# Presentation: 338876

## SPCC Rule Amendments

- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Office of Emergency Management
- December 2006

*Streamlined Requirements for Regulated Facilities*

## Agenda

- Overview of SPCC Rule
- December 2006 Amendments (SPCC I)
- Smaller Capacity Oil Storage Facilities
- Oil-Filled Operational Equipment
- Other Regulatory Revisions
- Compliance Dates & Extension Proposal
- Oil Discharge Reporting
- Questions and Answers
- Additional Rulemaking (SPCC II)

## SPCC Rule Overview

- Oil Pollution Prevention and Response regulation (40 CFR 112)
- Outlines requirements for prevention of, preparedness for, and response to oil discharges
- Prevention requirements called the “SPCC rule”
- Includes requirements for Facility Response Plans (FRPs)
- Requirements help prevent oil discharges from reaching navigable waters or adjoining shorelines
- Requires specific facilities to develop SPCC Plans
- Details equipment, workforce, procedures, and training to prevent, control, and provide adequate countermeasures to a discharge of oil

## Applicability Flow Chart

*Source: SPCC Guidance for Regional Inspectors, www.epa.gov/oilspill*

## Estimate of the Universe of Facilities Affected by the Final Rule

## December 2006 Amendments

- Final Rule published December 2006
- Final Rule effective 60 days after publication
- Rule proposal was published December 12, 2005
- Provides streamlined, alternative methods for compliance with oil spill prevention requirements

## New Streamlined Requirements for...

- Facilities with an oil storage capacity of 10,000 gallons or less (“qualified facilities”)
- Oil-filled operational equipment
- Mobile refuelers

## The rule also...

- Exempts motive power containers
- Eliminates certain requirements for animal fats and vegetable oils
- Provides compliance date extension for farms

## Summary of Estimated Cost Savings for 2006 Final Rule Amendments (per year)

- Total savings: $127 million
- (Range $95 - $163 million)
- Qualified Facilities: $38 million
- Qualified OFOE: ($39-$67 million)
- Motive Power: ($1-$5 million)
- Mobile Refuelers: ($17-$51 million)

## Estimating Compliance Cost Savings

- 1. 	Estimate the universe of facilities affected by the final rule
- 2. 	Estimate the difference in compliance costs between the SPCC rule as amended in 2002 and the 2006 final rule
- 3. 	Estimate the total reduction in compliance costs to potentially affected facilities

## Qualified Facilities

- Must meet eligibility criteria to use alternative option
- Streamlined regulatory requirements
- Self-certified SPCC Plan instead of one reviewed and certified by a Professional Engineer
- Streamlined integrity testing requirements
- Streamlined facility security requirements
- May also use qualified oil-filled operational equipment option since an impracticability determination by a PE is not necessary

## Qualified Facilities Eligibility Criteria 

- Facility must have 10,000 gallons or less in aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity
- For the 3 years prior to Plan certification, or since becoming subject to the rule if it has operated for less than 3 years, the facility must not have had:
- A single discharge of oil to navigable waters exceeding 1,000 U.S. gallons, or
- Two discharges of oil to navigable waters each exceeding 42 U.S. gallons within any 12-month period

## Reportable Discharge History

- When determining the applicability of this criterion, the gallon amount(s) specified (either 1,000 or 42) refers to the amount of oil that actually reaches navigable waters or adjoining shorelines, not the total amount of oil spilled.
- Oil discharges that result from natural disasters, acts of war, or terrorism are not included
- Facilities that have a reportable oil discharge after self-certifying the SPCC Plan do not automatically lose eligibility
- However, the Regional Administrator has the authority to require a Plan amendment

## Self-Certification

- Owner/operator attests that he/she is familiar with the rule and has visited and examined the facility
- Owner/operator also certifies that:
- The Plan has been prepared in accordance with accepted and sound industry practices and standards and with the rule requirements
- Procedures for required inspections and testing have been established
- The Plan is being fully implemented
- The facility meets the qualifying criteria
- The Plan does not deviate from rule requirements except as allowed and as certified by a PE
- Management approves the Plan and has committed resources to implement it

**Notes:**
Owner/operator must also ensure that plan is developed in accordance with good engineering practice 

## Alternative Measures

- May use environmentally equivalent measures and make impracticability determinations
- _if_ reviewed and certified by a PE
- Rule provides alternative requirements for integrity testing and security
- do not need to be reviewed and certified by a PE

