Spill Prevention and Countermeasure Control Plan Update

The Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") released a final rule that will give facilities until July 1, 2009 to prepare or amend and implement oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure ("SPCC") Plans required under regulations revised in December of 2006. The EPA believed extending the compliance date to July 1, 2009 was necessary to provide time for the regulated community to make changes to their facilities and to their SPCC Plans necessary to comply with the revised requirements the EPA expects to propose in 2007.

SPCC Plans are an integral part of the EPA's strategy to prevent oil spills from reaching the nation's water supplies. Unlike oil spill contingency plans that typically address spill cleanup measures after a spill has occurred, SPCC Plans ensure that facilities put in place containment and other countermeasures to prevent oil spills from reaching navigable waters. Under EPA's Oil Pollution Prevention regulation, facilities must detail and implement spill prevention and control measures in their SPCC Plans. A spill contingency plan is required as part of the SPCC Plan if a facility is unable to provide secondary containment.

Facilities subject to SPCC rules include those with above-ground storage capacity of 1,320 gallons or underground storage capacity in excess of 42,000 gallons. These facilities must develop and implement an SPCC Plan aimed to address: (1) operating procedures that may prevent oil spills; (2) control measures installed to help prevent a spill from reaching navigable waters; and (3) any countermeasures to contain, clean up, and mitigate the effects of an oil spill that reaches navigable waters. A copy of a facility's SPCC Plan must be available to the EPA for on-site review and inspection during normal working hours.

Under the new final rule, all non-farm facilities in operation prior to August 16, 2002 subject to SPCC rules must amend and implement their SPCC Plans by July 1, 2009. Non-farm facilities beginning operations after August 16, 2002 must also prepare and implement SPCC Plans by this new July 1, 2009 deadline. This new July 1, 2009 compliance date, however, does not apply to farms. The EPA suggests that farms will be required to prepare and implement SPCC Plans after the EPA promulgates a rule specific for farms, which will include a farm SPCC compliance date.

For more general information about the SPCC rule, contact Terri Czajka at terri.czajka@icemiller.com, or Jennifer Andres at jennifer.andres@icemiller.com.

This publication is intended for general information purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice.  The reader must consult with legal counsel to determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to the reader's specific circumstances.