Spring 2004
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Development of military-specific guidance for the most recent version of the Environmental Protection Agency's Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) rule should begin this year.

EPA will consult with the Department of Defense Clean Water Act Services Steering Committee (CWASSC) to help develop this guidance based on the committee's growing concern for SPCC compliance among the services since the rule was revised in July 2002.

EPA and CWASSC officials met in January and February to discuss the 2002 revision's impacts on the military. Based on that meeting, CWASSC submitted its major SPCC issues to EPA to be considered during the development of future EPA SPCC guidance covering both industrial and military facilities affected by the rule. The plan to develop military sector EPA guidance also came out of this meeting. This guidance will provide clarification and guidance covering Defense Department SPCC operations and processes.

Development of the EPA SPCC guidance is expected to begin in late 2004.

Meanwhile, to cover compliance under current EPA guidance, CWASSC is developing guidance to help DoD installations amend and implement their SPCC plans.

The guidance helps installations develop a SPCC plan, answers some of the more complex issues, provides industrial standards, clarifies the 2002 revisions, describes best management practices and explains how the rule applies to their operations and how to comply.

The DoD SPCC guidance will be distributed in early spring. It will include frequently asked questions, a gap analysis checklist, a gap analysis tool, industrial standards matrix, a rule change summary, an operational checklist and spill plan template. The DoD SPCC guidance is expected to be housed on DENIX.

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