NEW SPCC AMENDMENT FOR PARKED TRUCKS CONTAINING PRODUCT EFFECTIVE JANUARY 14, 2010

The U.S. EPA’s amendment to federal SPCC regulations that eliminates sized secondary containment requirements for cargo tank vehicles containing product and parked over night takes effect on January 14, 2010. The amendment provides significant regulatory relief for petroleum marketers who will no longer be required to park cargo tank vehicles containing product within a secondary containment structure (i.e. dykes, berms, diversionary structures, catchment basins and oil water separators etc.). The EPA SPCC regulations do not specifically require cargo tank vehicles and transports be parked within sized secondary containment structures. However, an agency regulatory interpretation determined that parked cargo tanks containing product were no different from “temporary” storage tanks, and, therefore subject to onerous and expensive sized secondary containment requirements.

SPCC sized secondary containment requires secondary containment sufficient to hold a catastrophic release from the single largest compartment of a cargo tank vehicle or transport. Over the past several years, the EPA began to enforce this little known interpretation more aggressively. To avoid thousands of dollars in new compliance costs, PMAA and NEFI convinced the EPA to change the sized secondary containment requirements for parked trucks such that berms, dykes, diversionary structures, catchment basins and oil water separators would not be necessary for cargo tank vehicles and transports. Instead, the amendment requires these vehicles to comply with general secondary containment requirements. General secondary containment may be met using absorbents and/or drip pans to contain a release of a few gallons from a leaky valve or hose rather than a catastrophic release from the single largest compartment of the cargo tank.

Yesterday was the effective date for the SPCC parked truck amendment. Petroleum marketers should confer with their professional engineer to update and incorporate the new general secondary containment requirements into existing SPCC plans. Many engineers may not be aware of the amendment and may have to be “educated” on the exemption.

• Parked cargo tank trucks and transports containing more than a residue of heating oil are no longer required to meet “sized” secondary containment requirements under the SPCC regulations. Instead, parked trucks containing product must meet “general” SPCC secondary containment requirements. This means that secondary containment for parked trucks containing product does not have to include response plans for a “catastrophic” release, but only the “most likely” release. 
• The “most likely” release from a parked cargo tank vehicle or transport under the SPCC amendment is a few gallons of product from a leaky valve or hose.
• The EPA agrees that the use of drip pans and/or absorbents satisfy “general” secondary containment requirements for parked trucks containing product. No berms, dykes, diversionary structures, catchment basins or oil water separators are necessary.
• The general secondary containment requirements apply anywhere a cargo tank truck or transport containing product is parked at the end of the delivery day – including parking lots, garages and at bulk plants. An SPCC plan is required for all of these areas even if there is no above ground storage (or underground storage exceeding 42,000 gallons) on site other than the trucks, though these plans would be very simple as compared with a plan for a bulk plant. 
• The general secondary containment requirement does not apply to parked trucks that do not contain product.
  

More information can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/OEM/content/spcc/index.htmor contact PMAA Regulatory Counsel Mark S. Morgan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (202) 364-6767.