## Technical Amendments

- May self-certify technical amendments as long as a PE has not certified the portion being changed
- If a PE certified the affected portion of the Plan, then a PE must certify the technical amendment

## Alternative Integrity Testing Requirements for Qualified Facilities

- Test and inspect each aboveground container for integrity on a regular schedule and whenever material repairs are made
- Flexibility to determine, in accordance with industry standards:
- Appropriate qualifications for personnel performing tests and inspections
- Frequency and type of testing and inspections that take into account container size, configuration, and design
- No longer specifically requires both visual inspection and another testing method

## Alternative Facility Security Requirements for Qualified Facilities

- To prevent acts of vandalism and assist in the discovery of oil discharges, owners/operators of qualified facilities may describe how they:
- Control access to the oil handling, processing and storage areas
- Secure master flow and drain valves and out-of-service and loading/unloading connections of oil pipelines
- Prevent unauthorized access to starter controls on oil pumps
- Address the appropriateness of security lighting

## Qualified Facilities - Summary

| If a facility... | And the facility... | Then the owner/operator of the facility...  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ...has 10,000 gallons or less in aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity 
 | ...meets the oil discharge history criteria described below  | ...may prepare a self-certified SPCC Plan instead of one reviewed and certified by a Professional Engineer (PE)
...may meet tailored facility security and tank integrity inspection requirements without PE certification
...may prepare a plan which includes PE-certified environmentally equivalent measures or impracticability determinations that would require PE certification for only the portions dealing with environmental equivalence and impracticability determinations.  The remaining portions of the plan could be self-certified by the facility owner/operator.  |

- To use these alternatives a facility must meet requirements for its reportable discharge history.  The facility must _not_ have had (1) a single discharge of oil to navigable waters exceeding 1,000 U.S. gallons or (2) two discharges of oil to navigable waters each exceeding 42 U.S. gallons within any twelve-month period, in the three years prior to the SPCC Plan certification date, or since becoming subject to 40 CFR part 112 if operating for less than three years.

## Oil-Filled Operational Equipment: Definition

- Equipment that includes an oil storage container (or multiple containers) in which the oil is present solely to support the function of the apparatus or the device
- Not considered a bulk storage container
- Does not include oil-filled manufacturing equipment (flow-through process)
- Piping might be considered a component of oil-filled operational equipment:
- Yes, if it is inherent to the equipment and used solely to facilitate operation of the device
- No, if it is not intrinsic to the equipment (i.e., flowlines, transfer piping or piping associated with a process)

**Notes:**
From preamble: When piping is intrinsic to the oil-filled operational equipment in a closed loop system, i.e., inherent to the equipment and used solely to facilitate operation of the device, (e.g., for lubrication) then EPA will consider the piping to be a component of the oil-filled operational equipment. However, piping not intrinsic to the operational equipment (i.e., flowlines, transfer piping or piping associated with a process) will not be considered to be part of the oil-filled operational equipment. 

## Oil-Filled Operational Equipment

- Examples: hydraulic systems, lubricating systems, gear boxes, machining coolant systems, heat transfer systems, transformers, circuit breakers, electrical switches, other systems containing oil solely to enable the operation of the device

## Oil-Filled Operational Equipment

- Alternative to the general secondary containment requirements for qualified oil-filled operational equipment:
- Prepare an oil spill contingency plan and a written commitment of manpower, equipment, and materials
- Have an inspection or monitoring program to detect equipment failure and/or a discharge
- Individual impracticability determination for each piece of equipment is not required

## Oil-Filled Operational Equipment Eligibility Criteria

- For the 3 years prior to Plan certification, or since becoming subject to the rule if it has operated for less than 3 years, the facility must not have had:
- A single discharge of oil from any oil-filled operational equipment to navigable waters exceeding 1,000 U.S. gallons, or
- Two discharges of oil from any oil-filled operational equipment to navigable waters each exceeding 42 U.S. gallons within any 12-month period
- Eligibility determined by the reportable discharge history from the equipment, not the entire facility

## Contingency Plan

- Detailed oil spill response and removal plan to control, contain, and recover an oil discharge in quantities that may be harmful to navigable waters/adjoining shorelines
- Elements outlined in 40 CFR 109.5:
- Authorities, responsibilities, and duties of all persons, organizations, or agencies involved in oil removal operations
- Notification procedures for the purpose of early detection and timely notification of an oil discharge
- Provisions to ensure that full resource capability is known and can be committed during an oil discharge
- Provisions for well-defined and specific actions to be taken after discovery and notification of an oil discharge
- Procedures to facilitate recovery of damages and enforcement measures
- A sample contingency plan is available in the *SPCC Guidance for Regional Inspectors* available at www.epa.gov/oilspill

