Spill Prevention, Control and
Countermeasure Plans

Background

An SPCC plan is a written document that describes measures one has taken to prevent, contain and clean up oil spills. The term "oil" includes gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and solvents. All SPCC plans must be certified by a professional engineer.

* Reflects changes made to this rule effective August 16, 2002.

Any boating facility that has

• an aggregate aboveground petroleum storage capacity greater than 1,320 gallons

must have a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure plan.

Yes, SPCC plans are required by federal regulation 40 CFR 112 which is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Any facility operator may draft his or her own SPCC plan. The plan must be certified by a professional engineer, however.

Instructions to Obtain Free SPCC Plan

To alleviate the financial hardship that plan certification poses for some marinas, the Clean Marina Initiative has hired the engineering firm of Purdum and Jeschke to review and certify SPCC plans at no cost to marinas.

To be eligible for this service, boating facility operators must submit the following items to the Clean Marina office:

• A signed Clean Marina Pledge.
• A completed self-assessment, i.e, Clean Marina Award Checklist. Priority will be given to facilities that meet the Clean Marina Award Criteria in all aspects except the SPCC requirement.
• Draft of an SPCC plan prepared using the attached template.

Once Clean Marina staff receive the items listed above, they will forward a copy of the draft SPCC plan to Purdum and Jeschke.

Clean Marina staff will notify the marina when they are authorized to schedule a site visit with a representative from the engineering firm. During the site visit, an engineer will verify the adequacy of oil spill prevention measures and the accuracy of the SPCC plan. Assuming that the engineer is satisfied with the preparations at the marina, he or she will certify the SPCC plan and provide copies to the marina and the Clean Marina office.

• Download the SPCC template in MS Word.
• Download the SPCC template in WordPerfect.
• Download a "frame" for your site map, (Adobe Acrobat file 18KB).
  • NOTE: When downloading the Word and WordPerfect files it is best to right click the link with your mouse and choose either save as or save target as. This will allow you to save the files to your computer and then you can open them up in your word processor.

    The free Acrobat reader is needed to view the frame of your site map.

Submit pledge, checklist, and draft SPCC plan to:

Donna Morrow
Maryland Clean Marina Initiative
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Ave., E2
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-260-8773 (phone) - 410-260-8404 (fax)
dmorrow@dnr.state.md.us

Additional Information

A finite amount of money has been set aside for the certification of SPCC plans. Once the funding is gone, so is the service. To make the most economical use of State funds and the engineers' time, therefore, we will make every effort to schedule multiple site visits on a single day. This approach may mean that a particular facility has to wait several weeks after submitting their draft SPCC plan before a site visit is scheduled. You can help us to minimize this lag time by encouraging your neighboring marinas (those that need SPCC plans) to submit their materials at the same time that you submit yours.

Storage capacity includes the capacity of all containers such as tanks, portable tanks, transformers, 55-gallon drums, etc. The capacity of any empty containers that may be used to store oil and are not permanently taken out of service are also counted in a facility's total storage capacity. Containers less than 55 gallons are exempt from the scope of these rules as of August 16, 2002.

Yes. "Oil" is defined in 40 CFR 112.2 as oil of any kind or in any form, including, but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse and oil mixed with wastes other than dredge spoil. This definition has been interpreted to include vegetable oil, mineral oil, transformer and other oils.

A copy of the entire SPCC plan must be maintained at the marina if the facility is normally attended at least eight hours per day, or at the nearest field office if the facility is not so attended.

Since a boating facility must be in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in order to be certified as a Maryland Clean Marina, any facility wishing to be recognized as a Clean Marina and that is subject to the SPCC requirements must submit a copy of its SPCC plan to the Clean Marina office.

The SPCC plan is not required to be filed with the U.S. EPA, but a copy must be available for on-site review by the regional administrator during normal working hours. The SPCC plan must be submitted to the U.S. EPA Region III regional administrator and the Maryland Department of the Environment along with the other information specified in 40 CFR 112.4 if either of the following occurs:

• the facility discharges more than 1,000 U.S. gallons of oil into or upon the navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines in a single event, or
• the facility discharges oil in excess of 42 gallons in two spill events within any twelve month period.

The facility owner or operator must review the SPCC plan at least every five years. These reviews must be documented.

The SPCC regulation requires the owner or operator to amend the plan whenever there is a change in facility design, construction, operation, or maintenance that materially affects the facility's potential to discharge oil. Such amendments must be fully implemented not later than six months after the change occurs. All amendments must be certified by a registered professional engineer.