Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund Program Information

There are two sources of revenue for the DERT fund. The first is an annual registration fee and the second is a solvent surcharge.

The annual registration fee is computed as follows:

Size of dry cleaner Gallons of chlorinated solvent used Annual
registration fee
Small 0 to 140 $500
Medium 141 to 360 $1,000
Large >360 $1,500

The solvent surcharge is reported and paid by the solvent suppliers on a quarterly basis. The solvent surcharge imposed is $8 per gallon for PCE, TCE and other chlorinated solvents.

Types of Chlorinated Dry Cleaning Solvents:

Under the statute, owners and operators are required to pay a "deductible" of $25,000 for site investigation and remediation of each site cleaned up in the program. The fund places a cap of fund moneys spent to $1 million dollars per site and limits the total fund moneys spent on any one dry cleaner site in any one fiscal year to 25 percent of the total monies in the DERT Fund.

List of Solvent Suppliers - Who are in compliance with RSMo 260.940

The dry cleaning facility owner or operator will be held responsible for paying the solvent surcharges and any applicable penalties and interest if the supplier does not pay the solvent surcharge to the state. You will need to keep all receipts from the solvent suppliers that provide solvents to you to show that you paid the solvent surcharge. Also be sure to ask your solvent suppliers for a copy of their receipt from the department for the last quarterly solvent surcharge reporting period.  The periods for solvent surcharge reporting are from January 1 to March 31, April 1 to June 30, July 1 to September 30, and October 1 to December 31 of each calendar year.

The department issued the first solvent surcharge receipts in April 2004 and these receipts are issued quarterly within 60 days after the end of the quarter. The following link opens a list of solvent suppliers that the department has been informed of that provide chlorinated solvents to dry cleaning facilities. The first list indicates which solvent providers are in compliance with RSMo, Section 260.940. 

The second list indicates the solvent providers who are not in compliance with RSMo, Section 260.940. These providers have not submitted reports of past surcharges or are otherwise in non-compliance with the statute.

These lists will be updated as new information is made available to the department. You can also call us at 573-526-8913 to obtain information on a solvent provider.

Solvent Suppliers List spreadsheet PDF 62 KB

Abandoned Dry Cleaning Facilities:
According to RSMo 260.925 , the DERT Fund monies cannot be used to pay for corrective action at abandoned dry cleaning facilities taken out of service prior to July 1, 2009, that were not documented by or reported to the department by July 1, 2009.

Site Investigation and Remediation Issues
Work plans for site investigation and remediation activities should be developed in accordance with the Missouri Risk-Based Corrective Action (MRBCA) Technical Guidance Document.

Requirements of the risk-based remediation rule will be incorporated into the decision making regarding site investigation and corrective action at dry cleaning sites.

Site Prioritization
In accordance with RSMo 260.905 , the department has criteria to prioritize the expenditures of funds from the DERT Fund. These criteria include: consideration of the benefit to be derived from corrective action compared to the cost of conducting such corrective action; the degree to which human health and the environment are affected by exposure to the contamination; the present and future use of an affected aquifer or surface water; the effect that interim or immediate remedial measures (ie: source removal) will have on future costs; and additional relevant factors.

The development of a prioritization methodology for dry cleaning sites is ongoing by the DERT Fund Unit. It is anticipated that site assessments (Phase I and Phase II) will be required so that an initial evaluation can be made of the property. This will provide the department the necessary information to evaluate whether additional investigation is needed, whether no further action status can be granted, or whether remedial alternatives for cleaning up the site can be determined.

Site characterization data can be used to help prioritize dry cleaning sites to help determine which sites are a higher threat to human health and the environment. Initially, it is anticipated that sites with a higher prioritization are to receive funding before sites of very low prioritization. The method of site prioritization is currently being researched by polling other states and other Missouri Department of Natural Resources programs to establish site prioritization ranking criteria.

Additional information will be added to this site as program development continues for the DERT Fund. Please check back regularly.