EPA Issues Final SPCC Rule

SIGMA Spring Convention -- Watch Your Mail

Congress Passes Tax Legislation: Includes LUST

New Democratic Committee Assignments Made

Letter From EPA RE: Ethanol Blends

EPA Issues Final SPCC Rule

 On December 14, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency amended certain requirements for facilities subject to EPA's Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations. The SPCC regulations require covered facilities to prevent, prepare for and respond to oil spills. The final rule will provide alternative compliance options for certain regulated facilities.  This final rule provides streamlined options for specifically qualified facilities and exemptions from the SPCC regulations for certain vehicle fuel tanks and other on-board bulk oil storage containers. It modifies the requirement that covered facilities use a professional engineer to certify the spill plans, allowing plants that store or handle up to 10,000 gallons of oil to self-certify the plans. Above that level, plant operators will still have to use a professional engineer.  EPA is also exempting mobile refuelers from the sized secondary containment requirements for bulk storage containers. To provide the regulated community time to implement these modifications, as well as anticipated additional modifications, EPA is also issuing a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates to July 1, 2009 for owners and operators of facilities to amend and implement an existing SPCC plan or in the case of new facilities, time to prepare and implement a new SPCC plan.

Nothing in the final rule and the proposed rule removes any regulatory requirement for owners or operators of facilities in operation before Aug. 16, 2002 to have developed, implemented and maintained a SPCC plan in accordance with the SPCC regulations then in effect. Such facilities continue to be required to maintain their plans during the interim until the applicable date for amending their existing plans and implementing their amended plans. More information can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/oilspill 

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SIGMA SPRING CONVENTION—WATCH YOUR MAIL!
With 670+ attendees at the SIGMA Annual Meeting in Chicago last month, SIGMA is already “springing” into action to answer your needs for Tucson.  We’re lining up education topics and networking opportunities that members tell us “make all the difference” to them and their bottom lines, and we invite you to be there and benefit!  You’ll soon receive the infamous folder mailing, filled with pertinent information and registration forms for this year’s SIGMA Spring Convention in Tucson, AZ, coming up April 26-29.  If you don’t see one in the mail soon, call up SIGMA at (703) 709-7000 to request yours today.

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CONGRESS PASSES TAX LEGISLATION; INCLUDES LUST
The Congress passed the tax legislation (HR 6111) on December 8th by unanimous consent in the Senate and by a 367-45 vote in the House.  The bill included language to authorize expenditures from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) trust fund to help states pay for various reforms passed in the Energy Bill last year.  The measure now awaits a signature from Pres. Bush but the White House did not release any news on its timing.   The bill also included tax incentives to encourage private developers to clean up brown-fields sites, including contaminated petroleum sites.

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LETTER FROM EPA RE: ETHANOL BLENDS
EPA sent a letter on November 28, 2006, to the South Dakota Petroleum and Propane Marketers Association addressing concerns of the legality of selling ethanol gasoline blends to motorists at retail outlets.  In essence, it says that EPA does not consider it a violation of the Clean Air Act to dispense E-20 or E-30 into flexible fuel vehicles, but it is a violation to dispense it into gasoline-powered vehicles designed to run on a maximum E-10 blend. A copy of the letter can be viewed at www.sigma.org.
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SIGMA Weekly Report December 18, 2006 © Copyright SIGMA, 2006