The delays are over and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator signed a notice amending certain requirements of the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule in order to address additional areas of regulatory reform that have been raised by the regulated community. The November 2009 amendments modify the December 2008 rule by removing certain provisions that were generally favorable to the industry. The final rule
- does NOT exclude farms and oil production facilities from the loading/unloading rack requirements;
- does NOT exempt produced water containers at an oil production facility; and
- does NOT provide alternative qualified facilities eligibility criteria for an oil production facility.
EPA is either taking no action or providing minor technical
corrections on the remainder of most of the December 2008 provisions. Because
of the uncertainty surrounding the final amendments to the December 5, 2008
rule and the delay of the effective date, EPA will propose to extend the
compliance date.
The Final Rule became effective January 14, 2010.
Please Note: On November 13, 2009, the Final Rule on SPCC Amendments was
published in the Federal Register. RCP has the complete amended final rule
available. Please contact us if you would like a copy.