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Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Requirements for Farm Facilities

 

The Environmental Protections Agency’s (EPA) Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) program is an all too familiar program for PMCI’s members in the bulk fuel or bulk lubricants business. For commercial business owners like PMCI’s members, facilities with an aggregate above ground oil storage capacity of 1320 gallons or greater are subject to the EPA’s SPCC program.  
 
With fall approaching and harvest season soon to follow, PMCI is beginning to receive several calls from members with farm customers prepping to get into their fields. A big piece of that preparation is organizing fuel storage and, in many instances, adding fuel storage capacity. Within the context of the EPA’s SPCC program, questions have centered on whether the program applies to farm facilities. Farm facilities meeting the minimum aggregate oil storage threshold of 1320 gallons have been subject to EPA’s SPCC program since 1974. According to EPA estimates, as many as 150,000 farms nationwide have an aggregate oil storage capacity meeting or exceeding the minimum requirements of the rule.
 
On June 10, 2014, then President Barack Obama signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) of 2014. Under the WRRDA, farm facilities that have an aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity of 2,500 gallons or less are no longer subject to SPCC requirements based on aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity. The WRRDA and its applicability thresholds remain the law today. The Act also amends the SPCC rule to establish a temporary exemption for farms that have an aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity of 6,000 gallons or less and no reportable oil discharges. This conditional applicability threshold is meant to be an interim measure until EPA completes a study to determine the appropriate aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity threshold level (between 2,500 and 6,000 gallons), based on a significant risk of discharge to water.
 
Additionally, the WRRDA address another growing category of farmers, those with aggregate oil storage capacity between 6,000 and 20,000 gallons with no individual tank capacity greater than 10,000 gallons. Farm facilities with aggregate oil storage meeting these criteria are required to maintain an SPCC plan. However, they may self-certify their own plan.
 
Under the WRRDA, there are three triggers requiring farm facilities to have a licensed Professional Engineer certify an SPCC Plan:
 
1. Individual storage tank with a capacity greater than 10,000 gallons.
2. An aggregate aboveground storage capacity greater than or equal to 20,000 gallons.
3. A reportable discharge history.
 
Please contact the PMCI office with any questions about SPCC requirements.

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