How to Find Oil Tank Records using Portland Maps

Photo from www.oiltanksollutions.com
Oil heat was very popular in Portland and the surrounding areas before natural gas was readily available. Many oil storage tanks were buried underground so they were out of the way. Unfortunately, steel tanks rust over time allowing the environmentally hazardous oil to seep into the surrounding soil and ground water.

If the tank did not leak and is no longer in use all remaining oil will need to be removed and the tank filled to keep it from collapsing. Sand works well.

​If the tank did leak you will need to get a bid by a contractor licensed in Oregon to remediate oil tanks.  

Not All Areas of Portland Have Oil Tank Records: 

City of Portland: "These permits were generated by the Fire Bureau from 1936-1990 to inspect the installation and renovation of above ground and underground residential storage tanks
​
There are many areas that are within the City limits today, but were outside the city limits when the tank work was performed. We do not have any permits for those addresses (east of 92nd Avenue, south of SE Foster Rd, north of Columbia Blvd, Maywood Park, Rose City)
Even though permits were required by the Fire Bureau, we might not have one for a particular address because it was lost or the owner never filed one."

If the property is outside of the permit area go to step 2 to see if there are any records of leaks or decommissioning by the state of Oregon. 
Step 1: Is there an Oil Tank Permit?
  • Go to www.portlandmaps.com (only works in Portland)
  • Type in the address of the property in the top right corner of the screen and hit enter.​​​ (Use the address in the photo to follow along)
  • Scroll down on the right hand side of the screen and click on "Permits & Zoning." You should see the picture below.
  • Click on the "Permits" button.
  • Scroll down until you see the field labeled "Underground Storage Tanks."
    • Note: if you do not see the field "Underground Storage Tanks" Then there are no permits for the property or the property is out of the area where permits are available. See Above "Not All Areas of Portland Have Records"
  • For this property we have two oil tank permits. You can download each of them as a TIF or JPG picture file.
  • Click on "32515" under the ID section in the above picture to get a photograph of the oil tank permit as seen below. 
  • There are just a few things on this permit that will concern you. Note: these permits are hard to read and usually blurry. 
    • Is there an oil tank? If there is a permit then there was an oil tank. No oil tank permit does not mean there isn't an oil tank. Go to step 3. 
    • Oil tank Location- to the right of the fuel tank size (in this case 500 gallons) there is an "X" by "Yard" under the column Underground. This means the is a 500 gallon underground oil tank in the yard somewhere. 
    • Note: If the oil tank location is marked under the column to the right of underground in the "Exposed" column and the "X" is next to the "Basement" then the oil tank is above ground in the basement. If you don't see an oil tank in the basement then the tank has already been removed. 
Step 2: Has It Leaked & Been Decommissioned?
Note: The DEQ website typically only has records for oil tanks (decommissioned and non decommissioned) that are known to have leaked. It is currently voluntary to register an oil tank that was decommissioned and didn't leak. 
  • Click on the link "26-13-0373" under the column "log Number" for more information.
This webpage will tell you:
  • If it is known to have leaked
  • Who is/was in charge of the clean up
  • If it has been decommissioned there will be a "Closure Letter" at the bottom of the page as seen in the photo below labeled "HOT26-13-0373.pdf."
  • If you do not see a closure letter then it is not likely it has been decommissioned.  
Step 3: Always have an Oil Tank Scan
  • We do not do oil tank scans.
  • The only way to know for sure if there is an underground oil tank is to have an oil tank scan performed. 
For an unbiased oil tank scan Call Rush Locates: