Superfund in New England

Oil Storage Facility Spill Prevention and Planning

On January 9, 2003, EPA published a proposed and interim SPCC rule, which extends, by one year, the dates for a facility to amend its Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan, and implement the amended Plan. See EPA's national oil program web page for more information.

The Oil Pollution Prevention Regulation (40 CFR 112), was created to address oil spill prevention provisions documented in the Clean Water Act (CWA), as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA-90). This regulation requires oil storage facilities to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan. These facilities include those with an aggregate aboveground storage capacity of 1,320 gallons.

Additionally, certain facilities may be subject to catastrophic planning requirements under §112.20 of the rule. These facilities must prepare a Facility Response Plan (FRP), in addition to the SPCC Plan. EPA visits these large facilities on a five year rotation, and also conducts inspections at facilities that have had spills or other facilities. These facilities include those that have a storage capacity of:

• Over 42,000 gallons and transfer to/from vessels (maritime craft); or
• Over 1,000,000 gallons and pose a potential significant threat to "waters of the U.S."

2002 Revised SPCC Rule (divided into three files): Part 1 (PDF), Part 2 (PDF), Part 3 (PDF), and cross-reference between provisions of the revised rule and the previous rule (PDF). (PDF file sizes: Part 1 - 317K, Part 2 - 270K, Part 3 - 80K, cross reference - 11K)

To protect the region's resources from the damaging effects of oil, EPA New England has initiated a project to map sensitive environmental and economic resources within fifteen (15) miles of large oil storage facilities

For further Oil Pollution Prevention information, contact the EPA New England Oil Pollution Prevention Program Coordinator, Cosmo Caterino (caterino.cosmo@epa.gov or (617) 918-1264) or visit EPA's New England Oil Spill/SPCC Enforcement Program or EPA's National Oil Spill Program Web sites.