Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) requires the attempted prevention of, preparedness for, and response to oil discharges as part of the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation (40 CFR part 112). Regulated facilities must develop and implement SPCC Plans that establish procedures and equipment requirements to help prevent oil discharges from reaching navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.
Who is subject to the SPCC rule?
The SPCC rule applies to owners or operators of facilities that: Drill, produce, store, process, refine, transfer, distribute, use, or consume oil or oil products; and Could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to U.S. navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.Facilities are subject to the rule if they meet at least one of the following capacity thresholds:
Aboveground oil storage capacity greater than 1,320 U.S. gallons, or completely buried oil storage capacity greater than 42,000 U.S. gallons.
The following are exempt from the rule:
- Containers with a storage capacity less than 55 U.S. gallons of oil;
- Permanently closed containers;
- Motive power containers;
- Wastewater treatment facilities;
- Hot-mix asphalt and hot-mix asphalt containers;
- Residential heating oil containers at single family residences;
- Pesticide application equipment and related mix containers;
- Completely buried storage tanks subject to all the technical requirements of the underground storage tank regulations;
- Intra-facility gathering lines subject to U.S. Department of Transportation’s pipeline regulations; and Underground oil storage tanks at nuclear power generation facilities.
