The EPA recently revised the language in the SPCC regulations found in 40 CFR 112. The changes are fairly extensive, but are summarized for your convenience. For more information, please contact Jessica Roger.

Facility Definition

The amendments modify the definition of “facility” so that owners and operators may separate or aggregate containers to determine facility boundaries based on ownership or operation of the buildings, structures, containers, and equipment on the site, the activities being conducted, and property boundaries.

Navigable Waters Definition

The term “navigable waters” of the United States, for purposes of the SPCC regulations, was returned to its 1973 definition, and includes:

• All navigable waters of the United States, as defined in judicial decisions prior to the passage of the 1972 Amendments to the CleanWater Act (CWA) and tributaries of such waters
• Interstate waters
• Intrastate lakes, rivers, and streams that are used by interstate travelers for recreational or other purposes
• Intrastate lakes, rivers, and streams from which fish or shellfish are taken and sold in interstate commerce

Facility Diagram

SPCC plan facility diagrams must indicate all fixed containers. However, under the amendments, for any mobile or portable container, owners and operators must mark only the area of the facility on the diagram where such containers are stored, rather than representing each container individually. Owners and operators may include such information separately in the SPCC plan in an accompanying table or key rather than on the facility diagram. If the total number of mobile or portable containers changes, owners and operators may indicate the potential range in number of containers and the anticipated contents and capacities of containers.

Loading/Unloading Racks

EPA specifically excluded loading and unloading racks from SPCC requirements in 40 CFR 112.7(h) at oil production facilities and farms because they are generally not found at those facilities. If an oil production facility or farm does have a loading/unloading rack, it is subject to the general secondary containment requirements. The amendments also change all references from loading/unloading “area” to loading/unloading “rack” to provide clarity in the rule’s applicability.

Qualified Facilities

The 2008 amendments designate a subset of qualified facilities, as defined in the 2006 amendments, that may self-certify their SPCC plans through an SPCC plan template, found in Appendix G of 40 CFR 112. These Tier I facilities are those that meet the existing qualified facility eligibility criteria and that have no oil storage containers with an individual aboveground storage capacity greater than 5,000 U.S. gallons. Tier I owners and operators may complete the SPCC plan template, which is composed of a set of streamlined SPCC rule requirements, to comply with SPCC regulations. When completed, the plan template serves as the SPCC plan for the facility. All other qualified facilities are designated as Tier II qualified facilities, and must continue to comply with the requirements under the 2006 rule amendments.

Oil production facilities

The amendments also establish alternative qualified facility eligibility criteria for oil production facilities as an alternative to the existing 10,000-gallon aggregate aboveground storage capacity criteria, based on process operating conditions and equipment unique to oil production facilities rather than static oil storage capacity. Under the amendments, a qualified oil production facility is one that meets all of the following:

• No more than two producing wells per single tank battery if the facility has an injection well or no more than four producing wells per single tank battery with no injection wells at the facility.
• Each well produces no more than 10 barrels of crude oil per day.
• The facility has not had a single discharge of 1,000 gallons or two discharges each exceeding 42 gallons within any 12-month period in the 3 years before plan certification, or since becoming subject to the SPCC regulations.

Facilities with no more than two producing wells are eligible to be a qualified facility regardless of whether they have injection wells. These qualified oil production facilities have the option to prepare a self-certified SPCC plan in lieu of a Professional Engineer (PE)-certified plan. If the oil production facility also meets Tier I requirements (it has no individual oil storage container with a capacity greater than 5,000 gallons), it would be eligible to develop a plan following the Appendix G template.

Secondary Containment Clarifications

In the amendments, EPA has clarified that owners and operators need to take into consideration only the typical failure mode and the quantity of oil most likely to be discharged when determining the scope of secondary containment. In addition, EPA clarified that the use of both active and passive secondary containment measures are allowed to prevent discharges to navigable waters and adjoining shorelines. The amendments also provide additional examples of prevention systems for onshore facilities, including drip pans, sumps, and collection systems. In addition, non-transportation-related tank trucks at a facility will have the same exemption from the sized secondary containment requirements that the 2006 amendments provided for mobile refuelers.

