Today I had a meeting with DEP officials and learned some information that concerns me. Service stations in Bergen, Gloucester, and Monmouth were batch-noticed in October that their UST Registration renewals expire on December 31, 2019. A number of reminders have been sent by NJDEP as well as NJGCA over the past year notifying UST owners/operators that new registrations would be tied to their station’s A/B Operator certification. If a station owner or operator has not completed and passed the A/B Operator training by the time their registration expires on 12/31/2019 (or, alternatively, designated an outside/hired operator) then that station’s UST Registration will not be renewed until it is complete. What does this mean? It means that if you do not have a designated A/B Operator at your facility, your UST Registration will not be renewed, and you will not be able to receive gasoline at your facility as of January 1. DEP has informed me that these batch-notifications went out in October to allow affected stations a 90-day lead time to meet this requirement. Keep in mind, if your check was cashed, it does NOT mean that your UST Registration will automatically be renewed. Rather, if you haven’t heard back within a month of submission, and as DEP has limited staff processing renewals, there could potentially be a paperwork or administrative matter holding up the issuance of the renewal. It is imperative that you stop what you are doing and complete the UST registration forms and mail them in immediately with a check for the fee. Suppliers are aware of the deadline and will not deliver to any location that does not have a valid UST registration on January 1, or they will be fined $15,000 per delivery. Your registration must be in your hand on January 1.

If you operate a station in one of these counties and have NOT designated an A/B Operator (or completed the training yourself) it is imperative that you act now. Please click HERE and HERE to learn more about these requirements.