County Agent News

Dan Folske

June 1, 2010

EPA Fuel Storage

 I attended the EPA training related to SPCC (Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure) plans last week. Here are a few items of interest.

Oil: any liquid which causes a sheen when spilled on water, including but not limited to- hydraulic oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, engine oil. Some herbicides and insecticides, biodiesel, crop oils, methylated seed oils, vegetable oil

Important Thresholds:

            1320 gallons- If you have more than 1320 gallons of total oil storage you need to complete             

                                   an SPCC plan

            55 gallons- Fifty-five gallon drums should be counted as part of your total storage.  

                               Containers smaller than 55 gallons do not need to be counted

            5000 gallons- If you have an above ground tank greater than 5000 gallons capacity you

                                   need to have your plan certified by a professional engineer (PE)

            10,000 gallons- If you have a total storage over 10,000 gallons your plan needs to be

                                      certified by a PE

Dates:

            If you started farming after August 16, 2002 you need to have a plan prepared and in use by November 10, 2010

            If your farm was in operation before August 16, 2002 and you do not already have a plan in use you must prepare a plan now. Do not wait until November 10, 2010!

What information will I need to prepare an SPCC Plan for my farm?

• A list of the oil containers at the farm including the contents and location of each container (a drawing or schematic with buildings, containers, container sizes, container contents, and  indicating the probable direction of run off flow from a spill)

• A brief description of the procedures that you will use to prevent oil spills. For example,

             steps you use to transfer fuel from a storage tank to your farm vehicles that reduce the             

             possibility of a fuel spill;

• A brief description of the measures you installed to prevent oil from reaching water

(containment tubs, dikes, diversions)

• A brief description of the measures you will use to contain and cleanup an oil spill to water

• A list of emergency contacts and first responders.

Empty containers (55 gallon drums, larger tanks) must be included in your total storage capacity unless they are marked as closed or out of service!

Tanks on the same farmstead may be considered different facilities if the ownership and responsibility is different. Ex. Dad has 7500 gallons storage and son has 6000 gallons of storage. Each could write and implement separate plans not requiring a PE. If you have 9,000 gallons of diesel storage on one side of the yard and 1000 gallons of gasoline on the other side of the yard along with a couple of 55 gallon barrels of engine oil and hydraulic oil in the shop, all are to be considered as part of one facility.

If you have more than one farmstead with fuel storage it will be your choice to call them separate facilities or a single facility. If you fall into a Tier II category requiring a PE you may want to list multiple sites as one facility so you only have to create and implement one plan. If you have less than 10,000 gallons at each location you may want to consider them separate facilities and write separate plans so you stay in the Tier I category and can do the plans without a PE.

Sized secondary containment (dikes or catch basins) must be large enough to probable rainfall plus the volume of the largest bulk storage tank.

General secondary containment is for drips and spills when transferring between containers or for mobile fuelers such as service tanks on pickups or trailers. Floor Dry and drip pans fall into this category.

The regulations are not extremely specific and allow producers the ability to develop plans which fit their individual areas and circumstances.