SMG prepares and reviews SPCC plans for many types of facilities. May 10, 2013 is the deadline for compliance for owners and operators of farms subject to Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan regulations.
SPCC regulations apply to farms that:
- Store, transfer, use or consume oil or oil products, such as diesel fuel, gasoline, lube oil, hydraulic oil, adjuvant oil, crop oil, vegetable oil or animal fat; and
- Store more than 1,320 US gallons in total of all aboveground containers (only count containers with 55 gallons or greater storage capacity) or more than 42,000 gallons in completely buried containers; and
- Could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to navigable waters of the US or adjoining shorelines, such as lakes, rivers and streams.
The SPCC regulations can be found at 40 CFR Part 112. A farm is defined in this regulation as a facility on a tract of land devoted to the production of crops or raising of animals, including fish, which produced and sold, or normally would have produced and sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products during a year.
When deciding if the regulation applies remember that volume thresholds are based upon storage capacity not the amounts actually stored. Add up the storage capacity of each tank/container 55 gallons and larger and compare to the 1,320 gallons aboveground threshold or the 42,000 gallons below ground threshold.
Many farms will be classified as Tier I or Tier II Qualified facilities, which means they have fewer requirements than larger facilities and can self-certify their plans (See 40 CFR 112.7, Subparts B and C, and Appendix G) .
For more information, visit the EPA website SPCC page for Farms. The site has links to templates, worksheets, examples, and web-based tools to simplify the preparation of Tier I and Tier II SPCC plans. If you need assistance with SPCC regulations compliance, please contact Patty Mason (502-587-6482 ext. 211) at SMG Louisville or Kyle Hagen (859-231-8936 ext. 118) at SMG Lexington.