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Reimbursement Procedures -

The following points are an overview of the procedures. Please read the full text of the Virginia Petroleum Storage Tank Reimbursement Guidance manual for an in-depth explanation of these procedures.

1. The release must be reported to DEQ (immediately for ASTs and within 24 hours for USTs). Corrective actions taken prior to the release report (24 hours preceding the release report for USTs) will not be eligible for reimbursement.
   
   
2. An Activity Authorization Form must be signed and approved by the Regional Office (RO) staff before site work may commence.
   
   
3. Reimbursement claim Applications may be filed at DEQ Central Office upon completion of one or more corrective action phases. Applications will not be accepted unless the corrective action phase has been completed and the appropriate report has been submitted to the RO.
   
   
4. The Reimbursement Package must include:
   
   
   1. all costs associated with the completed corrective action phase, listed on the AAF Cost Worksheet;
   2. the completed Reimbursement Claim Application (Form 1);
   3. a completed substitute IRS Form W-9 (only required w/ the first reimbursement claim)
   4. legible copies of all receipts, invoices, billings, etc., for all costs on the application.
      
      
5. The Reimbursement Package should be mailed to:

   DEQ - OSRR
   P.O. Box 1105
   Richmond, VA 23218
   

Please Note: In general, VPSTF does not reimburse costs for UST/AST closures (unless these actions are pre-authorized as part of corrective action). Please see the VPSTF Reimbursement Guidance Manual for additional information.

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Reimbursement Program Summary -

The Commonwealth of Virginia established the Virginia Petroleum Storage Tank Fund (Fund) with the passage of Articles 9, 10, and 11 of the State Water Control Law (Sections 62.1-44.34:8 to 23). Section 210 of the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financial Responsibility Requirements Regulation (9 VAC 25-590-10, et seq.) establishes the requirements for use of the Fund. The Fund may be used for the following purpose

• To provide reimbursement to eligible owners/operators for a portion of the potentially high costs of mitigating the public health and environmental risks from a petroleum storage tank release;
• To provide a mechanism for regulated Underground Storage Tank (UST) owners/operators to demonstrate financial responsibility in order to meet Federal requirements; and
• To provide reimbursement for costs incurred for third party bodily injury or property damage from confirmed regulated UST petroleum releases.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is responsible for administering the UST technical and financial responsibility regulatory programs, the Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) regulatory program and the Fund reimbursement program. The Fund is a non-lapsing, revolving fund, which is administered by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The primary revenue source for the Fund is a state fee of one-fifth of one cent per gallon on regulated petroleum products, including gasoline, aviation motor fuel, diesel fuel, dyed diesel fuel, kerosene, and heating oil sold in Virginia. This fee, which is collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles, is monitored and maintained at an appropriate operating level and is increased by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to three fifths of one cent when notified by the Comptroller that the Fund has been, or is likely to be, reduced below three million dollars. The moneys collected are primarily used to reimburse responsible persons for the reasonable and necessary costs incurred in cleaning up a petroleum release from a petroleum storage tank.

Depending upon the type of petroleum storage tank, owners/operators may request access to the Fund either for cleanup costs only or for both cleanup and third party costs. The owner/operator is eligible to request reimbursement from the Fund for costs that exceed their Financial Responsibility Requirement (for cleanup and, if applicable, third party) up to a maximum of $1 million per occurrence. Section 1.2.3 of the Virginia Petroleum Storage Tank Reimbursement Guidance manual summarizes corrective action and third party Fund eligibility for the different storage tank types.

It is important to understand that the Fund is a reimbursement program and NOT a repayment program. The Fund does not reimburse owners/operators for all costs associated with a cleanup. For example, tank removal costs are not reimbursable unless authorized by DEQ as part of a Corrective Action Plan. For a list of additional ineligible costs, refer to Section 1.4 of the Virginia Petroleum Storage Tank Reimbursement Guidance manual . In order to be eligible for reimbursement, corrective action activities must have been authorized in advance by DEQ. Only cleanup costs exceeding the Financial Responsibility Requirement that are determined to be reasonable, necessary, and in accordance with the guidelines set forth by DEQ will be eligible for reimbursement. In addition, the Fund will not reimburse tank owners or operators for any release, which is caused by the negligence of the owner/operator or employees, agents or contractors of the owner/operator.

Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the State Water Control Law govern the use of the Fund. Familiarity with the State law, regulations, and the Storage Tank Program Technical Manual will be helpful in your compliance with the Petroleum Storage Tank Program requirements and the completion of your Reimbursement Application. To assist you in understanding the manual, Appendix 1 contains a list of terms and definitions found throughout the manual. To better understand the Reimbursement process and to obtain a copy of the Petroleum Program manuals, go to the download section of this web.

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The Current Pending Claim Status Report

As of December 2009, the Pending Claims Status Report is being stored as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This change should eliminate security issues that caused problems for people in the past. As a simple Excel spreadsheet, the data should now be accessible to more people with fewer complications. Simply download the spreadsheet and use either the Find command (from Excel’s Edit menu) or Filter (from Excel’s Data menu) to locate information about your claim(s).

The Pending Claim Status Report is a list of claim applications DEQ has received requesting reimbursement from the Fund. The claims on this list are at various stages of completion in the reimbursement process and have not received an Agency decision. The Pending Claim Status Report will be generated each Thursday so claimants requesting reimbursement can check the status of their claim applications. For questions concerning a claim's status please contact the customer service hotline at (804) 698-4358.

To assist claimants in locating information regarding the status of their claims, the Report lists the information by Pollution Complaint Number (PC#). For every PC#, the Report provides the following information about a claim application:

• Claim Number defined by DEQ;
• Claimant Name as listed on Form 1 of the application;
• Payee Name;
• Type of Claim filed (REGular; REConsideration; REJected);
• Claim Status: where in the reimbursement process the claim application is located at the time the report was generated;
• Date DEQ received the application;
• Date of final claim decision, if applicable;
• Amount Claimed in the application;
• Amount Denied, if applicable;
• Financial Responsibility (FR) used, if applicable;
• Insurance Amount, if applicable;
• Adjustment Amount, if applicable; and
• Reimbursement Amount. Depending on the claim stage, this may not be the final authorized reimbursement amount.
  

A claim may be located in one of six staging areas. Definitions for each staging area are as follows:

DATA ENTRY is the first staging area in the process. It includes a review of all forms and entry of data into the claims processing system. A claim in the DATA ENTRY stage is 0-49% complete in the reimbursement process.

CALCULATED is the staging area that includes matching the Cost Worksheet to the Verified Activity Authorization Form (VAAF) in order for the computer to assign denial codes, if applicable. A claim in the calculated stage is 50-74% complete.

VALIDATED is the staging area that includes a quality assurance review. A claim in this stage is 75-89% complete.

DECISION is the staging area in which the claim has been completed and is subject to DEQ's final approval. A claim in this stage is 90-99% complete. Once a claim has been sent to the Decision stage, a claimant can expect to receive a claim Decision in 3-4 weeks.

PAYMENT PENDING is the staging area in which the claim has been completed and approved by DEQ. A claim in this stage is 100% complete and a claimant can expect to receive the Claim Decision Summary in 7-10 days. Claims are released for payment by the order in which the claim was approved for payment (Decision Date) as it appears on the Report. Generally, payments are released each month between the 12th and the 16th.

CLOSED: For the purpose of this Report, this is the staging area in which the claim has been rejected, returned, or resulted in zero dollars to be reimbursed. No further action will occur on claims posted to this stage.

Delayed Payment Report

The report is formatted as an Adobe PDF.

The Delayed Payment Report is published each Thursday and lists the claims staged to Pending Payment with an Estimated Payment Release Date.

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Payment Release Report

As of December 2009, the Payment Release Report is being stored as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This change should eliminate security issues that caused problems for people in the past. As a simple Excel spreadsheet, the data should now be accessible to more people with fewer complications. Simply download the spreadsheet and use either the Find command (from Excel’s Edit menu) or Filter (from Excel’s Data menu) to locate information about your claim(s).

The Payment Release Report is published monthly and lists the claims paid in the current month including, those that have a zero dollar amount due to rejection or Financial Responsibility or insurance used.

Claimants can expect to receive payments in 10-20 days from the Payment Release Date shown on the Report. PLEASE NOTE: the Payment Release Date IS NOT the check date but the date the claim was forwarded to Accounting for final processing and check issuance.
For questions concerning claim payments, please contact the customer service hotline at (804) 698-4358.

Petroleum Storage Tank Fund Status

The Fund status shows the Fund balance, revenue collected and disbursements during the previous month, projected collections and disbursements for the next month, the number of pending claims, and the average number of days between claim submittal, approval and payment.

Read the Reimbursement Program Summary above for an in-depth explanation of the Fund. This information will be posted on the web by the 20th of each month.

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