This agreement provides assistance to the state of louisiana leaking underground storage tank (LUST) program

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) received a formula grant award of $1,021,816 from EPA Region 6 under the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Corrective Action Program (CFDA 66.805) for the period October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. This non-competitive grant provides funding to support Louisiana's corrective action program addressing petroleum releases from underground storage tanks (USTs). The program finances investigation of suspected petroleum releases, oversight and enforcement of corrective actions by responsible parties, direct remediation activities when owners or operators are unable or unwilling to perform cleanup work, and associated administrative management functions.

Under this award, LDEQ will deliver key products and services including accurate reporting of state cleanup data submitted to the EPA's LUST4 (semi-annual activities) database system in a timely manner, completion and submission of mid-year assessments and the EPA Final Self-Assessment Questionnaire, information support to EPA for regional program overview completion through interviews and file reviews, and submission of updated quality management plans. The program objectives focus on investigating suspected petroleum releases, overseeing UST release cleanups to increase the pace of initiation and completion, and completing a specified number of cleanup activities while maintaining administrative coordination according to EPA guidelines. No subrecipients are included in this assistance agreement.

Specifically, this agreement provides funding for its LUST corrective action program, which includes assessment, remediation, and enforcement related activities. The main objectives of the LUST corrective program are to investigate suspected petroleum releases and to perform corrective action on these releases. Activities:major activities include investigating suspected petroleum releases, overseeing and enforcing corrective action by owners or operators, and performing direct corrective action activities when those owners or operators are unknown, unwilling, or unable to perform those activities themselves. The program elements in the 2026 LUST corrective action grants program are those activities necessary to implement the state's LUST trust fund response program. Those activities include: (1) coordinate and perform administrative management and staff work necessary for responding to releases according to the environmental protection agency's (EPA's) guidelines; (2) be responsible for a specific number of cleanups completed; (3) oversee all underground storage tank (UST) release/cleanups with the intent of increasing the pace at which they are initiated and completed; (4) provide and end-of-year evaluation of the state's performance in administering the LUST grant. Subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables to EPA: (1) state accurately reports the state cleanup data that is entered into the semi-annual activities (LUST4) system in a timely manner; (2) state will complete and submit a mid-year assessment and respond to the EPA final self-assessment questionnaire; (3) state will provide information through interviews, file reviews, and data analysis to assist EPA in the completion of the regional program overview; and (4) state will submit and updated quality management plan and the quality assurance project plan 60 days prior to expiration of current plans. The primary outcome is a reduction in the backlog of UST releases for which cleanups have not yet been completed. The primary beneficiary is the state corrective action program.