Environmental Permitting and Planning Requirements Post/Pre-Purchase – General Reminders

Today’s article will be short and mainly contain links to previously posted articles as last week was a short week (Memorial Weekend).

Several weeks ago, I read the below-linked article. Usually, I won’t reference another company’s publications, but they summarized the requirements very succinctly and complimented several articles I’ve written in the past.

When companies acquire new assets, there are a plethora of actions required. In the regulatory realm, numerous filings, permits, and plans must be changed over to the new company. Simple edits can be done to some of the previous documents or by filing a notice of the change on an existing permit/registration. There are also many programs that require you to file a notice of termination on the previous company’s permits and apply for new ones (no transfer of coverage available). Some agencies, like the United States Coast Guard (USCG), require the resubmission of previously approved manuals for a new approval for the new company. Furthermore, post-purchase operations will change in some cases, so all applicable plans, permits, or registration will need to be addressed. As there is no one size fits all here, as regulations are area, industry, and/or activity-specific, one must develop a protocol to review all operations and get a clear picture of what will be done, what is in place, and a plan for updating everything, while being mindful of the various timeframes required under the rules when changes occur.

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From the referenced article, the following list includes some of the most common environmental regulatory compliance areas that are evaluated in an environmental compliance audit. The list below, nor any of the linked articles, are all-inclusive, but some of the main things to be mindful of during a purchase, especially as things today are in constant flux.

SUMMARY

• Air Permitting, including the requirement for periodic air emission calculations and annual air emission inventory reporting to a regulatory agency.
• Stormwater Permitting, including the requirement to prepare a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3), update the SWP3 annually, and periodically monitor stormwater discharges.
• Wastewater Permitting, including the requirement to obtain local Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) wastewater permits and periodically monitor wastewater discharges.
• Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC), including the requirement to prepare an SPCC Plan and periodically update the SPCC Plan.
• Tier II Reporting, including the requirement to identify, calculate and monitor the storage of hazardous and extremely hazardous substances on the site and report the presence and quantities of such substances to a local Emergency Planning Authority.
• Toxic Chemical Release Reporting, including the requirement to file with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a Toxic Chemical Release Inventory (TRI) Report, a comprehensive annual report that documents the use and release of toxic chemicals that are commonly used in industry.
• Hazardous Waste Compliance, including identifying and tracking the generation, storage, and disposal of Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) “hazardous wastes,” properly handling and storing the wastes, and filing annual inventory reports to a regulatory agency.
• Universal Waste Compliance, including the requirement to identify and properly store and dispose of “universal wastes”.
• Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) and Underground Storage Tank (UST) Management, including the obligation to properly identify and store regulated hazardous substances and maintain AST/UST testing records.

Similar articles I’ve written in the past around purchase and sales:

• “I just bought an oil terminal – now what?” - Revisited ICP Timelines - EPA, USCG, PHMSA Requirements
• “I just bought an oil production facility/barge, now what?” EPA, USCG, State Requirements
• The economy is in a recovery phase – don’t forget to conduct your ‘Phase I’ when acquiring new assets.
• Many states have their general stormwater permits coming up for renewal, are you ready?
• Air Permitting 101 – What and Why
• Industrial Stormwater Permitting - Surprise, permit needed for rain runoff

Reference Article: The National Law Review - Why Environmental Compliance Auditing is Important in the Purchase/Sale of a Business

For a complete listing of archived blogs and compliance insights, click here. Past blogs cover training requirements, clarification on additional confusing elements within the above rules, and much more.

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