How long does removing a buried oil tank take?

The excavation on a straightforward residential tank is usually a single day. The part that sets the date is the written notice, which Maine requires the Department to have received at least ten business days before closure, so the calendar rather than the digging is what decides when you can start.

Do I need a site assessment when a heating oil tank comes out in Maine?

Not under the closure rule. Chapter 691 exempts on-site consumptive use heating oil facilities from the Appendix P site assessment, and the rule notes explicitly that assessments are required for heavy oil but not for number two, kerosene and other heating oils stored and burned on the same premises. That is an exemption from a formal assessment, not a reason to backfill over ground nobody looked at.

Can I leave the tank and just fill it with sand?

Only if it meets the test for abandonment in place, which is about whether removal is practicable rather than what you would prefer. If it does stay, a notice goes on the property deed within thirty days.

What happens to the tank after it is lifted out?

It goes to a qualified disposal contractor. Maine does not allow a used underground tank to be sold on for reuse, bare steel and asphalt coated tanks cannot be reinstalled anywhere, and the disposal transaction carries a bill of sale recording what the tank held.

What if we find oil in the ground?

The job changes shape. A discharge is reported to the Department, and Maine's own guidance is that reporting a spill within two hours keeps the responsible party clear of fines. Clean-up then runs under a written agreement with the Department, which is also the condition attached to any reimbursement from the state fund.

Underground Oil Tank Removal in Portland, ME

A buried tank in Maine is a registered facility with a closure procedure attached to it. Most of the work that decides how the day goes happens before anyone opens the ground.

Rules on this page read from the Maine DEP rule text in August 2026.

What Maine Requires Before a Buried Tank Comes Out

Two things surprise owners here, and both of them are in the same rule.

The first is that the tank is registered. Maine requires every underground oil storage tank to be registered regardless of use, size or product stored, and regardless of whether it is in service. Most states put a gallon threshold on that and exempt house tanks. Maine does not, which is why a buried tank here has a registration number to quote on the closure notice.

The second is the timing. Notice has to reach the Department in writing at least ten business days before the tank is closed, and the local fire department has to be told as well. You can read the Department’s published tank rules yourself; Chapter 691 is the one that governs this.

Registration from 06-096 C.M.R. ch. 691 section 4(A), notice from section 11(F)(1). Read August 2026.

The Ten Business Day Notice to Maine DEP

The notice is not a form letter. It has to name the tank, and a contractor who has done this before will already have most of it before they quote.

Owner name, mailing address, telephone number and email
The mailing address and location of the facility
The size of every tank being closed or taken out of service
The products most recently stored in each tank
The registration number of the facility and tanks
The approximate age of the tank, if it is known
The date the tank is to be removed
The estimated date the tank was last used

The last two are the ones that catch people out on a property they did not own for the whole life of the tank. If you inherited the house or bought it with the tank already disconnected, the estimated last-used date is a question you may have to reconstruct from oil delivery records rather than memory.

Contents of the notice from ch. 691 section 11(F)(1). Read August 2026.

The Site Assessment Maine Does Not Require

This is where Maine parts company with the state next door but one. Massachusetts attaches a site assessment to every removal by regulation. Maine exempts on-site consumptive use heating oil facilities from the Appendix P assessment entirely, and the rule spells it out in a note: assessments are required for heavy oil tanks, but not for number two, kerosene and other heating oils stored and burned on the same premises.

An exemption from a formal assessment is not a finding that the ground is clean. It means nobody is obliged to produce a document about it. We look at the excavation while it is open because that is the only moment the ground is free to look at, and because the difference between a removal and a clean-up is decided down there rather than on paper.

If something is found, the obligations that do apply are on the Maine rules page, and the money side is on the grants and clean-up fund page.

Exemption and the accompanying note from ch. 691 section 11(A)(1)(d). Read August 2026.

Excavator Access on a Portland ME Lot

Portland lots are narrow and old. The tank is frequently behind the house on a peninsula street with no side access, under a driveway that was paved over it, or inside a stone wall that predates the tank.

What decides the price is rarely the tank. It is the route to it and what has to be put back. Reinstating a driveway or a set of granite steps can cost more than moving the steel did, and a quote that does not say which of those it includes is not comparable to one that does.

Disposal Rules for a Removed Maine Oil Tank

The tank does not simply go to a scrap yard as metal. Maine sets out what happens to it, and the rules are unusually specific.

Used underground tanks cannot be sold for reuse and must go to a qualified disposal contractor.
Bare steel and asphalt coated steel tanks cannot be reinstalled anywhere, in any use.
Every disposal transaction carries a bill of sale recording the tank’s former use, with a warning that it is not gas free and not suitable for food or drinking water.
A closed underground tank cannot be repurposed for above ground oil storage, except with the State Fire Marshal’s approval or a licensed engineer’s certification.

The removal itself is carried out to API Recommended Practice 1604 and the Appendix J procedure. The rule that puts a Maine Certified Underground Oil Storage Tank Installer on site is tied to tanks that have contained a Class 1 liquid, which the abandonment statute and the Department’s own note treat as gasoline and similar fuels. Heating oil is not one, so that requirement does not attach to a house tank.

Disposal provisions from ch. 691 section 11(D)(5) and (6), removal practice from section 11(D)(2), installer requirement from section 11(D)(3) and 38 M.R.S. section 566-A(5). Read August 2026.

What Changes an Underground Oil Tank Removal Price

Four things, and only one of them is about the tank.

Access. Whether a machine reaches the tank or the job turns into hand digging.
What sits over it. Lawn is one price. Bitumen, granite or a deck is another, and the reinstatement is usually the larger half.
What is still inside. A tank that was drained properly is quicker than one carrying a foot of oil and sludge.
The ground underneath. Nobody can price this in advance, and a quote that stays silent on it has not removed the risk, it has only declined to say who is carrying it.

The published figures and where they disagree are on the Portland ME oil tank removal page.

Buried Oil Tank Questions From Maine Owners

How long does removing a buried oil tank take?: The excavation on a straightforward residential tank is usually a single day. The part that sets the date is the written notice, which Maine requires the Department to have received at least ten business days before closure, so the calendar rather than the digging is what decides when you can start.
Do I need a site assessment when a heating oil tank comes out in Maine?: Not under the closure rule. Chapter 691 exempts on-site consumptive use heating oil facilities from the Appendix P site assessment, and the rule notes explicitly that assessments are required for heavy oil but not for number two, kerosene and other heating oils stored and burned on the same premises. That is an exemption from a formal assessment, not a reason to backfill over ground nobody looked at.
Can I leave the tank and just fill it with sand?: Only if it meets the test for abandonment in place, which is about whether removal is practicable rather than what you would prefer. If it does stay, a notice goes on the property deed within thirty days.
What happens to the tank after it is lifted out?: It goes to a qualified disposal contractor. Maine does not allow a used underground tank to be sold on for reuse, bare steel and asphalt coated tanks cannot be reinstalled anywhere, and the disposal transaction carries a bill of sale recording what the tank held.
What if we find oil in the ground?: The job changes shape. A discharge is reported to the Department, and Maine's own guidance is that reporting a spill within two hours keeps the responsible party clear of fines. Clean-up then runs under a written agreement with the Department, which is also the condition attached to any reimbursement from the state fund.

Ask About a Buried Tank in Portland, ME

Tell us roughly where it sits and what is over it. If you have the registration number or an old delivery record, that shortens the notice paperwork considerably.