Does Massachusetts require an underground oil tank to be removed?

Not simply for existing. The trigger is being out of service. A tank taken out of service must be notified to MassDEP within 30 days, and if it is not back in service within five years it must be removed or permanently closed under 310 CMR 80. In practice most owners are pushed by a sale, a lender or an insurer well before that.

Who do I notify if oil is found?

MassDEP, through its emergency response route, and the notification deadline depends on what was found and where. The Massachusetts Contingency Plan sets 72 hour and 120 day categories. The Licensed Site Professional engaged on the site normally prepares the notification, but the duty rests with the responsible party.

What is a Licensed Site Professional?

A Massachusetts licensing category for people who direct the assessment and cleanup of oil and hazardous material releases. The state privatised that oversight, so an LSP rather than a MassDEP case officer runs most sites and signs the outcome. Very few states work this way, which is why national guidance does not mention them.

Does homeowner insurance cover an oil tank leak in Massachusetts?

Standard homeowner policies generally exclude it, which is why the 2008 act required carriers to offer it as coverage rather than include it. It is bought, and the carrier may ask for proof that the Section 38J upgrade is in place before it will write it.

Massachusetts Oil Tank Rules for Homeowners

Four layers govern a house tank in this state and they are administered by three different bodies. Confusing them is how most published advice goes wrong.

Chapter 21E liability

310 CMR 40, the MCP

310 CMR 80, tank closure

527 CMR 1.00, fire code

Chapter 21E Oil Tank Liability in Massachusetts

Chapter 21E is the Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention and Response Act, and Section 5 imposes liability for assessment, containment and removal costs without regard to fault. You do not have to have caused a release to be responsible for it. Owning the land is enough.

That is the sentence that explains every other decision on this site. It is why a removal in Massachusetts is documented rather than merely completed, and why an inherited tank is an inherited exposure.

MassDEP, Waste Site Cleanup Laws and Regulations. Checked 2026-08-14. Full source list.

The Massachusetts Contingency Plan, 310 CMR 40

The Massachusetts Contingency Plan is the framework for notifying, assessing and cleaning up a release. It sets the reportable concentrations, the notification deadlines and the response actions. Under 310 CMR 40.0169 a responsible party engages a Licensed Site Professional to carry the work.

The deadlines that reach a homeowner fastest are the 72 hour ones: free product half an inch or more on groundwater, an exceedance within 400 feet of a public water supply or 500 feet of a private well, or a headspace reading above 100 parts per million by volume. Details of what those measurements involve sit on the soil testing page.

MassDEP, 310 CMR 40.0000, Massachusetts Contingency Plan. Checked 2026-08-14. Full source list.

Massachusetts Underground Storage Tank Rules, 310 CMR 80

The underground storage tank regulations set what happens to the tank itself. A tank taken out of service temporarily has to be notified to MassDEP within 30 days, and if it is not returned to service within five years it has to be removed or permanently closed.

Closure under 310 CMR 80.43 means emptying all liquid and solid material, rendering the tank inert, securing the openings, assessing the site with field screening instruments within 24 hours of removal, and notifying MassDEP of the assessment within 90 days.

MassDEP, 310 CMR 40.0000, Massachusetts Contingency Plan. MassDEP, Removing Your Underground Heating Oil Tank (MassDEP Guidance). Checked 2026-08-14. Full source list.

The Massachusetts Fire Code and Section 38J

Removal permits come from the local fire department under Chapter 148 and the Massachusetts Comprehensive Fire Safety Code, 527 CMR 1.00. The permit route for Worcester and the state forms behind it are set out on the permits page.

Section 38J of Chapter 148 sits alongside it and applies to systems in service rather than to removals. It requires an oil safety valve or a supply line inside a protective sleeve, certified by a licensed oil burner technician on a Department of Fire Services form.

Chapter 453 of the Acts of 2008 created that duty and, in the same act, the duty on homeowner insurers to offer coverage for heating oil system leaks. An insurer may require proof of Section 38J compliance before issuing that coverage, which is the mechanism that gives the upgrade rule teeth.

Massachusetts General Court, MGL Chapter 148, Section 38J. Massachusetts General Court, Chapter 453 of the Acts of 2008. Checked 2026-08-14. Full source list.

Common Myths About Massachusetts Oil Tank Rules

Three recur. That 527 CMR 9.00 governs tank removal, which was superseded by the comprehensive fire safety code. That MassDEP issues the removal permit, which it does not, the local fire department does. That an underground residential heating oil tank is federally exempt and therefore unregulated, which conflates the federal UST program with the state regime that does reach it.

There is a fourth worth naming: a single confident dollar figure for a Massachusetts removal. The published ranges disagree by several times over, and the gap is scope rather than margin.

Massachusetts Oil Tank Rule Questions

Does Massachusetts require an underground oil tank to be removed?: Not simply for existing. The trigger is being out of service. A tank taken out of service must be notified to MassDEP within 30 days, and if it is not back in service within five years it must be removed or permanently closed under 310 CMR 80. In practice most owners are pushed by a sale, a lender or an insurer well before that.
Who do I notify if oil is found?: MassDEP, through its emergency response route, and the notification deadline depends on what was found and where. The Massachusetts Contingency Plan sets 72 hour and 120 day categories. The Licensed Site Professional engaged on the site normally prepares the notification, but the duty rests with the responsible party.
What is a Licensed Site Professional?: A Massachusetts licensing category for people who direct the assessment and cleanup of oil and hazardous material releases. The state privatised that oversight, so an LSP rather than a MassDEP case officer runs most sites and signs the outcome. Very few states work this way, which is why national guidance does not mention them.
Does homeowner insurance cover an oil tank leak in Massachusetts?: Standard homeowner policies generally exclude it, which is why the 2008 act required carriers to offer it as coverage rather than include it. It is bought, and the carrier may ask for proof that the Section 38J upgrade is in place before it will write it.

Check How the Massachusetts Rules Apply to You

Whether the rules above bite on your tank depends on where it is, whether it is in service and what the ground has already told anyone. Send the address and the situation and the answer comes back specific.