## Written Commitment

- Facilities must be able to implement the contingency plan
- Owner/operator must provide a written commitment of manpower, equipment, and materials to expeditiously control and remove any quantity of oil discharged that may be harmful
- Elements also included in 40 CFR 109.5

## Inspections and Monitoring Program Requirements

- Develop an appropriate set of procedures for inspections or a monitoring program for equipment
- Written description of the inspection or monitoring program included in SPCC Plan
- Keep a record of inspections and tests, signed by the appropriate supervisor or inspector, for three years

## Oil-Filled Operational Equipment - Summary

| If the facility... | And the equipment... | Then the owner/operator of the facility... |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ...has oil-filled operational equipment 
 | ...meets the oil discharge history criteria described below  | ...may implement an inspection and monitoring program, develop an oil spill contingency plan, and provide a written commitment of resources to control and remove oil discharged, for qualified equipment in lieu of secondary containment for the oil-filled operational equipment
...does not need to make an impracticability determination for each piece of equipment  |

- To use this alternative, a facility’s oil-filled operational equipment must meet requirements for its reportable discharge history.  The facility’s oil-filled operational equipment must _not_ have had (1) a single discharge of oil to navigable waters exceeding 1,000 U.S. gallons or (2) two discharges of oil to navigable waters each exceeding 42 U.S. gallons within any twelve-month period, in the three years prior to the SPCC Plan certification date, or since becoming subject to 40 CFR part 112 if operating for less than three years.

## Mobile Refuelers: Definition

- Bulk storage container onboard a vehicle or towed, that is designed or used solely to store and transport fuel for transfer into or from an aircraft, motor vehicle, locomotive, vessel, ground service equipment, or other oil storage container
- Include vehicles of various sizes equipped with a bulk storage container that is used to fuel or defuel aircraft, motor vehicles, locomotives, tanks, vessels, or other oil storage containers

## Mobile Refuelers

- Owners and operators of mobile refuelers at a non-transportation-related facility will no longer need to provide _sized_ secondary containment
- Sufficient to contain the capacity of the largest single compartment or container with enough volume to contain precipitation
- Does not apply to vehicles that are used primarily to store oil in a stationary location
- General secondary containment requirements still apply!

## General Secondary Containment Requirements

- General secondary containment should be designed to address the most likely discharge from the container
- Requires appropriate containment and/or diversionary structures or equipment to prevent a discharge to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines
- Allows for the use of certain types of active containment measures that prevent a discharge to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.

## Active Measures

- Active containment measures require deployment or other specific action by the owner or operator
- May be appropriate for discharges that occur during manned activities if it:
- Can contain the volume and rate of oil
- Is properly constructed
- Is deployed in a timely manner

## Motive Power Container: Definition 

- Any onboard bulk storage container used primarily to power the movement of a motor vehicle, or ancillary onboard oil-filled operational equipment
- Examples: automotive, airplane, or truck fuel tanks
- An onboard bulk storage container which is used to store or transfer oil for further distribution is not a motive power container
- Definition does not include oil drilling or workover equipment, including rigs
- But fuel tanks on trucks, automobiles, bulldozers, seismic exploration vehicles, or other earth-moving equipment at drilling or workover facilities are considered to be “motive power” containers

## Motive Power Containers

- Motive power containers exempted from SPCC rule
- Oil transfer activities occurring within an SPCC-regulated facility continue to be regulated
- Transfer of oil from an otherwise SPCC regulated facility’s AST gas pump into an automobile
- Transfer of oil from an otherwise SPCC regulated facility’s airport mobile refueler into an airplane

## Animal Fats and Vegetable Oils

- Removed sections for facilities with animal fats and vegetable oils that are not appropriate:
- Onshore oil production (§112.13)
- Onshore oil drilling and workover facilities (§112.14)
- Offshore oil drilling, production, or workover facilities (§112.15)
- EPA examining if differentiated SPCC requirements for animal fats and vegetable oils are appropriate

## Compliance Dates – Farms

- Farm: A facility on a tract of land devoted to the production of crops or raising of animals, including fish, which produced and sold, or normally would have produced and sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products during a year
- There is no capacity limitation associated with eligibility for the extension
- The compliance date is delayed until the effective date of a rule addressing farms
- EPA will announce the new compliance date in the Federal Register
- Farms subject to SPCC requirements on or before August 16, 2002 must maintain their Plans

