimated $154,000; minor soil-only cases run as low as $10,000.
EPA UST FAQ (2026)
Statistic 5
Groundwater contamination cleanups typically run $100,000 to over $1 million.
EPA UST FAQ (2026)
Statistic 6
36 states run their own UST cleanup funds, collectively raising and spending more than $1.7 billion a year.
EPA UST Program Facts (2022)
Statistic 7
The federal LUST Trust Fund runs on a 0.1 cent per gallon fuel tax; EPA's program received over $62 million in FY2026, 86%+ passed to states.
EPA LUST Trust Fund page (2026)
Statistic 8
UST releases are the most common state-reported source of groundwater contamination; about half of Americans rely on groundwater to drink.
EPA UST Program Facts; EPA UST FAQ (2022-2026)
Statistic 9
Corrosion of bare steel accounts for almost all leaks from tanks and much of the leakage from piping.
EPA release-causes study summary (2026)
Statistic 10
Property values fall 3-6% when a UST release is discovered nearby and rise 4-9% after cleanup, with effects out to 2-3 km.
EPA benefits and impacts studies (2026)
Statistic 11
EPA's statistical model on Louisiana data found increased inspection frequency significantly improved facility compliance.
EPA OCPA working paper 2017-05 (2017)
What this means: at the FY2025 pace, the backlog shrinks by about 1,500 sites a year while 4,300 new releases arrive behind it, so the cleanup era has decades left to run. Prevention is the only lever that moves the math, and EPA's own Louisiana study shows the mechanism: facilities that get looked at more often comply more.
What operators pay: testing, training, insurance, removal
The operating bill is documented in vendors' own price lists. CommTank (commtank.com), a Massachusetts tank services firm, puts most facilities at $1,500 to $3,500 a year for compliance, itemized: tank monitor certification $400-1,500, overfill testing $150-750, line leak detection $150-750, sump and spill bucket testing $1,000-5,000 every three years, third-party inspections $700-2,000 per tank. UST Contractors (ustcontractors.com) independently prices basic commercial inspections at $500-2,000 and comprehensive ones at $2,000-5,000. Training is cheap ($75-99 per Class A/B operator license, per UST Training (usttraining.com)); the tail risk is not: federal rules at 40 CFR 280.93 require $1 million per-occurrence financial responsibility for petroleum marketers, and California's single-wall tank deadline shows what enforcement looks like when time runs out.
Statistic 1
Most facilities spend $1,500-3,500 a year on UST compliance; complex or high-usage sites run $4,000-10,000+.
CommTank, Massachusetts pricing (2026)
Statistic 2
Line items: ATG certification $400-1,500/yr, overfill testing $150-750, line leak detection $150-750, vapor recovery $750-2,500.
CommTank (2026)
Statistic 3
Sump and spill bucket testing runs $1,000-5,000 every 3 years; tank tightness testing $1,500-5,000.
CommTank (2026)
Statistic 4
A third-party UST inspection generally costs $700-2,000 per tank; basic commercial inspections run $500-2,000, comprehensive $2,000-5,000.
CommTank; UST Contractors (2026)
Statistic 5
Class A/B operator training costs $75-99 per license online; Class C training starts at $12.95 per operator.
UST Training; CommTank (2026)
Statistic 6
Cathodic protection must be tested within 6 months of installation and at least every 3 years after.
Vermont DEC compliance guide (2026)
Statistic 7
Federal financial responsibility minimums: $1 million per occurrence for petroleum marketers, $500,000 for others; $1-2 million annual aggregate by fleet size.
40 CFR 280.93 (current)
Statistic 8
One broker's published range: basic pollution coverage ~$100/month; a full insurance program for a small independent station $8,000-25,000 a year.
e360 Insurance, broker's published range (2026)
Statistic 9
Removing a single 10,000-gallon tank cleanly runs $15,000-30,000; a multi-tank station $50,000-150,000, or $125,000-300,000+ with contamination.
UST Contractors (2026)
Statistic 10
California required all single-walled USTs closed by December 31, 2025; violators face $500-5,000 per day per tank and red-tagging.
California State Water Resources Control Board (2026)
Statistic 11
The average fueling location sells about 2,500 gallons a day, and 80% of US fuel is bought at one of 120,000+ fuel-selling convenience stores.
NACS (2026)
Statistic 12
The average UST is removed at close to 20 years of age; a 13,000-gallon replacement tank package runs about $60,000-65,000 before installation.
Veeder-Root; CommTank (2026)
What this means: a compliant year costs a station a few thousand dollars; a missed leak costs $154,000 on average and can red-tag the pumps entirely. The whole compliance regime, 30-day walkthroughs, test certificates, inspection records, is a documentation exercise, and the facilities that can prove what they checked are the ones that keep fuel flowing when the inspector or the underwriter asks.
Cite this study
Academic or press use: copy a ready-made reference. RapidEye is the publisher.
Quick FAQ
How many underground storage tanks are there in the US?
535,060 active regulated UST systems (533,277 petroleum) at roughly 190,000 facilities as of September 2025, per EPA. Another 2,005,330 UST systems have been permanently closed since the program began in 1984, roughly four closed tanks for every one still in service.
What percentage of UST facilities are in compliance?
62.9% met the full technical compliance rate in FY2025, per EPA. Individual requirements score higher (corrosion protection 90.2%, spill/overfill 84.2%, release detection 83.8%), but only 72.9% meet every category at once. State results range from 96% in Missouri to 19% in Indiana.
How much does it cost to clean up a leaking underground storage tank?
An estimated $154,000 on average, per EPA, with simple soil-only cleanups as low as $10,000 and groundwater contamination running $100,000 to over $1 million. 4,307 releases were newly confirmed in FY2025, and 53,777 still await cleanup.
How much does UST compliance cost a station each year?
Most facilities spend $1,500-3,500 a year on compliance testing, per CommTank's published Massachusetts pricing, with complex sites at $4,000-10,000+. Third-party inspections run $700-2,000 per tank, operator training $75-99 per license, and a clean single-tank removal $15,000-30,000.
Data sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these named public sources, each checked against the original before publishing, including re-decoding the EPA report tables.
US EPASemiannual UST performance reports; program facts; FAQ; delivery prohibitionepa.gov
Cornell Law School LII40 CFR 280.36 and 280.93 requirementslaw.cornell.edu
CommTankUST compliance cost line itemscommtank.com
UST ContractorsInspection and removal cost guidesustcontractors.com
UST TrainingOperator training course pricingusttraining.com
Vermont DECFacility compliance testing intervalsdec.vermont.gov
e360 InsuranceFuel station environmental coverage rangese360insurance.com
NACSFuel retailing volumes and store countsconvenience.org
California Water BoardsSingle-walled tank closure initiativewaterboards.ca.gov
Veeder-RootTank age and replacement contextveeder.com