The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued amendments to the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rules for facilities with smaller storage capacity. Signed by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson on Dec. 12, 2006, the amended rule now allows a facility that has 10,000 gallons or less of above-ground oil storage the option of self-certifying the facility's SPCC plan rather than having the plan reviewed and certified by a licensed professional engineer as currently required. The SPCC Plan is required to address the following three areas: operating procedures that prevent oil spills, control measures installed to prevent a spill from reaching navigable waters and countermeasures to contain, clean up and mitigate the effects of an oil spill that reaches navigable waters.

In order to take advantage of the self-certification option, the facility must not have had a single discharge of oil to navigable waters exceeding 1,000 gallons or two discharges of oil to navigable waters each exceeding 42 gallons within any 12-month period for the three years prior to the SPCC plan certification date. The new rule also exempts automotive and truck fuel tanks from all SPCC requirements and mobile refuelers from secondary containment requirements for bulk storage containers. These changes will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

EPA also has proposed extending the compliance dates for owners and operators to prepare or amend and implement SPCC plans until July 1, 2009. For more information on SPCC changes and unofficial pre-publication copies of the Federal Register Notices, visit www.epa.gov/oilspill/index.htm.