Nick Snow
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 20 -- The US Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final rule on oil spill prevention, control, and countermeasures (SPCC) that will provide compliance alternatives for some facilities.
The new SPCC rule provides streamlined options for specifically qualified facilities and exemptions from the regulations for certain vehicle fuel tanks and other onboard bulk oil storage containers.
EPA indicated that mobile refuelers also are exempt from the sized secondary containment requirements for bulk storage containers under the final rule, which also removes requirements for animal fats and vegetable oils pertaining to onshore and offshore oil production, drilling, and workover facilities.
In the final rule, EPA said it extended the compliance date for farms to either prepare and implement new SPCC plans or amend existing plans until the agency publishes a specific rule addressing how farms should be regulated under the SPCC rule.
EPA also proposed extending the compliance deadline for facilities other than farms to July 1, 2009, to give the covered entities time to implement the modifications. The latest rule does not remove the requirement for facilities in operation before Aug. 16, 2002, to develop, implement, and maintain an SPCC plan under regulations in effect at that time, EPA emphasized.
