SPCC Deadline Arrives for Farms
The compliance date is May 10, 2013, by which farms covered by the rule must prepare or amend and implement their plans.
The compliance date has arrived for certain farms to prepare or amend and implement Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans. EPA’' SPCC rule includes requirements for oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response to prevent oil discharges to navigable waters and adjoining shorelines, and the rule requires specific facilities to implement these plans.
The plans will help farms prevent oil spills and control a spill if one does occur. EPA's Oil Information Center (800-424-9346) can answer questions about the agency's SPCC program, and its SPCC for Agriculture web page links to numerous information sources.
SPCC applies to a farm that:
- Stores, transfers, uses, or consumes oil or oil products -- such as diesel fuel, gasoline, lube oil, hydraulic oil, adjuvant oil, crop oil, vegetable oil or animal fat; and
- Stores more than 1,320 U.S. 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 United States or adjoining shorelines, such as lakes, rivers, and streams.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality hosted a webinar March 26 about SPCC for farms. The speakers were Barbara A. Carr, SPCC coordinator for EPA Region 5, and and Troy Swackhammer at EPA headquarters. The webinar is archived and available here.