Does an open LUST cleanup near a California property affect a sale?

An open cleanup on or near a parcel is what a lender's Phase I environmental site assessment flags, usually weeks into a deal. The public record is available on day one: 2,258 of California's 41,662 recorded leak incidents are still open, and each one has a location, a status and a reporting date.

UST Check → leak sites → California

Leaking underground storage tanks in California

Name: California leaking underground storage tank (LUST) incidents (EPA UST Finder)
Creator: UST Check
License: https://ustcheck.com/tos/

Leak (LUST) incidents California's tank program has reported to EPA — what is still in cleanup, and what the state has closed. Data vintage 2024-12-04.

41,662leak incidents on record

2,258cleanups still open

39,385closed — No Further Action

5.4%share still open

2022most recent report

California cities with the most open cleanups

City	Leak incidents	Cleanups still open
OAKLAND	848	122
LOS ANGELES	1,175	103
LONG BEACH	421	72
STOCKTON	529	65
SAN FRANCISCO	2,165	52
SACRAMENTO	854	49
SAN JOSE	1,265	45
SANTA ROSA	439	43
SANTA ANA	319	37
SAN DIEGO	1,358	34
HAYWARD	313	26
FREMONT	219	25
RIVERSIDE	303	22
HUNTINGTON BEACH	206	21
COMPTON	120	21
PETALUMA	203	20
CARSON	161	20
SALINAS	176	18
BLYTHE	162	17
MERCED	148	17
SANTA BARBARA	298	16
BERKELEY	231	16
SAN MATEO	176	15
NEWARK	40	15
GARDEN GROVE	150	14
WHITTIER	148	14
EMERYVILLE	88	14
PARAMOUNT	62	13
CULVER CITY	95	12
FRESNO	493	11
BUENA PARK	107	11
EL CAJON	226	10
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO	209	10
IRVINE	188	10
COSTA MESA	184	10
CHULA VISTA	153	10
TORRANCE	126	10
ALAMEDA	119	10
BURLINGAME	106	10
LA HABRA	94	10

California counties with the most open cleanups

EPA's county rollup. Each county page adds the tank inventory — registered facilities, open and closed tanks.

County	Leak incidents	Cleanups still open
Los Angeles	7,499	522
Alameda	2,540	268
Orange	3,016	201
San Diego	3,079	101
Sonoma	1,204	101
Riverside	1,358	79
San Joaquin	913	73
Sacramento	1,232	72
San Mateo	1,338	70
Santa Clara	2,635	67
Contra Costa	903	59
San Francisco	2,167	53
Mendocino	424	44
San Bernardino	1,081	43
Fresno	890	43
Merced	349	35
Monterey	415	32
Humboldt	628	31
Santa Barbara	656	29
Tulare	503	27
Imperial	233	25
Solano	535	20
Ventura	1,369	17
Kern	905	16
Marin	367	16
Santa Cruz	366	15
Shasta	354	14
Yolo	290	14
Tuolumne	132	13
Stanislaus	465	12
Napa	343	12
El Dorado	197	12
Placer	456	11
Yuba	114	11
Kings	158	9
Madera	219	8
Lassen	46	8
Butte	289	7
Nevada	224	7
Siskiyou	199	7

Most recently reported leaks in California

Reported	Site	City	Substance	Status
2022-11-04	Post Office Sinkhole	Earp	Unknown Petroleum	Open

Screen a specific California address

State counts set the context; a deal needs the record around one parcel — registered tanks on it, facilities within 500 and 1,500 feet, leak cleanups with status and distance, every line cited to the official record. Same data a Phase I environmental assessment starts from, in your hands before the offer.

Screen an address — $49

Tank inventory for California — registered facilities, open and closed tanks, county by county — is on the California county tables.

This is a screen of EPA-registered tank and leak records, not an environmental site assessment. State registries are incomplete by design: tanks removed before 1986 and most residential heating-oil tanks were never registered, so a clean screen cannot prove the absence of a tank. "Closed" means a tank was taken out of service per the registry — it does not certify that no contamination remains. EPA's LUST layer carries a county field for some states and not others, so city is the primary breakdown here; the county table is EPA's own county rollup.

source: EPA UST Finder EPA data vintage 2024-12-04