OPA90 Annual Review - Did you forget again?

OPA90 Annual Review - Did you forget again?

Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully you were able to take some time off to enjoy family and friends over the past few weeks. It’s hard to believe, but 2020 is already here -- I like to start each year off with a series of housekeeping reminders.

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But first, as we’ve been advertising, see below, our June workshop is now open for RSVP. Click here to RSVP.

In response to the numerous requests I’ve received Witt O'Brien's will be hosting Troy Swackhammer, Mark Howard and Chris Perry, EPA Region 6 Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan and Facility Response Plan (FRP) Coordinator in Houston for an all-day SPCC Plan and FRP workshop on June 11th, 2020. Email invitations will be sent soon, so be certain to keep an eye out for yours. If you’re not on our email list, or you don’t see an invite in the coming weeks. email me to get added to the list.

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kicking off 2020, let’s review a commonly overlooked housekeeping item under the Oil Pollution of Act of 1990 (OPA90) under the three (3) inland federal agencies: the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG); the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and the Department of Transpiration’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), annual review requirements.

Before going too far, here’s what the three rules say:

EPA OPA90 - §112.20 - Facility response plans

(2) The owner or operator shall review relevant portions of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) and applicable Area Contingency Plan (ACP) annually and, if necessary, revise the facility response plan (FRP) to ensure consistency with these plans.

USCG OPA90 - §154.1065 - Plan review and revision procedures

(a) A facility owner or operator must review his or her response plan(s) annually. This review shall incorporate any revisions to the plan, including listings of fish and wildlife and sensitive environments identified in the ACP in effect 6 months prior to plan review.

(1) For an MTR facility identified in §154.1015(c) of this subpart as a “significant and substantial harm facility,” this review must occur within 1 month of the anniversary date of COTP approval of the plan. For an MTR facility identified in §154.1015(b) of this subpart, as a “substantial harm facility” this review must occur within 1 month of the anniversary date of submission of the plan to the COTP.

(2) The facility owner or operator shall submit any revision(s) to the response plan to the COTP and all other holders of the response plan for information or approval, as appropriate.

(i) Along with the revisions, the facility owner or operator shall submit a cover letter containing a detailed listing of all revisions to the response plan.

(ii) If no revisions are required, the facility owner or operator shall indicate the completion of the annual review on the record of changes page.

(iii) The COTP will review the revision(s) submitted by the owner or operator and will give written notice to the owner or operator of any COTP objection(s) to the proposed revisions within 30 days of the date the revision(s) were submitted to the COTP. The revisions shall become effective not later than 30 days from their submission to the COTP unless the COTP indicates otherwise in writing as provided in this paragraph. If the COTP indicates that the revision(s) need to be modified before implementation, the owner or operator will modify the revision(s) within the time period set by the COTP.

(3) Any required revisions must be entered in the plan and noted on the record of changes page

PHMSA OPA90 - PART 194 – Response plans for onshore oil pipelines

No annual review requirement, only reviews and updates as noted under §194.121 - Response plan review and update procedures.

Did you remember to do this last year? If not, let’s not forget this year and make some time to do the annual review in January or February.

For the EPA and the USCG, beyond what the rules say above, it is advisable to do the below at a minimum, too:

1. You should use this time to review the NCP, ACP for your area, your environmental sensitivity maps (ESM), and your vulnerability analysis to ensure your FRP is still up-to-date, as lots can change annually, e.g., new neighbors, new water intakes, updates to the listing of endangered animals in the area, etc., and it is important your pre-plans for protecting/responding to these in your FRP are current.
2. You should use this time to review the overall FRP: contact tables; tank tables; dock details; procedures; diagrams; spill responder contracts; etc.
3. You should use this time to review the quality and execution of your drill/exercise program and see if policy changes should be enacted to strengthen your overall program/capabilities.

Important to note, though PHMSA doesn’t require a documented annual review, here too, it is advisable to review the same noted materials, as these programs are all dynamic, and shouldn’t be thought of as static documents on a shelf once published.

A good rule of thumb on reviews is to coordinate these when doing your annual National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) exercise, as one has already allocated funds and resources to complete these. Furthermore, these items should be addressed/reviewed during a PREP exercise.

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.

We are here to help solve your compliance questions and challenges. Need some compliance assistance, or just have a question? Please email John K. Carroll III ([email protected]) Associate Managing Director - Compliance Services or call at +1 281-320-9796.

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