§ 282.76 Montana State-Administered Program.

(a) History of the approval of Montana's Program. The State of Montana is approved to administer and enforce an underground storage tank program in lieu of the Federal program under Subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 6991, et seq. The State's program, as administered by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), was approved by the EPA pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 6991c and Part 281 of this chapter. The EPA published the notice of final determination approving the Montana underground storage tank base program effective on March 4, 1996. A subsequent program revision application was approved by the EPA and became effective on October 15, 2019.

(b) Enforcement authority. Montana has primary responsibility for administering and enforcing its federally approved underground storage tank program. However, the EPA retains the authority to exercise its corrective action, inspection, and enforcement authorities under sections 9003(h), 9005, and 9006 of Subtitle I of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 6991b(h), 6991d and 6991e, as well as under any other applicable statutory and regulatory provisions.

(c) Retention of program approval. To retain program approval, Montana must revise its approved program to adopt new changes to the Federal Subtitle I program, in accordance with section 9004 of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 6991c, and 40 CFR part 281, subpart E. If Montana obtains approval for the revised requirements pursuant to section 9004 of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 6991c, the newly approved statutory and regulatory provisions will be added to this subpart and notice of any change will be published in the Federal Register.