CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, DC 20515 2211 RAYRURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20515 TRLEPHONE: (202) 225-2165 FAX: 12021225-1593 INTERNET: www.housR.gov/co)linEer5On COLLIN C. PETERSON

7Th DISTRICT. MINNESOTA

COMMIrTEE ON AGRICULTURE RANKING MEMBER

The Honorable Lisa Jackson Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20460

Dear Administrator Jackson:

I write to express my concerns about the implementation of the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule as it pertains to farmers in my district.

I have been getting calls about this rule from concerned farmers, state representatives, and University of Minnesota Extension agents across my district, and each call has one thing in common: uncertainty. The lack of information that seems to be out there is frustrating. Folks do not know if the rule applies to them, when the deadline is, or how EPA will be checking for compliance.

According to your website, the SPCC rule requires farms that store more than 1,320 gallons of oil or oil products to prepare and implement an SPCC Plan by November 10, 2011. Fanns that store more than 10,000 gallons of petroleum products need to have their plans certified by a Professional Engineer (PE). This PE certification requirement creates additional concern as we have heard there is a lack of available engineers in the

area.
North Dakota was selected as one of eight states to participate in a cost share pilot program through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This adds to the confusion in my district as many farmers have wondered why they did not have the same option as their neighbors to the west. Further, many PEs are reportedly tied up on projects across the river, making them harder to get in our area.

In short, there is a lack of clarity on this issue. I am enclosing a letter from Howard Person, a University of Minnesota Extension Educator who has been working with farmers in my district. Mr. Persons letter details the confusion surrounding the SPCC rule.

714 LAKE AVENUE 1420 EAST COLLEGE DRIVE MN WHEAT GROWERS BULOING CENTRE POINT MALL SuIrE 107 MARSHALL, MN 66258 2603 WHEAT DRIVE 320 4TH STREET SW DETROIT LAKES MN 56501 1507) 537-2299 Rø LAKE FALLS, MN 56750 WII.LMAR, MN 56201 (218) 847-5056 FAx (507) 537-2298 216) 253-4356 (3201 235-1081 FAX 1218) 847-5109 FAX: 1218) 253-4373 FAx: (320) 235-2651Sincerely,

Collin C. Peterson Member of Congress I look forward to working with you to ensure that farmers have a clearer picture of what is required of them and whether they have the ability to meet these deadlines, especially given flooding issues and the lack of available PBs,

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.( nirti' of ui,H Oa i:v,t,J S100 

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### Rep. Collin Peterson 224 Rayburn House Office Building Washington D.C. 20515

Re: Spill Protection Control & Countermeasures

Dear Congressman Peterson:

It's been a few months now since I started working with SPCC and I'm still getting calls from concerned farmers who only recently heard about the program or who are trying to work on compliance before harvest starts in a few weeks. I continue to have some concerns about the program and I'd like to share a few of those concerns with you in this letter, if I may.

I would start with a lack of information from EPA. I started hearing about SPCC this spring from farmers who were told by their fuel supplier. The information provided to them was spotty, incomplete and often inaccurate. I didn't get a good handle on what was happening until I contacted North Dakota State University and spoke to Roxanne Johnson in their water quality department. Because North Dakota had a cost share program through NRCS there was a lot of information there and Ms. Johnson had done an outstanding job of putting together information and sample spill control plans that farmers could use as a guide to design and implement on their own farms. She allowed me to use her materials and I did a couple of meetings in Thief River Falls and Argyle with an excellent turnout. However, as I mentioned I'm still getting calls from farmers who are just hearing about it or confused and don't know what to do.

Part of the confusion is in who has to comply and by when. There is a provision for new farmers who started after August of 2002 which gives them until this November to comply. Everyone else is supposed to already have a plan in place and just be updating it on a regular basis. The fact is almost no one has a plan as no one knew they needed one. My understanding is that this law has been in place since 1974. However I was told that prior to 2008, farms were not classified as fuel storage facilities and so were not regulated. In 2008, EPA amended their rules to include farms as fuel storage facilities and pretty much over night farmers were regulated but were unaware of the change.

I'm also seeing some problems with the rules themselves. Farmers who have less than 10,000 gallons of storage can develop and implement their own plan and with a bit of time and some explanation, I think this will work. However with today's agriculture, 10,000 gallons of fuel and oil on a farm site is not that much. Those folks with more than 10,000 gallons on the farm must

### hire a certified professional engineer to design their plan and oversee its implementation. At

present there aren't very many engineers working with SPCC so those that are tend to be hard to get and expensive. Remember if you were farming before 2002, you're suppose to have all this in place already so farmers are nervous about getting this done and it raises costs further as they push to do so. Further, North Dakota has cost share and so everyone's busy over there and hard to get already. Engineers design these sites to meet the rules but often don't think about managing the plan once it's done so these plans become more expensive to implement than need be and more complicated to follow.

Tanks must also be inspected by a certified tank inspector every so many years, depending on the size and type of tank and whether it's on the ground or elevated. There aren't many of these tank inspectors around and no one knows who to call as they've never needed these folks before. Depending on the situation this inspector may have to do an ultra sound or other testing to determine the soundness of a tank. As a result, some on farm tanks cost more to keep in compliance than they're worth. Fuel is expensive to say the least and I can't think of a single on farm spill incident in our area. Farmers keep a close eye on these tanks because it's just too expensive to lose fuel in a spill. It would seem to me that if you have a dike to contain the contents of your largest tank and you have it off the ground enough to see if it's leaking, this should be enough.

All these things appear to be happening is such a short time line as well, raising costs and concerns about the whole process. I wonder if you really need an engineer to design a site for more than 10,000 gallons or if it couldn't be done just as well by an NRCS engineer. They design lagoons for water and manure storage, I would think they could do it for fuel tanks as well, which would take the guess work out and reduce the cost significantly. Also, if farmers had a couple years to get this all done, I think it would ease concerns and reduce costs a bit as well. A cost share program like the eight pilot states had this year would go a long way in getting the process rolling, but I understand with budgets the way they are, that might be difficult. This is perhaps all the more reason to set some guides and let the farmers build their own.

I hope I've explained my concerns sufficiently. If you have questions or need more detail, please don't hesitate to call me.

Howard Person PenningtonlMarshall Extension Educator