EPA Grants Extension to SPCC Compliance Dates

The EPA Administrator signed a final rule granting an extension of the SPCC compliance deadlines by an additional 18 months. The new deadlines are February 17, 2006 for amending plans and August 18, 2006 for implementing plans. This extension also applies to mobile facilities, which EPA left out in the last extension. The preamble to the rule also states that any provisions that provide regulatory relief are not affected by the extension, meaning that industry gets the benefit of any more relaxed provisions. Also, any more stringent requirements are extended under this rule. API argued in its comments for a greater extension than the 12 months that was proposed, for inclusion of mobile facilities, and continuation of regulatory flexibility. API also asserted that EPA must publish the final rule well before the next deadline of August 18, 2004 arrives. Unlike the previous extension where EPA finalized the extension on the last day before the compliance deadline kicked in for amending plans, this time EPA gave industry almost two weeks notice. While not a huge amount of time, it does give some relief to facilities from applying for individual extension requests. This action by EPA does not solve the myriad of problems with the rule, but it is a positive step. Information about the can be found at www.epa.gov/oilspill/index.htm.