On December 26, 2006, U.S. EPA published a final rule amending the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) requirements in 40 CFR Part 112 by: 1) providing the option for certain owners/operators (facilities that store 10,000 gallons of oil or less and meet other qualifying criteria) to self-certify their SPCC Plans in lieu of review and certification by a P.E.; 2) providing an alternative to the general secondary containment requirement without requiring a determination of impracticability for facilities that have particular types of oil-filled equipment; 3) defining and exempting vehicle fuel tanks and other on-board bulk oil storage containers used for motive power; and 4) exempting mobile refuelers from the sized secondary containment requirements for bulk storage containers. The rule takes effect February 26, 2007. In order to qualify for self-certification, a facility must have 10,000 gallons or less in aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity and not had "a single discharge of oil to navigable water exceeding 1,000 U.S. gallons, or two discharges of oil to navigable waters each exceeding 42 U.S. gallons within any 12-month period, for the 3 years prior to the SPCC Plan certification date, or since becoming subject to 40 CFR Part 112 if the facility has been in operation for less than 3 years." Also in the December 26, 2006 Federal Register, EPA published a proposed rule extending the compliance date to amend and implement SPCC Plans from October 31, 2007 to July 1, 2009 to ensure compliance with 40 CFR Part 112. EPA expects to propose further revisions to the SPCC rule in CY2007. For further information refer to www.epa.gov/oilspill or call Mike Arozarena at (800) 229-7495.
On January 3, 2007, EPA proposed to revise its long-standing policy that once a National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) rule becomes applicable to a source because it is a “major source” of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) [i.e., its potential to emit exceeds 10 tons/year of any single HAP or 25 tons/year of total HAPs], the source must continue to comply with all the requirements of the NESHAP even though the potential emissions may fall below the major source thresholds (EPA’s so-called once in, always in policy). Under the new proposal, a source at any time could obtain a permit from the State or local permitting authority switching its status from major source to an “area source” and thus any NESHAP requirements applicable only to major sources would no longer apply. For more information, refer to the Federal Register notice or contact Kent Berry at (800) 229-5299.
On December 20, 2006, EPA promulgated amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Portland cement plants. The changes were in response to a court remand in a suit filed by environmental groups. The amendments set emission limits for mercury and total hydrocarbons (THC; used as a surrogate for organic air toxics) for cement kilns built after December 2, 2005. For both new and existing kilns, the rules ban the use of fly ash as a raw material if the fly ash mercury content has been increased through the use of activated carbon injection or other sorbent for mercury control at the power plant. Mercury is also to be controlled by minimizing the recycle of cement kiln dust to the kiln consistent with maintaining desired product quality. Also on December 20, 2006, EPA announced the reconsideration of the new source standards to allow for additional public comment, since the emission limits were not specifically included in the earlier proposal. The HCl limits in EPA’s proposed rules were not promulgated. For more information, refer to the Federal Register notice or contact Kent Berry at (800) 229-5299.
EQ recently expanded its service offerings to include a site investigation and remediation practice focused on the industrial and commercial sector. Service areas include state-specific voluntary action programs (i.e. Ohio VAP, Illinois TACO, Pennsylvania Act 2), federal and state brownfield property redevelopment programs, mergers and acquisitions, facility-wide RCRA support, site investigation and remediation activities, and corporate environmental liability support (i.e. FIN 47 asset retirement obligations (ARO), property portfolio management, etc.). For more information or assistance in any of these areas, contact Dan Jelinek or Bob McCullough at (800) 229-7495.
For your engineering needs, please contact EQ Engineers at 219-844-3500 or visit their website.
For international engineering services, please contact EQ Engineers Slovakia via their website.
For questions about EQ's capabilities, please email or call Bob McCullough.
To subscribe to the EQuation Newsletter, please send an email to subscribe-eq@eqm.com.
To remove your name from the EQuation Newsletter listing, please send an email to unsubscribe-eq@eqm.com.