## Compliance Dates – Facilities other than Farms (Current)

- Extension for facilities (other than farms) published February 2006

| A facility (other than a farm) starting operation... | Must... |
| --- | --- |
| On or before 8/16/02 | Maintain existing Plan.
Amend and implement Plan no later than 10/31/07. |
| After 8/16/02 
through 10/31/07 | Prepare and implement Plan no later than 10/31/07. |
| After 10/31/07 | Prepare and implement Plan before beginning operations. |

## Compliance Dates – Proposed Extension

| A facility (other than a farm) starting operation... | Would... |
| --- | --- |
| On or before 8/16/02 | Maintain existing Plan.
Amend and implement Plan no later than 7/1/09. |
| After 8/16/02 
through 7/1/09 | Prepare and implement Plan no later than 7/1/09. |
| After 7/1/09 | Prepare and implement Plan before beginning operations. |

- EPA proposed an extension to the compliance dates December 2006
- This proposed rule would extend the dates in §112.3(a), (b), and (c) by which a facility must prepare or amend and implement its SPCC Plan:

## Compliance Dates – Reasons for Proposed Extension

- EPA is proposing to extend the compliance dates because it will provide the time for the regulated community to:
- Make changes to their facilities and to their SPCC Plans necessary to comply with the revised requirements that EPA expects to propose in 2007
- Fully understand the regulatory relief offered by revisions to the SPCC rule as finalized in 2006.
- Understand the material presented in the *SPCC Guidance for Regional Inspectors,* which will be updated to address both the December 2006 revisions and the upcoming revisions expected to be proposed in 2007, before preparing or amending their SPCC Plans.

## Oil Discharge Reporting

- Facilities that discharge oil to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines subject to certain federal reporting requirements
- 40 CFR 110, Discharge of Oil regulation
- Framework for determining whether an oil discharge to inland and coastal waters or adjoining shorelines should be reported to the National Response Center
- 40 CFR 112, Oil Pollution Prevention regulation
- Identifies certain types of discharges from regulated facilities that also need to be reported to EPA

## Discharge of Oil – “Sheen Rule”

- Any facility or vessel is subject to these reporting requirements if it discharges a harmful quantity of oil to U.S. navigable waters, adjoining shorelines, or the contiguous zone
- Harmful quantity of discharged oil
- Violates state water quality standards
- Causes a film or sheen on the water’s surface
- Leaves sludge or emulsion beneath the surface.
- Not based on amount of oil discharged, but instead on the presence of a sheen, sludge, or emulsion

## National Response Center (NRC)

- Report discharges to NRC at 1-800-424-8802
- Federal government's centralized reporting center, which is staffed 24 hours a day by U.S. Coast Guard personnel
- Any person in charge of a vessel or an onshore or offshore facility must notify NRC immediately after he or she has knowledge of the discharge
- NRC relays information to EPA or U.S. Coast Guard depending on the location of the incident
- An On-Scene Coordinator evaluates the situation and decides if federal emergency response action is necessary

## SPCC Reporting Requirements

- Some discharges must also be reported to EPA
- Requirements found in §112.4(a)
- Applies to facilities subject to the SPCC rule
- Report to the EPA Regional Administrator (RA) when there is a discharge of:
- More than 1,000 U.S. gallons of oil in a single discharge to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines
- More than 42 U.S. gallons of oil in each of two discharges to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines within a 12-month period
- When making this determination it is the amount of oil in gallons that reached the navigable waters
- An owner/operator must report the discharge(s) to the EPA Regional Administrator within 60 days

## For More Information

- SPCC rule amendment (71 FR 77266)
- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/
- Oil Pollution Prevention regulation (40 CFR part 112)
- http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/
- EPA Office of Emergency Management Web site
- _[www.epa.gov/emergencies](http://www.epa.gov/emergencies)_
- _[www.epa.gov/oilspill](http://www.epa.gov/oilspill)_
- Superfund, TRI, EPCRA, RMP, and Oil Information Center
- (800) 424-9346 or (703) 412-9810
- TDD (800) 553-7672 or (703) 412-3323
- www.epa.gov/superfund/resources/infocenter

## Questions and Answers

## Upcoming Actions

- Considering additional streamlined and tailored regulatory modifications or guidance for certain types of facilities and equipment
- Exploring potential options
- Subset of qualified facilities
- Facilities handling animal fats and vegetable oils
- Issues relating to farms
- Specific issues relating to the exploration and production industry
- Definition of loading rack