United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response
530-F-08-016
December 2008
vwvw.epa.gov/emergencies
Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Rule
Amendments
Amended SPCC Requirements Finalized in December 2008
On December 5, 2008, EPA amended the SPCC rule to provide clarity, tailor requirements to
particular industry sectors, and streamline certain requirements while maintaining protection of human
health and the environment (73 FR 74236). As part of the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation (40
CFR part 112), the SPCC rule outlines requirements for prevention of, preparedness for, and
response to oil discharges. Regulated facilities must develop and implement SPCC Plans that
establish procedures and equipment requirements to help prevent oil discharges from reaching
navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.
What changes did EPA finalize in the December 2008 amendments?
Exemptions
The revised rule exempts:
• Hot-mix asphalt and hot-mix asphalt containers;
• Residential heating oil containers (i.e., those used solely at single-family residences);
• Pesticide application equipment and related mix containers;
• Underground oil storage tanks that supply emergency diesel generators at nuclear power
generation facilities licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission;
• Intra-facility gathering lines subject to U.S. Department of Transportation's pipeline
regulations; and
• Produced water containers that do not contain oil in harmful quantities.
Streamlining and Additional Flexibility for All Regulated Facilities
The revised rule:
• Provides a Plan template for certain qualified facilities to complete and self-certify;
• Extends "qualified facility" status to certain smaller oil production facilities;
• Amends the definition of "facility" to clarify the flexibility associated with describing a facility's
boundaries;
• Amends the facility diagram requirement to clarify how containers (fixed and mobile) and
complex piping/transfer areas are identified on the facility diagram;
• Defines "loading/unloading rack" to clarify the equipment subject to the provisions for facility
tank car and tank truck loading/unloading racks;
• Amends the general secondary containment requirement;
• Exempts non-transportation-related tank trucks from sized secondary containment
requirements;
• Amends the facility security requirements to allow the facility owner/operator to tailor security
measures to the facility's specific characteristics and location; and
• Amends integrity testing requirements for bulk storage containers to allow greater flexibility in
the use of industry standards at all facilities.
Office of Emergency Management
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SPCC Rule Amendments Overview
December 2008
What sector-specific changes did EPA finalize?
Agriculture. The rule exempts pesticide application equipment and related mix containers that may
currently be subject to the SPCC rule when crop oil or adjuvant oil are added to formulations. The rule
exempts farms from loading rack requirements. EPA also clarifies that a nurse tank is considered a mobile
refueler, and, like other types of mobile refuelers, is exempt from the sized secondary containment
requirements. Additionally, farms are likely to benefit from several of the other amendments finalized in
this rule.
Oil Production Facilities. The revised rule finalizes several amendments to tailor the requirements
for oil production facilities. The rule:
• Modifies the definition of production facility;
• Extends the timeframe by which a new oil production facility must prepare and implement an
SPCC Plan;
• Establishes alternative criteria for certain marginal, oil production facilities to be eligible to self-
certify an SPCC Plan as a qualified facility;
• Exempts certain produced water containers and any associated piping and appurtenances
downstream from the container that do not contain oil in harmful quantities, as certified by a
Professional Engineer;
• Exempts production facilities from loading rack requirements;
• Provides an alternative option for flow-through process vessels to comply with the general
secondary containment requirement and additional oil spill prevention measures in lieu of
sized secondary containment requirements;
• Exempts certain intra-facility gathering lines subject to the U.S. Department of
Transportation's (DOT's) pipeline regulations;
• Provides an optional exemption from all secondary containment requirements for flowlines
and intra-facility gathering lines, and establishes more specific requirements for a
flowline/intra-faciIity gathering line maintenance program and contingency planning;
• Provides compliance alternatives to sized secondary containment for produced water storage
containers that are not otherwise exempt; and
• Clarifies the definition of "permanently closed."
Animal Fats and Vegetable Oils. EPA has amended the integrity testing requirements for
containers storing certain types of animal fat or vegetable oil, to provide the flexibility to determine the
scope of integrity testing that is appropriate, based on compliance with certain FDA regulations and
other criteria.
Qualified Facilities. EPA streamlined and tailored the SPCC requirements for a subset of qualified
facilities. The owner or operator of a qualified facility has the option to self-certify his SPCC Plan and
comply with other streamlined requirements. This final rule designates a subset of qualified facilities
("Tier I qualified facilities") as those that meet the current qualified facilities eligibility criteria and that
have no oil storage containers with an individual aboveground storage capacity greater than 5,000
U.S. gallons. A Tier I qualified facility has the option to complete a self-certified SPCC Plan template
instead of a full SPCC Plan. By completing the SPCC Plan template, an owner or operator of a Tier I
qualified facility will certify that the facility complies with a set of streamlined SPCC rule requirements.
All other qualified facilities will be designated "Tier II qualified facilities."
Office of Emergency Management
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SPCC Rule Amendments Overview
December 2008
Who is subject to the SPCC rule?
The SPCC rule applies to owners or operators of non-transportation-related facilities that:
• Drill, produce, store, process, refine, transfer, distribute, use, or consume oil or oil products; and
• Could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to U.S. navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.
Facilities are subject to the rule if they meet at least one of the following capacity thresholds:
• Aboveground oil storage capacity greater than 1,320 U.S. gallons, or completely buried oil storage
capacity greater than 42,000 U.S. gallons.
The following are exempt from the rule:
• Containers with a storage capacity less than 55 U.S. gallons of oil;
• Permanently closed containers;
• Motive power containers;
• Wastewater treatment facilities;
• Hot-mix asphalt and hot-mix asphalt containers;
• Residential heating oil containers;
• Pesticide application equipment and related mix containers;
• Produced water containers and any associated piping and appurtenances downstream of the
container that meet certain criteria;
• Completely buried storage tanks subject to all the technical requirements of the underground storage
tank regulations;
• Intra-facility gathering lines subject to U.S. Department of Transportation's pipeline regulations; and
• Underground oil storage tanks at nuclear power generation facilities.
For More Information
Visit the EPA Office of Emergency Management Web site:
http://www.epa.gov/emergencies
Review the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation (40 CFR part 112):
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/
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
To Report an Oil or Chemical Spill
Call the National Response Center:
(800) 424-8802 or (202) 267-2675
TDD (202) 267-4477
Office of Emergency Management
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