California Environmental Reporting System (CERS)

Question: Am I required to retain hard copies of UST related documents on site at my facility, including the UST Permit to Operate issued by the Unified Program?

Answer: Not necessarily.  Californian Code of Regulations, Title 23, Division 3, Chapter 16 (Title 23) and CalEPA UP Bulletin 1401 allow UST owners and operators to maintain UST documents electronically, including the permit to operate, if they are readily accessible on site through electronic means during inspections. This satisfies the on-site requirement of Title 23, section 2613. The Unified Programs may have local ordinances requiring hard copy documents on site even though the information was reported and available electronically. Any such local requirement must be posted with the applicable local code citation(s) at https://cersbusiness.calepa.ca.gov/Reports/RegulatorLocalRequirements.

Title 23, section 2613 list the documents that must be maintained onsite, or offsite at a readily accessible location if approved by the Unified Program Agency. This approval is for hard documents and is different than above with the electronic documents. These hard documents maintained off site must be provided within 36 hours of being requested by the Unified Program Agency, the Board, a special inspector, or an independent compliance inspector.

The primary question is, ‘Is the information/document(s) readily available on site?’ The answer can be yes, electronically available, or yes, hard copies are available. There is no requirement for all of these.

.