United States             Office of                    EPA-550-F-07-003
                     Environmental Protection      Emergency Management         October 2007
                     Agency                (5104A)                    www.epa.gov/emergencies


Spill  Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC)
Proposed Rule Amendments

Information for Oil Production Facilities about the October 2007 proposed
amendments to the SPCC Rule

EPA has proposed amendments to the SPCC rule that will increase clarity and tailor certain
requirements as they apply to oil production facilities in an effort to increase compliance. The regulated
community has the opportunity to comment on these proposed changes during a 60-day comment
period, following publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register.

Nothing in this proposed rule removes any regulatory requirement for owners or operators of SPCC
regulated production facilities in operation before the effective date of August 16, 2002 to develop,
implement, and maintain an SPCC Plan in accordance with the SPCC regulations.  For additional
information on the proposed rule amendments and for SPCC compliance information, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/emergencies.

The SPCC rule applies to owners or operators of oil  production facilities that:

    •  drill, produce, gather, store, process, transfer, use, or consume oil or oil products, above
       applicable thresholds (listed below), and

    •  could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to waters of the U.S.

Oil production facilities are subject to the SPCC rule if they meet at least one of
the following capacity thresholds:

    •  aboveground oil storage capacity* greater than 1,320 gallons, or

    •  completely buried oil storage capacity* greater than 42,000 gallons.

       *counting only containers with a capacity of 55 gallons or greater

Oil production facility owners and operators should pay special attention to the
following proposed revisions to the SPCC rule:

   EPA is proposing to:

    •  exclude oil production facilities from the loading/unloading rack requirements;

    •  modify the definition of "production facility", consistent with the proposed amendments to the
       definition of "facility";

    •  extend the timeframe by which a new oil production facility must prepare and implement an
       SPCC Plan;

    •  exempt flow-through process vessels at oil production facilities from the sized secondary
       containment requirements, while maintaining general secondary containment requirements
       and requiring additional oil spill prevention measures;

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    •   exempt flowlines and intra-facility gathering lines at oil production facilities from all secondary
        containment requirements, while establishing more specific oil spill prevention measures; and

    •   clarify the definition of "permanently closed" as it applies to an oil production facility.

 (Note:  EPA is also taking comment on approaches that could be used to establish alternative criteria
 for an oil production facility to be eligible to self-certify an SPCC Plan as a qualified facility, and
 approaches to address produced water containers at oil production facilities.)

In addition to the amendments listed above:

All SPCC regulated facilities, including oil production facilities would potentially be affected by
the proposed amendments to provide:

   •  clarity on the general secondary containment requirements;

   •  additional flexibility in  meeting the facility diagram requirements; and

   •  clarification on the flexibility provided by the definition of "facility."

Please submit your comments on the proposed amendments at www.regulations.gov. If you have
specific questions about the proposed amendments, please contact our helpline at 1-800-424-9346.
                                For More Information

 Read the proposed SPCC rule amendment
 http://www.epa.gov/emergencies

 Comment on the proposed SPCC rule amendment and review docket documents
 http://www.regulations.gov
 Follow the online instructions to comment on Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OPA-2007-0584

 Review the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation (40 CFR part 112)
 http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/

 Visit the EPA Office of Emergency Management Web site
 http://www.epa.gov/emergencies

 Call the Superfund, TRI, EPCRA, RMP, and Oil Information Center
 (800) 424-9346 or (703) 412-9810
 TDD (800) 553-7672 or (703) 412-3323
 http://www.epa.gov/superfund/resources/infocenter

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