Does an open LUST cleanup near a Montana 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: 991 of Montana's 4,661 recorded leak incidents are still open, and each one has a location, a status and a reporting date.

UST Check → leak sites → Montana

Leaking underground storage tanks in Montana

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

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

4,661leak incidents on record

991cleanups still open

3,670closed — No Further Action

21.3%share still open

2024most recent report

Montana cities with the most open cleanups

City	Leak incidents	Cleanups still open
Billings	361	110
Great Falls	241	72
Helena	180	45
Havre	104	43
Kalispell	148	40
Glendive	74	27
Miles City	69	27
Butte	85	22
Hardin	51	22
Laurel	41	22
Whitefish	51	16
Glasgow	43	16
Missoula	246	15
Forsyth	31	14
Bozeman	117	12
Malta	27	12
Polson	61	11
Sidney	45	11
Saint Marie	43	11
Ronan	41	11
Townsend	34	11
Columbus	28	11
Chinook	21	11
Conrad	39	10
Poplar	26	10
Cut Bank	49	9
Shelby	46	9
Colstrip	28	9
Browning	23	8
Denton	15	8
Broadus	24	7
Baker	23	7
Harlowton	17	7
Fairfield	14	7
Big Sandy	13	7
Lewistown	64	6
Ennis	32	6
Terry	20	6
White Sulphur Springs	14	6
Red Lodge	23	5

Montana 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
Yellowstone	472	151
Cascade	323	83
Flathead	273	63
Lewis and Clark	236	52
Hill	130	47
Roosevelt	129	37
Lake	200	36
Valley	110	36
Rosebud	86	34
Dawson	87	33
Big Horn	112	30
Custer	72	27
Glacier	122	26
Silver Bow	97	25
Missoula	314	22
Fergus	113	22
Gallatin	222	18
Phillips	40	18
Pondera	71	16
Richland	66	16
Stillwater	56	16
Blaine	48	16
Chouteau	63	15
Madison	73	14
Toole	68	14
Broadwater	45	11
Carbon	57	10
Teton	50	10
Fallon	26	9
Wheatland	26	9
Powder River	27	8
Jefferson	60	7
Judith Basin	43	7
Carter	13	7
Lincoln	148	6
Park	99	6
Sanders	89	6
Beaverhead	80	6
Liberty	22	6
Prairie	22	6

Most recently reported leaks in Montana

Reported	Site	City	Substance	Status
2024-09-17	Town Pump (Ronan)	Ronan	Diesel	Open
2024-01-08	Town Pump (Ronan)	Ronan	Unknown	No Further Action
2022-10-24	Coulter Automotive	Charlo	Gasoline (containing <=10% ethanol)	Open
2022-08-27	Stuart's Service Center	Saint Ignatius	not reported	Open
2022-08-27	Mountain View Cenex (fka Stuart's Service Center)	Saint Ignatius	Unknown Petroleum	Open
2022-05-17	Cut Bank Municipal Airport	Cut Bank	Gasoline (containing <=10% ethanol)	Open
2021-10-25	Valley Grocery #2 (Abandoned)	Hays	Diesel	Open
2021-07-13	Dyno Mart	Ronan	not reported	Open
2021-04-29	Kicking Horse Job Corps Center	Ronan	Unknown Petroleum	Open
2018-09-26	JENKINS GARAGE #5291	Three Forks	not reported	Open
2018-09-21	LAKESIDE MARINA #5290	Lakeside	not reported	Open
2018-08-20	MDT NASHUA TANK #5285	Nashua	not reported	Open
2018-08-03	JOHN JUMP TRUCKING #5283	Kalispell	not reported	Open
2018-05-30	HOME RANCH STORE #5284	Polebridge	not reported	Open
2018-02-16	MOUNTAIN VIEW CO OP #5272	Dutton	not reported	No Further Action
2018-02-02	LHC INC #5271	Kalispell	not reported	No Further Action
2018-01-10	PAYNE REALTY #5262	Livingston	not reported	No Further Action
2018-01-04	SOCO EXPRESS 15TH & BROADWATER #5261	Billings	not reported	Open
2017-11-13	A 1 TOWING (FMR RAINBOW FORD & MERCURY Inc.) #5258	Shelby	not reported	Open
2017-11-05	SWEET GRASS CENEX #5252	Big Timber	not reported	Open

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