The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to amend the dates by which facilities must prepare or amend Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans, and implement those Plans. This proposed rule would amend the dates in § 112.3(a), (b) and (c) by which facilities must prepare or amend their SPCC Plans, and implement those Plans to establish a date one year from promulgation of the final rule amending 40 CFR part 112. Two different extension dates are also proposed for farms and production facilities that meet the qualified facilities criteria in § 112.3(g). Qualified facilities that are farms or production facilities would have two or five years respectively from promulgation of the final rule amending 40 CFR part 112 published elsewhere in this Federal Register.

Under the proposed revision to § 112.3(a)(1), the owner or operator of a facility that was in operation on or before August 16, 2002 would be required to make any necessary amendments to its SPCC Plan and fully implement it by November 20, 2009, while the owner or operator of a facility that came into operation after August 16, 2002, but before November 20, 2009, would be required to prepare and fully implement an SPCC Plan on or before November 20, 2009.

Under the proposed revision to § 112.3(b)(1), the owner or operator of a facility that becomes operational after November 20, 2009 would be required to prepare and implement an SPCC Plan before beginning operations. This rule similarly proposes to extend the compliance date in § 112.3(c) for mobile facilities. An owner or operator of a mobile facility would be required to prepare or amend and implement an SPCC Plan on or after November 20, 2009, or before beginning operations if operations begin after November 20, 2009.

Written comments must be received by December 26, 2008 and may be submitted to the E-Gov Web Site: http://www.regulations.gov. Reference Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OPA-2008-0546.