General Comment
UAC R311-204-2(h): says that the DERR director will be notified of closure activities at least 72 hours before the start of closing activities. I feel like this is an inadequate amount of time to create a proper plan for dealing with closures. I think that the State of Utah should revisit this particular provision to extend the warning time to a week, or 120 hours. Thank You for your consideration.
Response to General Comment
Requirements for approval of state underground storage tank (UST) programs are provided in 40 CFR 281. The specific federal requirements for owner or operator UST closure notification are found in 40 CFR 281.36(4)(b). This federal regulation requires that the owner or operator notify the state of permanent closure and does not specify a time frame for this notification. Requiring closure notification to the Division of Environmental Remediation and Response (DERR) Director 72 hours before the start of closing activities as required by Utah Administrative Code R311-204-2(h) is equivalent to, consistent with and no less stringent than 40 CFR 281. As this comment requests that the State of Utah consider extending the time frame for UST closure notification, the comment has been provided to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality for their consideration. As no address or contact information was provided, EPA cannot provide this response directly to the commenter. EPA has determined that this comment is not adverse and does not oppose approval of the Utah Final Approval of State Underground Storage Tank Program Revisions, Codification and Incorporation by Reference (EPA-R08-UST-2018-0169). Therefore the Final Rule becomes effective on January 4, 2019. 


