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OIL POLLUTION PREVENTION
The Environmental Protection Agency's
Oil Pollution Prevention Regulation was pub-
lished in the Federal Register on December 11,
1973 and was promulgated under Section
311 (j)(l)(C) of the Clean Water Act. The regula-
tion is identified as Title 40, Code of Federal
Regulations, Part 112 (40 CFR 112). It was
amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and
requires facilities that are subject to the regula-
tion to prepare and implement a plan to prevent
any discharge of oil into navigable waters or ad-
joining shorelines of the United States. The plan
is referred to as a Spill Prevention, Control, and
Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan.
PURPOSE
To prevent discharge of oil into navigable
waters or adjoining shorelines of the United States.
The main thrust of the SPCC regulation is PRE-
VENTION as opposed to after-the-fact reactive
measures commonly described in Spill Contin-
gency Plans.
WHO IS REGULATED BY
SPCC
There are three criteria a facility must meet
to be regulated by the SPCC regulation. These
criteria are: 1) the facility must be non-transpor-
tation-related, 2) the facility must have an
aboveground storage capacity greater than 660
gallons in a single container or an aggregate stor-
age capacity greater than 1,320 gallons or a total
underground storage capacity greater than 42,000
gallons, and 3) there must be a reasonable expec-
tation of a discharge to navigable waters or ad-
joining shorelines of the United States.
An SPCC Plan may be written by the
owner or operator of the facility or his/her autho-
rized environmental consultant, engineer or sci-
entist, but it must be certified by a registered Pro-
fessional Engineer. By certifying the SPCC Plan,
the Professional Engineer, having examined the
facility, attests that the SPCC Plan has been pre-
pared in accordance with good engineering prac-
tices.
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Oil Drilling
Power Plants
Oil Refineries
These facilities (including all equipment and appurtenances)
may include but are not limited to:
Fixed onshore and offshore oil well drilling facilities;
Mobile onshore and offshore oil well drilling platforms,
barges, trucks or other mobile facilities;
Fixed onshore and offshore oil production structures,
platforms, derricks and rigs;
Mobile onshore and offshore oil production facilities;
Oil refining or storage facilities;
Industrial, commercial, agricultural, or public facilities which
use, store, drill for, produce, gather, process, refine or
consume oil or oil products;
Waste treatment facilities;
Loading areas/racks, transfer hoses, loading arms and other
equipment which are appurtenant to a non-transportation
related facility;
Highway vehicles and railroad cars used to transport oil
exclusively within the confines of a non-transportation
related facility; and
Pipeline systems used to transport oil exclusively within the
confines of a non-transportation-related facility.
Oil Production
Gas Stations
Marinas
Oil Storage
Construction
Fish Canneries
Farms
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2, What is considered as Oil Storage Capacity?
Oil storage means containers storing oil at a facility. Oil storage containers may include, but
are not limited to, tanks, containers, pails, drums, quart containers, transformers, oil-filled
equipment, and mobile or portable totes. The CAPACITY of the containers (maximum vol-
ume) must be considered and NOT the actual amount of product stored in the container (op-
erational volume). A facility may be subject to SPCC regulation if it has at least one of the
following oil storage capacities:
If a facility has one aboveground oil storage container greater than
660 gallons; or
If a facility has a total aboveground oil storage capacity greater than
1,320 gallons; or
If a facility has a total underground oil storage capacity of greater
than 42,000 gallons
Under the SPCC regulation, oil is defined as "oil of any kind or in any form, including but not
limited to petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged
spoil and oily mixtures." This also includes, but is not limited to, non-petroleum oils, syn-
thetic, mineral, animal, and vegetable oils.
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This determination is based solely upon a consideration of the geographical and locational
aspects of the facility. The location of the facility must be considered in relation to streams,
ponds and ditches (perennial or intermittent), storm or sanitary sewers, wetlands, mudflats, :
sandflats, farm drain tiles, or other navigable waters. The distance to navigable waters, volume
of material stored, worse case weather conditions, drainage patterns, land contours, soil condi-
tions, etc., must also be taken into account. Further, according to the regulations, this determi-
nation may NOT include consideration of man-made features such as dikes, equipment or other
structures which may serve to restrain, hinder, contain or prevent an oil discharge.
