Reporting of suspected releases

Owners and operators of underground storage tank systems must report to the department within twenty-four hours, or another reasonable period specified by the department, and follow the procedures in section 33.1-24-08-42 for any of the following conditions: 1. The discovery by owners and operators or others of released regulated substances at the underground storage tank site or in the surrounding area (such as the presence of free product or vapors in soils, basements, sewer and utility lines, and nearby surface water); 2. Unusual operating conditions observed by owners and operators (such as the erratic behavior of product dispensing equipment, the sudden loss of product from the underground storage tank system, an unexplained presence of water in the tank, or liquid in the interstitial space of secondarily contained systems), unless: a. The system equipment or component is found not to be releasing regulated substances to the environment; b. Any defective system equipment or component is immediately repaired or replaced; and c. For secondarily contained systems, except as provided for in paragraph 4 of subdivision b of subsection 7 of section 33.1-24-08-33, any liquid in the interstitial space not used as part of the interstitial monitoring method (for example, brine filled) is immediately removed. 3. Monitoring results, including investigation of an alarm, from a release detection method required under sections 33.1-24-08-31 and 33.1-24-08-32 that indicate a release may have occurred unless: a. The monitoring device is found to be defective, and is immediately repaired, recalibrated, or replaced, and additional monitoring does not confirm the initial result; b. The leak is contained in the secondary containment and: (1) Except as provided for in paragraph 4 of subdivision b of subsection 7 of section 33.1-24-08-33, any liquid in the interstitial space not used as part of the interstitial monitoring method (for example, brine filled) is immediately removed; and (2) Any defective system equipment or component is immediately repaired or replaced. c. In the case of inventory control, described in subsection 1 of section 33.1-24-08-33, a second month of data does not confirm the initial result or the investigation determines no release has occurred; or d. The alarm was investigated and determined to be a nonrelease event (for example, from a power surge or caused by filling the tank during release detection testing).