5 Part Miniseries – Are annual plan reviews required for all regulatory plans? (EPA SPCC)
John K. Carroll III
Associate Managing Director at Witt O'Brien's, LLC, Part of the Ambipar Group
Good morning, everyone. I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July last week. Hopefully, you were able to spend time with family and friends; moreover, I hope you took a moment to pause and reflect on the significance of the day and how it changed the course of history.
Continuing my 5-part mini-series, “annual plan review requirements under commonly required regulatory compliance programs,” today we will review the requirements under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan rule found under 40 CFR Part 112.
If you missed the first three parts, click below.
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As always, let’s examine what the actual rule says.
§112.5?- Amendment of Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plan by owners or operators
If you are the owner or operator of a facility subject to this part, you must:
(a) Amend the SPCC Plan for your facility in accordance with the general requirements in §112.7, and with any specific section of this part applicable to your facility, when there is a change in the facility design, construction, operation, or maintenance that materially affects its potential for a discharge as described in §112.1(b). Examples of changes that may require amendment of the Plan include, but are not limited to: commissioning or decommissioning containers; replacement, reconstruction, or movement of containers; reconstruction, replacement, or installation of piping systems; construction or demolition that might alter secondary containment structures; changes of product or service; or revision of standard operation or maintenance procedures at a facility. An amendment made under this section must be prepared within six months, and implemented as soon as possible, but not later than six months following preparation of the amendment.
(b) Notwithstanding compliance with paragraph (a) of this section, complete a review and evaluation of the SPCC Plan at least once every five years from the date your facility becomes subject to this part; or, if your facility was in operation on or before August 16, 2002, five years from the date your last review was required under this part. As a result of this review and evaluation, you must amend your SPCC Plan within six months of the review to include more effective prevention and control technology if the technology has been field-proven at the time of the review and will significantly reduce the likelihood of a discharge as described in §112.1(b) from the facility. You must implement any amendment as soon as possible, but not later than six months following preparation of any amendment. You must document your completion of the review and evaluation, and must sign a statement as to whether you will amend the Plan, either at the beginning or end of the Plan or in a log or an appendix to the Plan. The following words will suffice, “I have completed review and evaluation of the SPCC Plan for (name of facility) on (date), and will (will not) amend the Plan as a result.”
(c) Except as provided in §112.6, have a Professional Engineer certify any technical amendments to your Plan in accordance with §112.3(d).
§112.7??General requirements for Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plans
(e) Inspections, tests, and records. Conduct inspections and tests required by this part in accordance with written procedures that you or the certifying engineer develop for the facility. You must keep these written procedures and a record of the inspections and tests, signed by the appropriate supervisor or inspector, with the SPCC Plan for a period of three years. Records of inspections and tests kept under usual and customary business practices will suffice for purposes of this paragraph.
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(f) Personnel, training, and discharge prevention procedures. (1) At a minimum, train your oil-handling personnel in the operation and maintenance of equipment to prevent discharges; discharge procedure protocols; applicable pollution control laws, rules, and regulations; general facility operations; and, the contents of the facility SPCC Plan.
(2) Designate a person at each applicable facility who is accountable for discharge prevention and who reports to facility management.
(3) Schedule and conduct discharge prevention briefings for your oil-handling personnel at least once a year to assure adequate understanding of the SPCC Plan for that facility. Such briefings must highlight and describe known discharges as described in §112.1(b) or failures, malfunctioning components, and any recently developed precautionary measures
Is there an annual administrative plan review requirement under the SPCC Plan??As a prescribed requirement, no.
Under the EPA’s SPCC Plan rule, the rule, in general, does not spell out procedures or frequencies of activities in detail (as with any rule, there are several exceptions) since the Professional Engineer (P.E.) is given a lot of latitude, as a P.E. is required to put his or her seal of approval on the SPCC Plan. In theory, the P.E. evaluates a facility on case-by-case factors, based on knowledge of industry standards and regulatory norms, and subsequently tailors the SPCC Plan program to the facility's need.
Outside of upstream Oil and Gas, the SPCC rule requires one to follow industry standards for tanks, oil-filled pipes, and regulated equipment regarding inspections (unless a P.E. develops an environmental equivalency). These programs generally all have monthly and annual requirements. These are not tied to the content of the SPCC Plan; however, they can impact the SPCC Plan if issues/changes are discovered.
In my 21-plus years as a consultant, I have never seen, nor have I ever developed a compliance plan without some form of annual plan review requirement. Whether a rule specifically calls it out or not, the best/industry practice is to hold training along with plan reviews annually to maintain the competency of personnel and capture changes on-site in a timely manner.
In conclusion, your SPCC Plan does not have to have a special entry in the revision record or a special form for an annual administrative plan review. However, you should be reviewing it annually alongside your annual required SPCC Plan oil-handling personnel training. What should you be reviewing? Reviews are intended to capture personnel changes, changes to the facility, updates to procedures, updates to contracts, etc. More importantly, doing these reviews will make any auditor or agency inspector feel more comfortable with your program – and ensure your SPCC Plan is always current!
Don’t forget, the current “bible” for all things to reference regarding SPCC regulations can be found on the EPA’s SPCC Guidance for Regional Inspectors website.
To date, I have written seventy-four related SPCC articles. To explore more topics, click below.
For a complete listing of archived articles and compliance insights, click here. Past articles cover training requirements, clarification on additional confusing elements within the above rules, and much more.
We are here to help solve your compliance questions and challenges. Need some compliance assistance, or have a question? Please email John K. Carroll III ([email protected]), Associate Managing Director – Compliance Services or call +1 281-320-9796.
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