Oil spills endanger public health, impact drinking water, devastate natural resources, and disrupt the economy. In the U.S. we use vast quantities of oils to heat our homes, provide fuel for automobiles, and operate various pieces of equipment. During storage, transport, or as the result of energy exploration and production activities, oil and other oil-based products are sometimes spilled onto land or into waterways. When this occurs, human health and environmental quality are put at risk. Every effort must be made to prevent oil spills and to clean them up promptly once they occur. As the old adage states, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Due to the danger oil spills cause to public health and the environment, EPA regulates the discharge of oil to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines, waters of the contiguous zone, and in connection with activities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act or Deepwater Port Act of 1974, and discharges of oil which may affect natural resources under exclusive U.S. authority. These requirements are found in two EPA regulations:
- 40 CFR 110 (Discharge of Oil) provides the framework for determining whether an oil discharge to inland and coastal waters or adjoining shorelines should be reported to the National Response Center (NRC); and
- 40 CFR 112 (Oil Pollution Prevention) includes the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) requirements which identify certain types of discharges from regulated facilities that also need to be reported to EPA.
Scope
Per 40 CFR 110, any person in charge of a vessel or of an onshore or offshore facility is subject to the reporting requirements of the Discharge of Oil regulation if it discharges a harmful quantity of oil to U.S. navigable waters, adjoining shorelines, or the contiguous zone, or in connection with activities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act or Deepwater Port Act of 1974, or which may affect natural resources under exclusive U.S. authority. See the definition of “Discharges of oil in quantities that may be harmful to public health or the environment” for details and exemptions.
Per 40 CFR 112, any facility owner or operator who is subject to the SPCC regulation must comply with the reporting requirements found in 40 CFR 112.4, should the facility experience an oil discharge that meets the reporting criteria. See the Summary of Requirements section for the reporting criteria.
Key definitions
- Applicable water quality standards: State water quality standards adopted by the State pursuant to section 303 of the Act or promulgated by EPA pursuant to that section.
- Discharge: As it relates to 40 CFR 112, includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping of oil, but excludes discharges in compliance with a permit under section 402 of the CWA; discharges resulting from circumstances identified, reviewed, and made a part of the public record with respect to a permit issued or modified under section 402 of the CWA, and subject to a condition in such permit; or continuous or anticipated intermittent discharges from a point source, identified in a permit or permit application under section 402 of the CWA, that are caused by events occurring within the scope of relevant operating or treatment systems. For purposes of this part, the term discharge shall not include any discharge of oil that is authorized by a permit issued under section 13 of the River and Harbor Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 407).
- Discharges of oil in quantities that may be harmful to public health or the environment: Include those that: (a) violate applicable water quality standards; (b) cause a film or “sheen” upon, or discoloration of the surface of the water or adjoining shorelines; or (c) cause a sludge or emulsion to be deposited beneath the surface of the water or upon adjoining shorelines. Note that EPA has not determined the following discharges of oil “as may be harmful” for purposes of 40 CFR 110:
- Discharges of oil from a properly functioning vessel engine (including an engine on a public vessel) and any discharges of such oil accumulated in the bilges of a vessel discharged in compliance with MARPOL 73/78, Annex I, as provided in 33 CFR Part 151, Subpart A;
- Other discharges of oil permitted under MARPOL 73/78, Annex I, as provided in 33 CFR Part 151, Subpart A; and
- Any discharge of oil explicitly permitted by EPA in connection with research, demonstration projects, or studies relating to the prevention, control, or abatement of oil pollution.
- In addition, EPA states that three types of discharges subject to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) are exempt from oil spill reporting:
- Discharges in compliance with a permit under section 402 of the Clean Water Act, when the permit contains: either an effluent limitation specifically applicable to oil, or an effluent limitation applicable to another parameter that has been designated as an indicator of oil;
- Discharges resulting from circumstances identified and reviewed and made part of the public record with respect to a permit issued or modified under section 402 of the Clean Water Act, and subject to a condition in such permit; and
- Continuous or anticipated intermittent discharges from a point source, identified in a permit or permit application under section 402 of the Clean Water Act, which are caused by events occurring within the scope of relevant operating or treatment systems. This exclusion applies to chronic or anticipated intermittent discharges originating in the manufacturing or treatment systems of a facility or vessel, including those caused by periodic system failures. Discharges caused by spills or episodic events that release oil to the manufacturing or treatment systems are not exempt from reporting.
