Amount and scope of required financial responsibility

1. Owners or operators of petroleum underground storage tanks must demonstrate financial responsibility for taking corrective action and for compensating third parties for bodily injury and property damage caused by accidental releases arising from the operation of petroleum underground storage tanks in at least the following per-occurrence amounts: a. For owners or operators of petroleum underground storage tanks that are located at petroleum marketing facilities, or that handle an average of more than ten thousand gallons [37,854 liters] of petroleum per month based on annual throughput for the previous calendar year, one million dollars; and b. For all other owners or operators of petroleum underground storage tanks, five hundred thousand dollars. 2. Owners or operators of petroleum underground storage tanks must demonstrate financial responsibility for taking corrective action and for compensating third parties for bodily injury and property damage caused by accidental releases arising from the operation of petroleum underground storage tanks in at least the following annual aggregate amounts: a. For owners or operators of one to one hundred petroleum underground storage tanks, one million dollars; and b. For owners or operators of one hundred one or more petroleum underground storage tanks, two million dollars. 3. For the purposes of subsections 2 and 6 only, "a petroleum underground storage tank" means a single containment unit and does not mean combinations of single containment units. 4. Except as provided in subsection 5, if the owner or operator uses separate mechanisms or separate combinations of mechanisms to demonstrate financial responsibility for: a. Taking corrective action; b. Compensating third parties for bodily injury and property damage caused by sudden accidental releases; or c. Compensating third parties for bodily injury and property damage caused by nonsudden accidental releases, the amount of assurance provided by each mechanism, or combination of mechanisms must be in the full amount specified in subsections 1 and 2. 5. If an owner or operator uses separate mechanisms or separate combinations of mechanisms to demonstrate financial responsibility for different petroleum underground storage tanks, the annual aggregate required must be based on the number of tanks covered by each such separate mechanism or combination of mechanisms. 6. Owners or operators shall review the amount of aggregate assurance provided whenever additional petroleum underground storage tanks are acquired or installed. If the number of petroleum underground storage tanks for which assurance must be provided exceeds one hundred, the owner or operator shall demonstrate financial responsibility in the amount of at least two million dollars of annual aggregate assurance by the anniversary of the date on which the mechanism demonstrating financial responsibility became effective. If assurance is being demonstrated by a combination of mechanisms, the owner or operator shall demonstrate financial responsibility in the amount of at least two million dollars of annual aggregate assurance by the first-occurring effective date anniversary of any one of the mechanisms combined (other than a financial test or guarantee) to provide assurance. 7. The amounts of assurance required under this section exclude legal defense costs. 8. The required per-occurrence and annual aggregate coverage amounts do not in any way limit the liability of the owner or operator.