Does an open LUST cleanup near a Iowa 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: 555 of Iowa's 6,334 recorded leak incidents are still open, and each one has a location, a status and a reporting date.

UST Check → leak sites → Iowa

Leaking underground storage tanks in Iowa

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

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

6,334leak incidents on record

555cleanups still open

5,737closed — No Further Action

8.8%share still open

2018most recent report

Iowa cities with the most open cleanups

City	Leak incidents	Cleanups still open
Council Bluffs	151	21
Dubuque	118	20
Cedar Rapids	225	18
Sioux City	184	17
Des Moines	489	14
Davenport	181	14
Bettendorf	57	13
Waterloo	115	11
Le Mars	27	7
Fort Dodge	72	6
Keokuk	27	6
Maquoketa	23	6
Oelwein	23	6
Anamosa	20	6
Mason City	84	5
Muscatine	62	5
Newton	48	5
Webster City	27	5
Iowa City	79	4
Ottumwa	60	4
Cedar Falls	55	4
Marion	39	4
Denison	27	4
Winterset	22	4
Independence	20	4
West Branch	14	4
Carter Lake	9	4
Ames	82	3
Clinton	62	3
Marshalltown	62	3
Burlington	55	3
Storm Lake	37	3
Indianola	34	3
Decorah	32	3
Clear Lake	31	3
Atlantic	30	3
Creston	27	3
Fort Madison	22	3
Missouri Valley	20	3
Red Oak	20	3

Iowa 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
Pottawattamie	221	33
Linn	314	31
Scott	294	31
Dubuque	156	25
Woodbury	234	23
Polk	676	20
Black Hawk	197	17
Lee	65	11
Jones	49	11
Cerro Gordo	131	10
Clinton	114	10
Webster	99	10
Fayette	53	10
Clayton	50	10
Johnson	141	9
Muscatine	82	9
Cedar	65	9
Jackson	45	9
Plymouth	63	8
Benton	59	8
Warren	82	7
Jasper	76	7
Carroll	61	7
Page	49	7
Iowa	47	7
Monona	41	7
Buchanan	38	7
Audubon	17	7
Story	146	6
Wapello	68	6
Hamilton	54	6
Crawford	53	6
Hardin	47	6
Winneshiek	46	6
Madison	37	6
Louisa	26	6
Dallas	80	5
Marshall	80	5
Poweshiek	66	5
Kossuth	49	5

Most recently reported leaks in Iowa

Reported	Site	City	Substance	Status
2018-08-10	GIT-N-GO #27	Des Moines	not reported	not reported
2018-07-09	PRONTO MARKET	Manly	not reported	not reported
2018-06-08	CASEY'S GENERAL STORE 1138	Charles City	not reported	not reported
2018-06-01	GUDENKAUF TOWING AND REPAIR	Winthrop	not reported	not reported
2018-05-25	FORMER ALBERTS AUTO	Cedar Rapids	not reported	not reported
2018-05-24	MULDER OIL	Orange City	not reported	not reported
2018-05-24	ABANDONED FILLING STATION	Corning	not reported	No Further Action
2018-04-17	CITY OF DECORAH	Decorah	not reported	No Further Action
2018-04-10	ELLIOTT'S GENERAL STORE	Moravia	not reported	not reported
2018-03-30	CASEYS GENERAL STORE 3640	Waukee	not reported	No Further Action
2018-03-08	BP-SUPERSTOP II	Altoona	not reported	not reported
2018-02-19	VETERANS ADMINISTRATION	Knoxville	not reported	No Further Action
2018-01-10	LINCOLN FARM & HOME	Glenwood	not reported	not reported
2017-12-19	CASEY'S GENERAL STORE 2992	Fonda	not reported	not reported
2017-11-27	EXPRESS MART	Clarksville	not reported	not reported
2017-11-22	CASEYS GENERAL STORE 3439	Lime Springs	not reported	not reported
2017-11-13	KCK'S FOOD AND FUEL	Schleswig	not reported	not reported
2017-10-19	CLEAR LAKE CITGO	Clear Lake	not reported	not reported
2017-10-17	CITY OF MANCHESTER	Manchester	not reported	not reported
2017-10-06	THE END ZONE	Boone	not reported	not reported

Screen a specific Iowa 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 Iowa — registered facilities, open and closed tanks, county by county — is on the Iowa 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