Tips for finding records on decommissioned oil tanks in Olympia, WA
Some older homes in the Olympia WA area relied on buried and sometimes above-ground oil tanks to fuel their furnaces to heat their homes. Many of these homes have since been converted to natural gas or electric and the oil tank is now not in use. These out-of-use tanks should be decommissioned properly.
Oil tanks can last for about 30 years before they start to corrode and potentially start to leak oil into the soil and groundwater. Decommissioning a tank involves either digging out the tank and removing it or leaving the tank in place and filling it with material such as concrete.
In a real estate transaction, trying to find these records of decommissioning is very challenging. And if there are no records to be found, that doesn’t necessarily mean the tank was not decommissioned properly because permits may not have been required.
Currently, I’m on the hunt to find records for a home in the city limits of Lacey WA. The City of Lacey does not require a permit nor an inspection, which really makes it impossible to find records. As a last resort, I’m calling oil tank decommissioning companies in the area to see if they did the work and have archived their records, but this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
To find records on an unused oil tank, here are the resources I can suggest:
Look for permitting records. If the property is outside of the city limits, go to Thurston County Permitting , go to the Quick Tools box and select Search Permit Archives. You will need the parcel number. To find the parcel number, visit the Assessor’s Office here.
If the home is within a city’s limits, call that city’s building department to see if they have records. Here is the City of Olympia’s Building Department.
If no luck there, try contacting the Thurston County Environmental Health Department. This link takes you to the home heating oil tanks link where you’ll find the contact phone numbers for each city’s building departments.
If no records are available, try the Washington State Department of Ecology. They may have records if there was soil or groundwater contamination.
The fire department is no longer required to be involved with residential oil tank decommissioning unless the property is within the city limits of Olympia.
Last resort, call contractors who may have done the work.
This is also a very good reminder for homeowners to keep good records of all work done on the property.
For more information, visit the Thurston County Public Health and Social Services site at https://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehhw/oiltanks.html