Company: CRCE
Filing Date: 2025-03-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001096906-25-000275
Chunk: 19

Company: Circle Energy, Inc./NV
Filing Date: 2025-03-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 19
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 to increase the stringency of air quality standards, which may require us to incur capital expenditures for air pollution control equipment or other costs. For example, in October 2015, the EPA lowered the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone to 70 parts per billion, which was a significant decrease from the prior standards. On December 31, 2020, EPA published in the Federal Register its decision to retain the 2015 ozone standards. Further reductions in the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards could affect our operations and result in the need to install new emissions controls, longer permitting timelines and significant increases in our capital or operating expenditures. Compliance with these and any future air pollution control and permitting requirements has the potential to delay the development of our oil and natural gas projects and increase our costs of development and production, which costs could be significant.

Oil Pollution Prevention

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 amended the CWA to impose liability for releases of crude oil from vessels or facilities into navigable waters. If a release of crude oil into navigable waters occurs during shipment or from an oil terminal, we could be subject to liability under the Oil Pollution Act. In 1973, the EPA adopted oil pollution prevention regulations under the CWA. These oil pollution prevention regulations require the preparation of a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (“SPCC”) plan for facilities engaged in drilling, producing, gathering, storing, processing, refining, transferring, distributing, using, or consuming crude oil and oil products, and which due to their location, could reasonably be expected to discharge oil in harmful quantities into or upon the navigable waters of the United States. SPCC requirements under the CWA require appropriate containment berms and similar structures to help prevent the discharge of pollutants into regulated waters in the event of a crude oil or other constituent tank spill, rupture or leak. The SPCC regulations require affected facilities to prepare a written, site-specific SPCC plan, which details how a facility’s operations comply with the requirements of the pollution prevention regulations. To be in compliance, the facility’s SPCC plan must satisfy all of the applicable requirements for drainage, bulk storage tanks, tank car and truck loading and unloading, transfer operations (intra-facility piping), inspections and records, security, and training. Most importantly, the facility must fully implement the SPCC plan and train personnel in its execution. Where applicable, we maintain and implement SPCC plans for our facilities.

Water Discharges

The CWA and analogous state laws and regulations impose restrictions and strict controls