UST Fund Assignment of Payments

Effective August 24, 2007, Section 57.8a of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) [415 ILCS 5/57.8a] allows an owner or operator of a leaking underground storage tank (UST) to assign any payment of his or hers which is on the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s (Illinois EPA)  UST Fund Payment Priority List. This assignment can be made to any bank, financial institution, lender, or other person that provides financing to (i) the owner or operator or (ii) the owner’s or operator’s consultant.

Assignments may be made only on approved payment amounts on the Illinois EPA’s UST Fund Payment Priority List. An individual assignment form must be completed for each approved payment amount. Once completed, the form should be sent by the owner or operator to the Illinois EPA as soon as possible.

An assignment made pursuant to Section 57.8a of the Act is irrevocable. An approved payment amount can be assigned to only one assignee, and that assignee cannot subsequently reassign a payment. Costs associated with making an assignment are not eligible for payment from the UST Fund.

To allow sufficient time for processing, the Illinois EPA strongly recommends that the owner or operator submit an assignment of payment form before the “Running Total” amount (see  UST Fund Payment Priority List) that is associated with the approved payment amount being assigned is $10,000,000 or less. Submission of an assignment of payment form for any approved payment amount when the associated “Running Total” amount is $10,000,000 or less may not provide the Illinois EPA adequate time for processing of the assignment.

Please note that checks for UST Fund approved payment amounts are issued by the State Comptroller. Assigned payments remain subject to deductions and offsets made by the Comptroller under Section 10.05 of the State Comptroller Act. To allow application of the Comptroller’s deduction and offset system, the Comptroller will make the check for an assigned payment amount payable to the owner or operator in care of the assignee, and the check will be mailed to the address of the assignee.

To assign an approved payment under Section 57.8a of the Act, an owner or operator must complete and submit an  UST Fund Assignment of Payment Form to the Illinois EPA at the following address:

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Bureau of Land

Leaking Underground Storage Tank Claims Unit

1021 North Grand Avenue East

P.O. Box 19276

Springfield, IL 62794-9276

If you have any questions, please contact the Illinois EPA’s Bureau of Land Leaking UST Claims Unit at 217-524-3300.