The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to amend the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule to provide increased clarity, to tailor requirements to particular industry sectors, and to streamline certain requirements for a facility owner or operator subject to the rule. 

Specifically, EPA is proposing to:

• Exempt hot-mix asphalt;
• Exempt pesticide application equipment and related mix containers used at farms;
• Exempt heating oil containers at single-family residences;
• Amend the facility diagram requirement to provide additional flexibility for all facilities;
• Amend the definition of “facility” to clarify the flexibility associated with describing a facility’s boundaries;
• Define “loading/unloading rack” to clarify the equipment subject to the provisions for facility tank car and tank truck loading/unloading racks;
• Provide streamlined requirements for a subset of qualified facilities;
• Amend the general secondary containment requirement to provide more clarity;
• Amend the security requirements for all facilities;
• Amend the integrity testing requirements to allow a greater amount of flexibility in the use of industry standards at all facilities;
• Amend the integrity testing requirements for containers that store animal fat or vegetable oil and meet certain criteria;
• Streamline a number of requirements for oil production facilities; and
• Exempt completely buried oil storage tanks at nuclear power generation facilities.

These proposed changes are intended to tailor requirements to particular industries for easier and increased compliance, resulting in greater protection of human health and the environment. 

CABE has been preparing SPCC plans since 1976 and has completed hundreds of SPCC plans in 13 states.  Contact Brian Lyncha, P.E., BCEE at CABE at bl@cabe.com or 1-800-542-7979 for information on the SPCC program and the proposed new rule changes.