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Special Alerts
Changes in the law or announcements that your department should be aware of immediately are covered in our Special Alerts. These publications are sent out only when our staff feels the need for this information to be in your hands quickly.
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SPECIAL ALERT!
May 2006
Environmental Protection Agency Plans Inspections of South Dakota Above Ground Storage Tanks This Year
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to conduct inspections of South Dakota’s aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) again in 2006. Therefore, it is our intention to alert you to the possibility of these federal inspections, usually carried out by private contractors hired by EPA, and the urgency to comply with these federal spill rules to avoid enforcement if found in noncompliance. Since this is a federal program, the state has no authority in administrating or enforcing the program requirements. EPA has sole responsibility for this program. EPA maintains a website that contains most of the information related to this program. The website address is http://www.epa.gov/Region8/opa/index.html. The contact for Region 8 for the spill program is Jim Peterson at (303)312-6568.
Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans are a cornerstone of the Environmental Protection Agency’s strategy to prevent oil spills from reaching our nation’s waters. Unlike oil spill contingency plans that typically address spill cleanup measures after a spill has occurred, SPCC Plans ensure that facilities put in place containment and other countermeasures that would prevent oil spills that could reach navigable waters. Under EPA’s Oil Pollution Prevention regulation, facilities must detail and implement spill prevention and control measures in their SPCC Plans. A spill contingency plan is required as part of the SPCC Plan if a facility is unable to provide secondary containment (e.g., berms surrounding the oil storage tank).
Each SPCC Plan, while unique to the facility it covers, must include certain elements. To ensure that facilities comply with the spill prevention regulations, EPA periodically conducts on-site facility inspections. Facilities are now required to submit certain information after having two or more discharges (over 42 gallons) in any 12-month period or a single discharge of more than 1,000 gallons.
A copy of the entire Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan must be maintained at the facility if the facility is normally attended for at least four hours per day. Otherwise, it must be kept at the nearest field office. The SPCC Plan must be available to EPA for on-site review and inspection during normal working hours.
What facilities are regulated under the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation?
The regulation applies to non-transportation-related facilities with a total aboveground (i.e., not completely buried) oil storage capacity of greater than 1,320 gallons, or total completely buried oil storage that are not regulated by the state and are greater than 42,000 gallons capacity. The regulations apply specifically to a facility’s storage capacity, regardless of whether the tank(s) is completely filled. In addition to the storage capacity criteria, a facility is regulated if due to its location the facility could reasonably be expected to discharge oil into navigable waters of the U.S. or adjoining shorelines.
Resources
The below SPCC pages located at the following site http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/spcc.htm are available to provide you with the resources to understand, develop, and implement SPCC Plans.
SPCC Guidance for Regional Inspectors is intended to assist regional inspectors in reviewing a facility’s implementation of the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule at 40 CFR part 112. With its publication, EPA seeks to establish a consistent understanding among regional EPA inspectors on how particular provisions of the rule may be applied. The guidance document covers topics such as applicability, environmental equivalence, secondary containment and impracticability determinations, and integrity testing, as well as the role of the inspector in the review of these provisions. The document is also available as a guide to owners and operators of facilities that may be subject to the requirements of the SPCC rule and the general public on how EPA intends the SPCC rule to be implemented.
SPCC Compliance Assistance Guides assists facilities in developing their SPCC Plans, including contact lists, fact sheets, and compliance assistance guides.
SPCC reference material aids facilities in understanding SPCC requirements, including SPCC stakeholder meeting documents, SPCC facility survey results and analysis, EPA Memoranda of Under-standing (MOUs). EPA guidance letters, and other relevant Agency memoranda.
Source: County Comment, May 2006
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Oct. 2003
SPECIAL ALERT!
Commercial Driver’s License Rules Update
The Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (MCSIA) was passed in 1999. MCSIA amended numerous provisions of Title 49 related to licensing and sanctioning of Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers required to hold a commercial driver license (CDL). MCSIA directed the Federal DOT to correct/amend its regulations and correct weaknesses in the CDL program.
The final rules were published July 31, 2002 with an effective date of September 30, 2002. States must be in compliance within three years of the effective date of the rule to avoid penalties for non-compliance. Non-compliance will result in loss of Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program Grant Funds (MCSAP) as well as Federal-Aid highway funds.
Requirements outlined in the Final Rule:
1. Commercial Driver License disqualification is required if convicted of driving while suspended, disqualified or for causing a fatality.
2. Provides for emergency disqualification of drivers posing an imminent hazard.
3. Expands the list of serious traffic violations to include: driving a CMV without a CDL, driving a CMV without a CDL in driver’s possession, and driving a CMV without the proper CDL and/or endorsement.
4. Extends the driver record check. Applicants for a CDL must provide state licensing agency with the name of all states where previously licensed for the last ten years. States must maintain a CDL driver-history record for violations received while driving any type of vehicle. Convictions & licensing actions must be kept three years. States must be connected to CDLIS (Commercial Driver License Information System) and the National Driver Register (NDR). States must check the current state of licensure before a CDL is issued.
5. New notification requirements. When a state disqualifies, revokes, suspends or cancels a CDL or refuses to let the operator drive a CMV for at least 60 days, the state must notify the state of record and CDLIS within 10 days. Within three years from effective date of rule, conviction notifications must be made within 30 days of the conviction. Within six years from effective date of rule, conviction notifications must be made within 10 days of the convictions.
6. Masking of convictions is prohibited.
7. Requires disqualification for violations obtained while driving a non-CMV.
8. Prohibits states from issuing commercial driver work permits.
9. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) may prohibit a state from issuing CDLs if found to be in non-compliance. In this case, the driver would need to get CDL in a state that issues non-resident CDLs. States are authorized but not required to issue non-resident CDLs to such drivers.
10. Requires a new endorsement for school bus operators. Requires driver to pass both knowledge and a skills test to obtain a new school-bus endorsement. States with a school bus licensing program that meets the FMCSA requirements may continue to license with that program. States have the option to not require applicants for the school bus endorsement to take the skills test if applicant has experience driving a school bus and meets safety criteria.
By Cindy Gerber, Director, SD Licensing Program
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