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THE EPA has been visiting agricultural dealerships to check on Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans, reports the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association (IFCA).
If you have 10,000 gal. or more of aggregate fuel storage, you need to be in compliance. This means a professional engineer needs to certify and sign your company's SPCC plan, and you should have the documentation filed and ready any time an EPA inspector should visit, just as you would handle documents for an inspection by your state department of agriculture, OSHA or DOT.
EPA is still reviewing a proposal made by several associations (not all ag related) with less stringent requirements for entities with less than 10,000 gal. of aggregate fuel storage. The proposal suggests that entities with 1,300 to 5,000 gal. of storage would not have to keep an SPCC plan on file, but would still be in compliance.
For entities with more than 5,000 gal. but less than 10,000 gal. of storage, the proposal recommends a written plan, but those entities would not be required to have the plan certified by a professional engineer. Again, this proposal is in the review stage and the EPA has not yet ruled on it.
Kevin Runkle, regulatory affairs manager, IFCA, says that ag dealerships must review their SPCC plan every five years. If, however, they make any changes in design structure or in the operation of the containment structure or maintenance system that would affect a spill, they must make an amendment in the SPCC plan within six months of the change, he says.
Penalties for noncompliance can be costly. IFCA's Runkle notes that civil administrative penalties can be up to $11,000 per day and judicial civil penalties can be up to $27,500 per day.
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