Federal Regulation 40 CFR Part 112
State Regulation 10 CSR 26
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the implementation of Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures Plans (SPCC Plans) under the Oil Pollution Prevention Act. Facilities are required to prepare and implement an SPCC Plan if the facility has an aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity greater than 1,320 gallons and, due to the facilities location, could be reasonably expected to discharge into navigable waters of the U.S. or adjoining shorelines. Please note that the definition of navigable waters of the U.S. is very broad. Any stream or pond located off the facility property may be considered waters of the U.S. This includes groundwater, sole source aquifers used for drinking water, or other waters designated by the State for protection. SPCC Plans must be reviewed and recertified by a registered Professional Engineer (PE) at least once every five (5) years. The SPCC Plan should be amended when there are any changes to facility which could affect the facilities potential for the discharge of oil. The need to amend the Plan should be reviewed and evaluated every six (6) months. Plan amendments, other than administrative changes, must be certified by a registered PE.
Note: SPCC Plans are also required by the TSCA regulations for PCB storage facilities.
SPCC PLAN APPLICABILITY
These regulations apply to facilities that meet the following conditions:
- Facilities with aboveground storage capacities greater than 1,320 gallons in aggregate storage (i.e. bulk storage). Containers of less than 55 gallons are excluded; and
- Facilities that, because of their location, could reasonably be expected to discharge oil into or on the navigable waters of the United States or its adjoining shorelines.
The Plan establishes procedures, methods, equipment, and other requirements to prevent the discharge of oil from onshore facilities into or upon the navigable waters of the U.S. or adjoining shorelines, or that may affect natural resources belonging to, appertaining to, or under the exclusive management authority of the United States.
The Plan pertains to any aboveground container, completely or partially buried tank, or temporary use container that contains oil. Based on the quantities of oil stipulated in the regulations, the following electrical facilities will probably require the preparation of an SPCC Plan:
- Substations
- Switching stations
- Mobile substations
- Large customer installations
- Equipment storage and maintenance facilities
DEFINITIONS
Bulk storage container: Any container, 55 gallons and above, used to store oil. These containers are used for purposed including, but not limited to, the storage of oil prior to use, while being used, or prior to further distribution in commerce.
Note: Oil-filled electrical, operating, or manufacturing equipment is not a bulk storage container.
Discharge: Includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping of oil. The term discharge shall not include any discharge of oil that is authorized by a permit.
Facility: Any mobile or fixed, onshore or offshore building, property, parcel, lease, structure, installation, equipment, pipe, or pipeline in which oil is used. The boundaries of a facility depend on several site-specific factors, including but not limited to, the ownership or operation of buildings, structures, and equipment on the same site and the types of activity at the site.
Navigable waters of the United States:
- waters that are navigable, including adjacent territorial seas;
- the entire river system extending upstream to its uppermost tributaries;
- lakes and ponds used by interstate travelers for recreational or other purposes;
- intrastate lakes, rivers, and streams from which fish or shellfish are taken and sold in interstate commerce;
- stream beds and riverbeds that normally may be dry and only contain water during heavy rain periods;
- all wetlands.
Oil: Oil of any kind or in any form, including but not limited to gasoline, diesel fuel, sludge, synthetic oils, mineral oils, oil refuse, or oil mixed with wastes other than dredges spoil.
This does not include ethylene glycol.
Oil-filled operational equipment: Equipment that includes an oil storage container (or multiple containers) in which the oil is present solely to support the function of the apparatus or the device.
Note: Oil-filled operational equipment is not considered a bulk storage container. Examples of oil-filled operational equipment include, but are not limited to, hydraulic systems, lubricating systems (e.g., those for pumps, compressors, and other rotating equipment, including pumpjack lubrication systems), gear boxes, machining coolant systems, heat transfer systems, transformers, circuit breakers, electrical switches, and other systems containing oil solely to enable the operation of the device.
Onshore facility: Any facility of any kind located in, on, or under any land in the United States, other than submerged lands.
Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plan; SPCC Plan; or Plan: The document required by 40 CFR Part 112.3 that details the equipment, workforce, procedures, and steps to prevent, control, and provide adequate countermeasures to a discharge.
Storage capacity of a container: The shell capacity of the container.
SPCC PLAN REQUIREMENTS
The owner/operator has the responsibility for preparing a SPCC Plan that covers each facility that could "reasonably be expected" to discharge oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. The following should be considered when developing a Plan:
- Prior spill history
- Location
- Potential size of discharge
- Soil and terrain conditions
- Frequency and amount of rainfall
Note: AECI has an EPRI computer model which will determine the probability of an oil spill reaching U.S. waters under worse case conditions.
SPCC Plans are to be prepared and fully implemented before new facilities become operational. This implementation includes any construction or system modifications, changes in operational maintenance or administration, or the training of personnel prescribed in the plan.
The Plan should address both oil spill prevention and the measures to be employed in the event of a spill to control and contain the oil discharge. The Plan should include:
- Physical description of each facility and associated facility diagram should locations and contents of each container. (Containers smaller than 55 gallons do not have to be considered in the SPCC Plan.)
- Type of oil in each container and its capacity
- Discharge prevention measures
- Discharge or drainage controls
- Spill countermeasures
- Reportable discharge history
- Methods of disposal of recovered materials
- Contact list and phone numbers
- Background information to aid reporting (e.g., facility address, location, phone numbers, etc.)