DID YOU KNOW?
A spill of only one
gallon of oil can
contaminate a million
gallons of water.
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What do I to do now?
Facilities which meet the three items
listed on the previous pages (non-transporta-
tion-related, have sufficient storage capacity,
and could reasonably discharge to navigable
waters or adjoining shorelines of the United
States), must comply with the SPCC regula-
tion. The SPCC regulation requires the facil-
ity owner/operator to prepare an SPCC Plan
for his/her facility within 6 months of becom-
ing operational and to implement the SPCC
Plan within 12 months of the start of facility
operations. This Plan must be well-thought
out and prepared in accordance with good en-
gineering practices.
No matter who ends up preparing your
SPCC Plan, remember that ultimately it is the
owner/operator who is responsible for comply-
ing with the regulation. A copy of the regula-
tion is available by calling or writing to your
nearest EPA office listed on the following
page.
Although each SPCC Plan is unique to
the facility, there are certain elements that must
be included in order for the SPCC Plan to com-
ply with the provisions of 40 CFR 112. Three
areas which should be addressed in the Plan
are: 1) operating procedures the facility
implements to prevent oil spills; 2) control
measures installed to prevent a spill from en-
tering navigable waters or adjoining shore-
lines; and 3) countermeasures to contain,
cleanup, and mitigate the effects of an oil
spill that impacts navigable waters or adjoin-
ing shorelines of the U.S. Some other im-
portant elements of an SPCC Plan include,
but are not limited to, the following:
• Professional Engineer (PE) certification
• Plan must follow the sequence of 40
CFR H2.7
• Spill predictions
• Facility drainage
• Facility inspections
• Site security
• Three-year Plan review
• Management approval
• Oil spill history
• Secondary containment or
diversionary structures
• Loading/Unloading rack area for
tank car and tank trucks
• Training and spill briefings
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If you have questions regarding the U.S. EPA, SPCC Program,
please call or write:
U.S. EPA Headquarters
Director, Oil Program (5203G)
401M St., SW
Washington, D.C. 20460
(703) 603-8760
SPCC/FRP Coordinator
c/o Emergency Response Section
U.S. EPA- Region I (HBR)
JFK Federal Building
Boston, MA 02203-0001
(617) 573-9693
CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, and VT
SPCC Coordinator
U.S. EPA-Region II
2890 Woodbridge Avenue
Building 209, MS211
Edison, NJ 08837-3679
(732) 321-6654
NJ, NY, PR, and USVI
SPCC Coordinator
U.S. EPA- Region III
1650 Arch Street (3HS32)
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 814-3292
DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, and WV
SPCC/FRP Coordinator
U.S EPA - Region IV
61 Forsyth Street
Atlanta, GA 30365-3415
(404) 562-8761
AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, and TN
Oil Program Section Chief
U.S. EPA- Region V (SE5J)
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
(312)353-8200
IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, and WI
SPCC/FRP Coordinator
U.S. EPA- Region VI (6SF-RP)
1445 Ross Avenue
Dallas, TX 75202-2733
(214) 665-6489
AR, LA, MM, OK, and TX
Oil/SPCC Coordinator,
U.S. EPA- Region VII (SUPRER+R)
726 Minnesota Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66101
(913) 551-7050
IA, KS, MO, and NE
Oil Program Coordinator
U.S. EPA- Region VIII (8EPR-SA)
999 18th Street, Suite 500
Denver, CO 80202-2466
(303) 312-6839
CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, and WY
Oil Team/SPCC Coordinator
U.S. EPA- Region IX (SFD1-4)
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 744-2337
AZ, CA, HI, NV, AS, GU
and Trust Territories
SPCC/FRP Coordinator
U.S. EPA- Region X
1200 Sixth Avenue (ECL-116)
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 553-1671
AK, ID, OR, and WA
Alaska SPCC/RFP Coordinator
U.S. EPA-AIaska Operations Office
222 West 7th Ave., #19
Anchorage, AK 99513-7588
(907) 271-5083
To visit the Oil Prevention Program's national newsletter, "The Oil
Spill Program Update," check our website at www.epa.gov/oilspill.
As always^ to an oil or
call the National at (800)
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