The Montana State Board of Health was first established in 1901. In 1967, the Legislative Assembly created the Department of Health. The State Board of Health continued in an advisory capacity, but the day-to-day administration of the state laws regarding public health and related matters were relegated to the new department. The State Board of Health became the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences (DHES) in 1971 with the passage of Governor Anderson’s Executive Reorganization Order 9-71.
The Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board (PTRCB) was created in 1989 by the 51st Montana Legislature to administer the Petroleum Tank Release Cleanup Fund, also created by the 51st Legislature. The purpose of the Fund was to protect public health and safety and the environment by providing prompt detection and cleanup of petroleum tank releases, to provide adequate financial resources and effective procedures through which tank owners and operators may undertake and be reimbursed for corrective action and payment to third parties for damages caused by releases from petroleum storage tanks, to assist certain tank owners and operators in meeting financial assurance requirements under state and federal law governing releases from petroleum storage tanks, and to provide tank owners with incentives to improve petroleum storage tank facilities in order to minimize the likelihood of accidental releases.
In 1991, though it remained a part of the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, the role of the Environmental Sciences Division was considerably expanded to include Natural Resource Damage Assessment, a Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board, a Superfund Section, and an Underground Storage Tanks Section. In 1995, the Environmental Sciences Divison became its own agency, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
As of 2025, the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board is administratively attached to DEQ and is responsible for administering the Petroleum Tank Release Cleanup Fund.
These records of the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board (1989-2010), which is administratively attached to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, consist of minutes of Board meetings (1989-2010, 2013, 2016-2017) and suspended policies of the Board (1991-2008).
Arrangement is at the collection level. No box-folder inventory is available.
Collection open for research.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.
In 2024, the various collections of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality were integrated under one collection identifier, RS 494, in order to help facilitate access, reduce redundancy in the MTHS catalog, and to follow best archival practices.
Collections from Montana Department of Environmental Quality's various Divisions and
Bureaus that were previously treated as separate entities are now integrated into
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Library & Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society Research Center catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search under these terms.