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Oil Spill Prevention Compliance Monitoring
CWA Topics
- National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
- Pretreatment of Wastewater
- Biosolids
- Oil Spill Prevention
- Industrial Storm Water
- Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
- Municipal Storm Water
- Wetlands
- Wastewater Trading Program
- Discharge Monitoring Report - Quality Assurance
Under the Clean Water Act Section 311, EPA regulates oil storage that meets a specific regulatory threshold. Facilities that store oil and meet the regulatory threshold need to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plan which needs to be reviewed and approved by a professional engineer. Additionally, facilities with larger oil storage capacity may have to prepare and implement a Facility Response Plan.
Inspections
EPA conducts inspections to ensure that oil storage facilities comply with the regulations. EPA regional personnel periodically go on-site to inspect facilities subject to the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation. Inspections are:
- based on citizen complaints or tips,
- randomly selected or
- as a follow up to an oil spill
During inspections, EPA inspectors generally:
- review the SPCC Plan
- review the Facility Response Plan (if applicable)
- conduct a walk-through inspection of the facility to ensure that the facility has implemented spill prevention and response measures
- interview facility personnel on the SPCC and Facility Response Plans (if applicable) and their role in implementing them
EPA inspectors may also provide information to educate owners and operators about the regulations and methods for ensuring compliance. Inspections may be either announced or unannounced depending on the regional policy in place and the specific facility to be inspected.
Additional information on the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program