• Part 112 helps to define what constitutes a facility for the purposes of SPCC and FRP requirements. An owner or operator may not characterize a facility for the purpose of avoiding SPCC and FRP requirements.

A facility may or may not be subject to the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) and Facility Response Plan (FRP) rule requirements depending on how the facility owner or operator aggregates buildings, structures or equipment and associated storage or type of activity. However, once the owner/operator determines the facility boundaries for SPCC applicability, then the same boundaries apply for determining applicability of the FRP rule requirements. An owner or operator may not characterize a facility so as to simply avoid applicability of the rule (for example, defining separate facilities around oil storage containers that are located side-by-side or within close proximity, and are used for the same purpose).

A lease may, at the owner or operator’s discretion, constitute a facility but does not necessarily create a facility. According to the definition of facility, contiguous or noncontiguous buildings, properties, leases, structures, installations, pipes, or pipelines under the ownership or operation of the same person may be considered separate facilities. A facility may also consist of parcels that are smaller or larger than an individual lease.

The following factors to determine the boundaries of a facility are not exclusive and simply serve as examples:

• Ownership, management, and operation of the buildings, structures, equipment, installations, pipes, or pipelines on the site;
• Similarity in functions, operational characteristics, and types of activities occurring at the site;
• Adjacency; or
• Shared drainage pathways (e.g., same receiving water bodies).