EPA – Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan
June 10, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) bill. A provision in the bill eased the burden of the EPA’s Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule for farms. The previous EPA- SPCC rule for farms required compliance for farms if an operation had 1,320 gallons, or more, of above ground fuel storage and allowed self-certification up to 10,000 gallons. If the farm operation had over 10,000 gallons of above ground fuel storage a professional engineer was required for preparation and certification of their SPCC plan.
Under the provision in the WRRDA legislation:
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The aggregate above ground fuel exemption limit is raised to 2,500 gallons or less for operations with no history of spills.
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Farms with aboveground storage between 2,501 and 6,000 gallons are exempt from preparing an SPCC Plan until the EPA and USDA do a study (12 months) to establish a reasonable exemption threshold within the range. EPA then will issue a rule (additional 18 months) to set the new exemption threshold which can not be lower than 2,500 gallons.
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Farms with aboveground storage between 6,001 gallons and 20,000 gallons, with no one container having a capacity of 10,000 gallons or greater, and no history of spills, can self-certify their SPCC Plan. When the rule is issued by the EPA in 18 months, the lower level shall be adjusted accordingly.
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Farms with aboveground storage of 20,001 gallons and more and/or one container having a capacity of 10,000 gallons or greater, require a certified professional engineer to prepare and certify an SPCC Plan.
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The legislation exempts fuel tanks with a capacity of 1,000 gallons or less and all tanks that hold animal feed ingredients from the aggregate calculations. (The previous exemption threshold was containers with a capacity of under 55 gallons)
