United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Emergency Response Branch Oil Plannning and Response Section EPA905-K-97-002 December 1997 SPILL PREVENTION, CONTROL AND COUNTERMEASURE (SPCC) REGULATIONS 40CFR112 U.S. Environmental Protection Region 5, Library (PL-12J) 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 12th Floor Chicago. IL 60604-3590 Facility Owner/Operator's Guide to Oil Pollution Prevention ------- OIL POLLUTION PREVENTION The Environmental Protection Agency's Oil Pollution Prevention Regulation was published in the Federal Register on December 11,1973 and was promulgated under Section 311(j)(l)(C) of the Clean Water Act. The regulation is identified as Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 112 (40 CFR 112). It was amended by the Oil Pollu- tion Act of 1990 and requires facilities that are subject to the regulation to prepare and implement a plan to prevent any discharge of oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines of the United States. The plan is referred to as a Spill Prevention, Con- trol, 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 regulations is PRE- VENTION as opposed to after-the-fact reactive measures commonly described in Spill Contin- gency Plans. WHO IS REGULATED BY THE SPCC REGULATIONS? There are three criteria a facility must meet to be regulated by the SPCC regulations. 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 adjoin- ing shorelines of the United States. WHO PREPARES THE SPCC PLAN? An SPCC Plan may be written by the owner or operator of the facility or their 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, shall attest that the SPCC Plan has been prepared in accordance with good engineering practices. ------- 1. What is a non-transportation-related facility? Oil Drilling Power Plants 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, plat- forms, 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 Construction Gas Stations Marinas Farms Industrial Sites ------- 2. What is considered as Oil Storage Capacity? Oil storage includes all containers storing oil at a facility. The CAPACITY of the containers (maximum volume) must be considered and NOT the actual amount of product stored in the container (operational volume). Oil storage containers include, but are not limited to, tanks, containers, pails, drums, quart containers, transformers, oil-filled equipment, and mobile or portable totes. A facility may be subject to SPCC regulations if they have 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 regulations, 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 non-petroleum oils, animal, and vegetable oils. ------- 3. How do I determine if my facility could reasonably discharge oil into or upon navigable waters or adjoining shorelines of the United States? This determination is based 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, or farm drain tiles. The distance to navigable waters, volume of material stored, worse case weather conditions, drainage patterns, land contours, soil conditions, etc., must also be taken into account. Further, according to the regulations, this determination shall NOT include con- sideration 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. ------- What do I have 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- tions. The SPCC regulations require the fa- cility owner/operator to prepare an SPCC Plan for their facility within 6 months of be- coming 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 engineering practices. No matter who ends up preparing your SPCC Plan, remember that ultimately it is the owner/operator who is responsible for com- plying with the regulations. A copy of the regulations and an information packet is avail- able from U.S. EPA, Region 5, by returning the information request card in this booklet. Although each SPCC Plan is unique to the facility, there are certain elements that must be included in order for the SPCC Plan to comply with the provisions of 40 CFR 112. Three areas which should be addressed in the Plan are: 1) operating procedures imple- mented by the facility to prevent oil spills; 2) control measures installed to prevent a spill from entering navigable waters or adjoining shorelines; and 3) countermeasures to con- tain, cleanup, and mitigate the effects of an oil spill that impacts navigable waters or ad- joining shorelines of the U.S. Some other important 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 1 Spill predictions Facility drainage Facility inspections Site security Three-year Plan review Management approval Oil spill history Secondary containment or diversionary struc Loading/Unloading rack area for tank car ai tank trucks Training and spill briefings ------- Who should I contact if I want more information? If you have questions regarding the U.S. EPA, Region 5 Oil Prevention Program, please call or write: Section Chief, Oil Planning and Response Section (SE-5J) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5 77 West Jackson Boulevard Chicago, Illinois 60604 (312)353-8200 To visit the Oil Prevention Program's national newsletter, "The Oil Program Update," check our website at www.epa.gov/oilspill. As always, to report an oil or chemical spill, call the National Response Center at (800) 424-8802. U.S. Environmental Prq?«ciion ^ena Region 5, library (PL-12J) 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 12tft tft* 7 Chicago. It 60604-3590 f! '** ------- |