Buried oil tanks raise increasing environmental, safety, legal and economic concerns for home owners and home buyers because oil leaks underground or even within buildings can lead to both environmental damage and very costly cleanup operations.
Having to install a new above ground indoor oil storage tank involves significant expense to remove the old tank and install the new one. Removing or abandoning a buried oil tank is more costly.
If an oil tank has leaked the cost to clean up contaminated soils can be very significant, so much so that a property buyer should not complete the purchase before questions about the condition of oil tanks, past or present at the property, and the chances of leaks from buried oil storage tanks have been answered satisfactorily.
More information may be found at the Maryland Department of the Environment website