Security

Owners and operators may now tailor security measures to a facility’s specific characteristics and locations. In the SPCC plan, the following security measures must be described:

• How access to the oil handling, processing, and storage areas are secured and controlled
• How master flow and drain valves are secured
• How unauthorized access to starter controls on oil pumps will be prevented
• How out-of-service and loading/unloading connections of oil pipelines are secured
• The appropriateness of security lighting to prevent acts of vandalism and assist in the discovery of oil discharges

These amendments apply to all regulated facilities, as opposed to the 2006 amendments, which applied the streamlined requirements only to qualified facilities and required fencing. EPA believes that the amendments will eliminate the need for PE-certified environmentally equivalent alternatives to the specific security requirements as owners and operators will have the flexibility to provide whatever measures are appropriate for a specific facility.

Integrity Testing

Under the 2008 amendments, owners and operators are allowed to consult and rely upon industry standards to determine the appropriate qualifications for personnel performing tests and inspections, and the type and frequency of integrity testing required for a particular container size and configuration to comply with bulk storage integrity testing requirements. The 2006 amendments provide this streamlined requirement only to qualified facilities; the 2008 amendments extend the streamlined bulk storage container integrity testing requirement to all regulated facilities. However, the amendment only applies to the integrity testing requirements and not to bulk storage inspection requirements for onshore production facilities. The amendments also differentiate between the integrity testing requirements at 40 CFR 112.12(c)(6) for owners and operators of facilities that handle certain types of animal fats and vegetable oils (AFVOs), allowing that those facilities have the flexibility to determine the scope of integrity testing that is appropriate for containers that store AFVOs, based on compliance with certain Food and Drug Administration regulations and other criteria.

Onshore Oil Production Facilities

The amendments addressed a variety of issues related to the oil production facilities. The definition of “production facility” has been revised to be consistent with the definition of “facility.” In addition, the timeframe by which the owner or operator of a new oil production facility must prepare and implement an SPCC plan has been amended to a period of 6 months after the start of operations.

Intrafacility gathering lines and flow lines

An exemption from SPCC requirements for certain intrafacility gathering lines subject to the Department of Transportation’s pipeline regulation in 49 CFR 192 or 49 CFR 195 was created, as well as an alternative option for flow lines and intrafacility gathering lines at oil production facilities to prepare a contingency plan and make a written commitment of manpower, equipment, and materials in lieu of all secondary containment requirements. The amendments establish additional requirements for a flow line/intrafacility gathering line maintenance program to detect discharges so that oil discharge response operation may be implemented effectively.

Flow-through process vessels

Flow-through process vessels at oil production facilities now have an alternative option to comply with the sized secondary containment requirement mandated under the previous amendments. Under the amendments, a facility owner or operator may opt to provide general secondary containment; inspect or test flow-through process vessels and components for leaks, corrosion, or other conditions that could lead to a discharge; promptly remove or initiate actions to stabilize and remediate any oil accumulations; and take corrective action if a discharge occurs rather than meet sized secondary containment requirements.

Permanently closed

EPA has also clarified the definition of “permanently closed” as it applies to oil production facilities and the containers present at such facilities. The definition does not require that permanently closed containers be removed from facilities.

Produced water containers

EPA has established the definition of a “produced water container” in the amendments as “a bulk storage container at an oil production facility used to store the produced water after initial oil/water separation, and prior to reinjection, beneficial reuse, discharge, or transfer for disposal.” Certain produced water containers and associated piping and appurtenances downstream that do not contain oil in amounts that would be harmful if discharged, as certified by a PE, may now qualify for an exemption from the SPCC rule. For those produced water containers that do not qualify for the exemption, owners and operators have the option to apply general secondary containment requirements and conduct visual inspections, maintenance, and corrective action in lieu of sized secondary containment. A PE must describe in the plan and certify that practices are in place to remove free-phase oil from the produced water container on a scheduled and routine basis. Owners and operators that take advantage of either the exemption or the alternative for produced water containers must have a PE certify the part of the plan that covers produced water containers and, therefore, cannot self-certify their plan, even if the facility meets the criteria of a qualified facility.

Underground Storage Tanks (USTs)

The final amendments exempt underground oil storage tanks regulated under 40 CFR 280 that supply emergency diesel generators at nuclear power generation facilities and that are subject to design criteria under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations from SPCC requirements.

SPCC Plans

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