The Oil Pollution Prevention
regulation at 40 CFR part 112 requires and establishes procedures
for the preparation and implementation of Spill Prevention,
Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans. SPCC Plans help minimize
the potential for oil discharges by non-transportation-related
onshore and offshore facilities into or upon the navigable waters
of the United States or adjoining shorelines or from affecting
certain natural resources. Owners and operators of regulated
facilities must prepare SPCC Plans in accordance with good
engineering practices and have them approved by a person with the
authority to commit the resources necessary to implement the SPCC
Plan. SPCC Plans address the following three areas: (1) operating
procedures that prevent oil spills; (2) control measures installed
to prevent a spill from reaching navigable waters or adjoining
shorelines; and (3) countermeasures to contain, clean up, and
mitigate the effects of an oil discharge that could reach navigable
waters. Section 311(j)(1)(C) of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act, or Clean Water Act (CWA), authorizes the President to issue
regulations establishing procedures, methods, equipment, and other
requirements to prevent discharges of oil from vessels and
facilities and to contain such discharges. The President delegated
the authority to regulate non-transportation-related onshore
facilities under §311(j)(1)(C) of the Act to EPA under Executive
Order (E.O.) 12777, §2(b)(1). The 2006 rule amendments will further
reduce the burden of the SPCC regulation, with expected benefits
for small entities. Specifically, the rule amendments will reduce
the regulatory burden on qualified facilities and facilities with
qualified oil-filled operational equipment. Qualified facilities
with 10,000 gallons or less of aggregate aboveground storage no
longer need a licensed PE to certify their Plans. The amendments
also allow greater use of contingency plans without requiring an
impracticability determination for facilities with qualified
oil-filled operational equipment. Facilities that store oil solely
in motive power containers are no longer regulated, while other
facilities with oil storage in addition to motive power containers
may incur lower compliance costs. The rule also allows mobile
refuelers to fall under the rules general containment requirement,
which does not require specifically sized secondary containment.
Under these amendments, the SPCC rule compliance date will be
extended for farms until the effective date of a rule addressing
whether to provide differentiated requirements for farms.
Differences in burden and costs from the previous ICR are
attributed to both adjustments and program changes. Adjustments
capture updates to the number of affected facilities, wages, and
unit costs in the absence of the 2006 SPCC amendments. Program
changes reflect the 2006 revisions to the SPCC rule, which affect
both per-facility costs and the number of affected facilities. In
total, the burden hours presented in this ICR have decreased
relative to the current OMB inventory. The new burden estimate
shows an annualized decrease of approximately 195,000 hours due to
a smaller number of facilities expected to incur paperwork-related
costs. The annualized capital and O&M costs are estimated to
decrease with the rule by $16.0 million, mainly due to the
revisions made to the estimate of the per-facility costs and the
number of new SPCC-regulated facilities.
In total, the burden hours
presented in this ICR have decreased relative to the current OMB
inventory by 195,000 hours and $16.0 million. This decrease is
attributed to both adjustments and program changes. Adjustments
capture updates to the number of affected facilities, wages, and
unit costs in the absence of the 2006 SPCC amendments. Program
changes reflect the 2006 revisions to the SPCC rule, which affect
both per-facility costs and the number of affected facilities.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans - State, Local or Tribal Governments