US EPA delays SPCC rules implementation.
Under
pressure from the small business community, the US EPA has given some temporary
relief to businesses required to prepare and implement spill prevention
contingency and countermeasures (SPCC) plans. While new SPCC Plans were
originally required to be updated by
February 17, 2003 to conform with the
amendments. The deadline was suspended and then delayed, so that by
August 17, 2004 plans were to be updated and
then be in place by
February 18, 2005
. The
EPA has now proposed to extend the deadlines by a year. This would make Plan
amendments due by
August 17, 2005
, and implementation delayed to
February 18, 2006
.
In addition, the Small Business Administration has suggested that the EPA
adopt a tiered approach, raising the quantity trigger from 1321 gallons to 5,001
gallons. In addition, the SBA has suggested that for quantities between
5,001 and 10,000 gallons no PE certification would be required on the new
plans. On tanks of 10,001 gallons and greater the PE certification would
still be required.
ECL
will continue to track this issue, so watch here for more information.
For More Information Contact:
EARTH Consulting, Ltd.
300 E210th St. Euclid, OH 44123 USA
Tel: 216-410-3422
FAX: 216-481-8278
Internet: fhamilton@earthconsulting.org
