Region 5 Superfund (SF)

 

Although most oil spills are accidental, they are common events. Spills can happen on land or in water, at any time of the day or night, and in any weather conditions.

Preventing spills is the best way to protect our health and the environment from exposure to oil. Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plans are written and implemented by owners or operators of oil storage facilities to help them prevent oil from being spilled from their facility.

However, spills do occur and we must be ready for them. In order to improve our readiness, we have developed an Area-Regional Contingency Plan for the six States in Region 5. This plan identifies risks and resources for response and sets policies for Federal responders to follow for specialized techniques such as in situ burning of oil and chemical countermeasures.

In order to best meet the needs of some of the unique places in Region 5, we have identified 20 Sub Areas and developed more specific response plans for them. These Sub Area Response Plans are developed with State and local governments and address localized issues such as response jurisdictions, response tactics on specific waterways and command structures.

Each part of the Region is mapped to identify environmentally and economically important areas. The Inland Sensitivity Atlases identify State and Federal endangered and threatened species, public and privately held land with environmental importance, sources of spills, locks, dams, marinas and boat access points.

For certain facilities, the owner or operator will need to prepare and implement Facility Response Plans (FRP) to aid in the response and preparedness of the facility in responding to a spill of oil from their facility. These plans must be consistent with the Area and Sub Area Plans mentioned above.

U.S. EPA Region 5 has also developed tools such the Oil Spill Exercise Generator which is available to assist responders from private industry or public agencies in preparing for response.

Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Regulation Workshop

EPA Regions 5 and 7 plan to co-host a 4-hour workshop in January 2009, to provide information about the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulation requirements for oil storage. If your facility has an aggregate above ground storage tank (AST) capacity greater than 1,320 gallons or a completely buried storage capacity greater than 42,000 gallons, and there is a reasonable chance that a discharge of oil from your facility may enter surface waters of the U.S. or adjoining shorelines, you may be required to prepare and implement an SPCC Plan.

This workshop will help further your understanding of: the requirements for the preparation, implementation and amendment of an SPCC Plan; required inspections, testing and record keeping; training and security requirements; secondary containment measures; applicability; transfer operation considerations; and current revisions and deadlines.

The last hour of the broadcast is a Question and Answer session where participants can call a toll-free number and speak to the co-hosts live. The workshop will be broadcast via satellite to at least three locations per state in Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, WI, OH), in the Region 5 Chicago office, and on the Dish Network.

This workshop is FREE but reservations are required so that participants can be contacted about the details of the broadcast locations and Dish stations. Registration will begin online, by fax or by mail sometime towards the end of November (check back at this Web site in November for further information).

The workshop will also be available for download from the registration Web site after the event for up to three months.

Contact: Dr. Barbara A. Carr (carr.barbara@epa.gov) at (312) 886-7187