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Dear PEI Member:
On October 1, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson signed a proposed rule
to amend the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule at 40 CFR
Part 112. EPA hopes that the amendments will clarify, tailor and streamline
SPCC requirements so they will encourage greater compliance with the SPCC
regulations.
On May 10, 2007, EPA issued a rule extending the compliance dates for
owners and operators of facilities preparing or amending and implementing
SPCC Plans until July 1, 2009. At the time the compliance dates were
extended, EPA served notice that it expected to propose the revisions issued
earlier this week, so their appearance at this time is not a surprise.
The pre-publication version of the October 2007 amendments is 217 pages.
It will take some time to fully analyze the ramifications the amendments
might have on PEI members and their customers. A quick reading of the
amendments suggests that EPA specifically proposes to:
- Exempt hot-mix asphalt, pesticide application equipment and related
mix containers used at farms, and heating oil containers at single-family
residences from the SPCC requirements.
- Allow the use of an SPCC Plan template for a subset of qualified
facilities known as "Tier 1" qualified facilities (i.e., with no
individual oil storage container with a capacity greater than 5,000
gallons up to an aggregate of 10,000 gallons). The owner or operator of
such a facility was provided an option to self-certify his SPCC Plan in
the 2006 amendments to the SPCC rule.
- Revise the facility diagram requirement to clarify how containers,
both fixed and mobile, are identified on the facility diagram.
- Define "loading/unloading rack" to clarify the equipment subject to
the provisions for facility tank car and tank truck loading/unloading
racks to include "a platform, gangway, or loading/unloading arm; and any
combination of the following: piping assemblages, valves, pumps, shut-off
devices, overfill sensors, or personal safety devices."
- Provide more flexibility to the general secondary containment
requirement.
- Allow an owner or operator to tailor his security measures to the
facility's specific characteristics and location. A facility owner or
operator would be required to describe in the SPCC Plan how he secures and
controls access to the oil handling, processing, and storage areas;
secures master flow and drain valves; prevents unauthorized access to
starter controls on oil pumps; secures out-of-service and
loading/unloading connections of oil pipelines; and addresses the
appropriateness of security lighting to both prevent acts of vandalism and
assist in the discovery of oil discharges.
More information about this proposed amendment will be available after we
have had a chance to read it more thoroughly. EPA has provided 60 days for
comments. In the meantime, if you want to read the pre-publication copy, it
is available from
the EPA web site. Jeff
Leiter, partner in the law firm of Leiter & Cramer, LLC, will devote some
time during his presentation on November 8 at the PEI convention in Atlanta
to discuss these proposed amendments.
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SPCC: Proposed Amendments
PEI: Proposed Amendments
Illinois: Proposed Amendments
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AMENDMENTS TO PEI'S CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS
TO BE CONSIDERED NOVEMBER 8 IN ATLANTA
PEI's Constitution and Bylaws have served the association well since we
changed our name from the National Association of Oil Equipment Jobbers to
the Petroleum Equipment Institute in 1966. But times change, and the 2007
PEI Board of Directors believe that the rules directing the governance of
the association must change as well.
The PEI
Board of Directors will recommend numerous changes to the PEI Constitution
and Bylaws when we meet at the Annual Membership Meeting on November 8 in
Atlanta. Many of those are editorial in nature, some correct errors in the
document, and a few offer substantive changes. On September 26, PEI
President Calvin Bishop wrote a letter to all Official Representatives of
PEI member companies which was accompanied by a document showing all the
changes proposed by the PEI Board of Directors. The letter explained the
substantive amendments and invited questions and comments to be addressed to
either Calvin (cbishop@dhpump.com)
or Bob Renkes (rrenkes@pei.org) of the
PEI staff in advance of the Annual Membership Meeting. The most dramatic substantive
change would be the creation of a Service and Construction Division, which
would allow PEI to better identify and serve the hundreds of contractors in
the association. Calvin Bishop's letter and the complete set of changes is
available here.
PEI's Annual Membership Meeting will be held from
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 8, at the Georgia World
Congress Center. A complimentary buffet lunch will be served. Please make
plans to attend.
PETROLEUM MARKETING BRIEFS
Shell plans to sell its last 1,800 direct-op
sites in the United States by the end of 2009. Affected markets include Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston,
Southeast Florida, and New York.
ConocoPhillips and Archer Daniels Midland Co. plan to develop
"biocrude," a crude-like substance made from crops, wood and switchgrass
that can be turned into gasoline or diesel. The ADM-Conoco venture is in the
early stages, and it will be at least five years before biocrude can be
made, said Lou Burke, manager of Conoco's biofuels division.
Venezuela's state owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) may
be interested in purchasing ExxonMobil assets (a refinery, 500 Esso-branded
service stations, and some gas fields) in Argentina, according to Argentine
and Brazilian newspapers.
Petrobras is considering forming a consortium to buy ExxonMobil's
downstream assets in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile,
Brazil's Gazeta Mercantil said earlier this week.
REGULATORY BRIEFS
Illinois. The Office of the
State Fire Marshal (OSFM) has proposed amendments
to 41 Ill. Adm. Code 170, implementing some of the federal mandates required
by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The amendments require that all new and
replaced tanks and piping have secondary containment with interstitial
monitoring and under-dispenser containment to contain and detect releases.
The OSFM chose the secondary containment option as the simplest and least
costly method of compliance with the federal energy policy act mandates,
although licensure of UST installers and certification of installations is
currently required under the UST program in Illinois.
We've made the proposal
available for download. The document is lengthy and may take some time
to download. The formal public notice
comment period ends in 45 days from September 28.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS
Marketing communications firm. DeanHouston, Inc., 659 Van Meter Street,
Suite 501, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202, has applied for affiliate division
membership in PEI. Dale A. Dean is president of the firm, which was
established in 1988. DeanHouston is a full-service marketing communications
firm which focuses on helping companies serving the petroleum industry
increase sales and net revenue. Sponsored for PEI membership by Craig
McNeill, OPW-FC, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Environmental compliance management firm. DJS Consulting, Inc., The
Center for Compliance Focus, 1000 Spanish River Road, 4B, Boca Raton,
Florida 33432, has applied for affiliate division membership. Daniel Spandau
is president of the firm, which was established in 2000. DJS Consulting
provides environmental compliance document management web portal services,
management and dealer training, audit services, regulatory assistance,
inspections and expert witness services. Sponsored for PEI membership by Lee
Nicholson, OMNTEC, Ronkonkoma, NY.
MEMBERSHIP TRANSFER APPROVED
- Fort Smith Petroleum Equipment Inc., Fort Smith, Arkansas, from
the affiliate division to the distributor division
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