- Facility: Any mobile or fixed, onshore or offshore building, property, parcel, lease, structure, installation, equipment, pipe, or pipeline (other than a vessel or a public vessel) used in oil well drilling operations, oil production, oil refining, oil storage, oil gathering, oil processing, oil transfer, oil distribution, and oil waste treatment, or in which oil is used, as described in Appendix A to this part. The boundaries of a facility depend on several site-specific factors, including but not limited to, the ownership or operation of buildings, structures, and equipment on the same site and types of activity at the site. Contiguous or non-contiguous buildings, properties, parcels, leases, structures, installations, pipes, or pipelines under the ownership or operation of the same person may be considered separate facilities. Only this definition governs whether a facility is subject to this part.
- MARPOL 73/78: The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto, Annex I, which regulates pollution from oil and which entered into force on October 2, 1983.
- Navigable waters: Waters of the United States, including the territorial seas, as defined in 120.2 of this chapter.
- NPDES: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
- NRC: National Response Center.
- Oil: Oil of any kind or in any form, including, but not limited to: fats, oils, or greases of animal, fish, or marine mammal origin; vegetable oils, including oils from seeds, nuts, fruits, or kernels; and, other oils and greases, including petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, synthetic oils, mineral oils, oil refuse, or oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil.
- Owner or operator: Any person owning or operating an onshore facility or an offshore facility, and in the case of any abandoned offshore facility, the person who owned or operated or maintained the facility immediately prior to such abandonment.
- Petroleum oil: Petroleum in any form, including but not limited to crude oil, fuel oil, mineral oil, sludge, oil refuse, and refined products.
- Sheen: An iridescent appearance on the surface of water.
- Sludge: An aggregate of oil or oil and other matter of any kind in any form other than dredged spoil having a combined specific gravity equivalent to or greater than water.
- United States: The States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Summary of requirements
If your facility discharges oil to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines, you are required to follow certain federal and state reporting requirements:
40 CFR 110 and state reporting.
- Any person in charge of an onshore or offshore facility must notify the NRC immediately after he or she has knowledge of the discharge. Oil discharges that reach navigable waters must be reported to the NRC at (800) 424-8802 or (202) 426-2675. The NRC is the federal government’s centralized reporting center, which is staffed 24 hours per day by U.S. Coast Guard personnel. NRC will ask a caller to provide as much information about the incident as possible, including:
- Name, organization, and telephone number;
- Name and address of the party responsible for the incident;
- Date and time of the incident;
- Location of the incident;
- Source and cause of the discharge;
- Types of material(s) discharged;
- Quantity of materials discharged;
- Danger or threat posed by the discharge;
- Number and types of injuries (if any);
- Weather conditions at the incident location; and
- Other information to help emergency personnel respond to the incident.
- Additional state and local reporting requirements may apply. In most cases it makes sense to call 911 in the event of an oil spill, particularly in the case of flammable or combustible oil spills.
40 CFR 112 reporting.- Any owner or operator of a facility regulated by the SPCC regulation at 40 CFR 112 must submit a written report of a discharge to the EPA Regional Administrator within 60 days when:
- More than 1,000 U.S. gallons of oil is discharged to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines in a single event; or
- More than 42 U.S. gallons of oil in each of two discharges to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines occurs within any twelve-month period.
- When determining the applicability of this SPCC reporting requirement, the gallon amount(s) specified (either 1,000 or 42) refers to the amount of oil that actually reaches navigable waters or adjoining shorelines, not the total amount of oil spilled.
- The owner or operator must provide the following information in the written report:
- Name and location of the facility;
- Owner and operator name;
- Maximum storage and handling capacity of the facility and normal daily throughput;
- Corrective actions and countermeasures taken, including descriptions of equipment repairs and replacements;
- Adequate description of the facility, including maps, flow diagrams, and topographical maps, as necessary;
- Cause of the discharge to navigable waters, including a failure analysis;
- Failure analysis of the system where the discharge occurred;
- Additional preventive measures taken or planned to take to minimize discharge reoccurrence; and
- Other information the RA may reasonably require.
- The owner or operator must also submit a copy of the above information to the agency or agencies in charge of oil pollution control activities in the state in which the facility is located.
- The EPA Regional Administrator will review the information submitted by the facility and may require a facility to submit and amend its SPCC Plan.