- Prediction of the direction, rate of flow, and total quantity of oil that could be discharge as a result of major equipment failure
- Containment
- Inspections, tests, and records
- Personnel, training programs, and discharge prevention procedures
- Security
- A written commitment of manpower, equipment, and materials required to control and remove any quantity of oil discharged
The EPA has a website which offers guidance and assistance for preparing SPCC Plans. This website is www.epa.gov/oilspill/.
RUS developed Bulletin 1724E-302 for additional design guidance for oil spill prevention and control at substations.
A copy of the SPCC Plan must be kept at the cooperative office and be readily accessible in case a state or federal inspector comes on-site.
SPCC PLAN CERTIFICATION
SPCC Plans must be reviewed and recertified by a registered Professional Engineer (PE) at least once every five (5) years. As a result of this review, the Plan must be amended to include more effective prevention and control technology, if such technology will significantly reduce the likelihood of a spill event and has been proven effective in the field at the time of the review. Any technical amendment to the Plan must be made within six (6) months of the five-year review.
SPCC PLAN AMMENDMENTS
The SPCC Plan should be amended when there is a change in facility design, construction, operation or maintenance, which affects the facilities potential for the discharge of oil. An amendment must be prepared within six (6) months and implemented as soon as possible, but not later than six (6) months following the preparations of the amendment. Therefore, the need to amend the Plan should be reviewed and evaluated every six (6) months. Plan amendments, other than administrative changes, must be certified by a registered PE.
SECONDARY CONTAINMENT
You must provide secondary containment for bulk storage containers. The entire containment system should be sized to hold 100 percent of the oil contained in the largest single piece of equipment plus a reasonable allowance for precipitation.
Secondary containment can include:
- Dikes, berms, or retaining walls sufficiently impervious to contain oil;
- Curbing or drip pans;
- Sumps and collection systems;
- Culverting, gutters, or other drainage systems;
- Weirs, booms, or other barriers;
- Spill diversion ponds; or
- Sorbent materials.
RUS Bulletin 1724E-302 provides secondary containment design guidance for substations.
INSPECTIONS, TESTS, & RECORDS
Conduct inspections and tests in accordance with the written procedures found in the facility’s SPCC Plan. You must keep these written procedures and a record of the inspections and tests, signed by the appropriate supervisor or inspector, with the SPCC Plan for a minimum of three (3) years.
SPCC TRAINING
Annually train all oil-handling personnel in the operation and maintenance of equipment to prevent discharges; discharge procedure protocols; applicable pollution control laws, rules, and regulations; general facility operations; and the contents of the facility SPCC Plan. During these briefings, you must also highlight and describe known discharges or failures, malfunctioning components, and any recently developed precautionary measures. Training records must be kept with the SPCC Plan for a minimum of three (3) years.
DISCHARGE NOTIFICATION
Your SPCC Plan should describe the procedures you will use if an oil discharge occurs.
The following criteria should be used to determine when to notify the National Response Center and/or the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in the event of an oil spill:
- Report all spills of any quantity that can reach navigable water.
- Report all spills of any quantity within a facility that could possibly cause sheen to occur on surface water off of the facility’s property, such as when a heavy rainfall carries oil sheen outside the facility.
In addition to the criteria listed above, you must contact DNR if greater than 50 gallons of oil is released into the environment.
You must contact Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 if a discharge to navigable waters, or adjoining shorelines, occurs where either: 1000 gallons was released in one event; or, more than 42 gallons was released in each of two events within a 12-month period.
You must immediately contact the National Response Center if any size discharge (i.e., one that creates a sheen, emulsion, or sludge) occurs that affects or threatens to affect navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. The Center is staffed 24 hours a day.
The Plan should enable the person reporting the discharge to provide the following information:
- Name, location, organization, and telephone number
- Name and address of the party responsible for the incident
- Date and time of the incident
- Location of the incident
- Source and cause of the release or discharge
- Types of material(s) released or discharged
- Quantity of materials released or discharged
- Danger or threat posed by the release or discharge
- Number and types of injuries (if any)
- Media affected or threatened by the discharge (i.e., water, land, air)
- Weather conditions at the incident location
- Any other information that may help emergency personnel respond to the incident
If more than 1,000 gallons of oil is discharged in a single event, or more than 42 gallons of oil was released in each of two events within a 12-month period, the following information must be submitted to the EPA Regional Administrator and to the DNR within 60 days:
- Name of the facility;
- Name of the owner/operator;
- Location of the facility;
- Maximum storage or handling capacity and normal daily throughput;
- Corrective action and countermeasures taken, including a description of equipment repairs and replacements;
- Description of plant, including maps, flow diagrams, and topographical maps;
- Cause of the discharge(s) to navigable waters and adjoining shorelines, including a failure analysis of the system and subsystem in which the failure occurred;
- Additional preventive measures taken or contemplated to minimize possibility of recurrence; and
- Other pertinent information requested by the Regional Administrator.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources (573) 634-2436
National Response Center (800) 424-8802
EPA Region 7: (800) 223-0425 / (913) 551-7003
Rob LeForce, AECI, revised 2/14/2013