THE REGULATORY CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC DRIVERS FOR SPILL CONTAINMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 2006-2010
? 2008 ENPAC Corporation
OVERVIEW: The regulatory climate for spill containment is considered excellent over the next five years. The recent crop of regulatory revisions will for the first time directly affect most US employers, accounting for as many as 500,000 small to mid-size businesses struggling to comply for the first time in two decades. At the same time, the post-9/11 issues of liability exposure and a rapid and dramatic rise in the cost of insurance are fueling a need to immediately limit costs and liability as much as possible to ensure survival in a competitive market.
The market focus is no longer about helping the Fortune 1000 get their act together. These organizations have spent the past 20 years eliminating workplace hazards, bringing regulatory compliance and environmental management to the state of a science. Their knowledge of regulations and corporate compliance strategies are now mature. Today’s rapid market growth potential is assisting mainstream American business navigate the changing regulatory landscape and source the value-driven solutions meaningful for individual operations and goals. This pent-up market demand for spill containment products and related items is 20 years in the making and unprecedented in terms of the scope and type of customer affected, as well as the overall potential.
Each business seeking solutions to regulatory compliance is after one thing: maximum value per dollar expended. They need to source regulatory compliance at a reasonable cost to limit exposure to liability and enforcement action, thereby protecting their bottom line and ensuring survival. These solutions will be expected to contribute measurably to productivity and workplace safety.
ENPAC’s #1 selling line of Spill Prevention, Containment and Control Products is uniquely positioned to assist both the user and the distributor in achieving their goals. ENPAC offers the widest range of products, in the widest range of product segments, with the deepest product line in the world.
WHERE ARE WE AND HOW DID WE GET HERE? The regulatory story begins in the 1970’s with the creation of the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the promulgation and formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Since then the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) and the creation of the Superfund in the 1980s, plus the development of EPA containment regulations, has been followed by other equally important regulatory developments.
The Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulation, which resulted from the environmental catastrophe caused by the Exxon Valdez incident in the 1980s, is just one example. The 1990s brought enhancements to the Clean Water Act, in two phases (also referred to as “The Storm Water Regulation”), and the SPCC. The terrorist attack in 2001 brought more enhancements to security regulations and huge changes to the insurance exposure of each person and organization in the United States. As a result, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we stand at the threshold of the largest potential expansion in the spill containment marketplace encountered thus far.
CONTAINMENT AND THE FORTUNE 1000: The regulatory enhancements affect American business in ways not previously experienced by small and mid-size organizations. The EPA’s original Containment Regulation dealt with hazardous wastes and so-called “end of pipe” or “point source” pollution, requiring a specified amount of containment per volume of material: Containment, EPA 40CFR264.175: Ref (b) (3) “…the containment system must have sufficient capacity to contain 10% of the volume of containers or the volume of the largest container, whichever is greater.” In other words, 100% OR 10%. Since the implementation of this regulation in the 1980s, American business has had 20 years to reduce environmental exposure. Due to limited material concerning this regulation, however, enforcement and compliance was restricted primarily to large operations, or the most visible potential offenders.
CONTAINMENT AND MAJORITY OF US BUSINESSES: It is estimated that the revisions to the regulations of the 1990s now affect 500,000 business enterprises that were previously below the level of concern. For example, the revised Clean Water Act now actively seeks to reduce the remaining source of surface water contamination: “non-point-source pollution,” i.e. contamination carried to surface water in storm water run-off. This represents pollutants of various types and from a myriad of less-than-obvious sources such as petroleum residue on roadways and parking lots, sediment from erosion, and trash or debris. The Storm Water Regulations, also known as National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) EPA 40CFR122.26 require Minimum Control Measures to be put into place by activities in affected Urbanized Areas (UA). There are 405 Urbanized Areas listed in Appendix 6 of the 2000 US Census. Urbanized Areas are not necessarily cities, but also include suburbs and other nearby areas. Appendix 6 contains detailed maps of each Urbanized Area and can be accessed on-line through the US EPA Office of Wastewater Management (OWM) website WWW.EPA.GOV/OMW to determine if a particular location is in an affected UA.
The NPDES requires all affected activities to develop a program to manage storm water discharges from their facilities. This management program includes, among others, the development and implementation of a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) including BMPs (“Best Management Practice”).
The SWPPP identifies:
1) Potential Sources of Pollution and Exposed Materials, including a History of Past Spills & Leaks;
2) BMPs;
3) Non-Structural controls such as Good Housekeeping Practices and Spill Prevention & Response; and
4) Structural controls such as Containment, including Pollution Incident Prevention Plans (PIPP) and Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC) plans.
“Best Management Practice” (BMP) is literally a course of action, which, through its implementation, helps “to manage the quantity and improve the quality of stormwater runoff.” It meets or exceeds the “Minimum Control Measures” performance objectives of the federal NPDES regulation for limiting the discharge of pollutants to surface water supplies via storm water runoff.
Non-Structural BMPs include a range of practices designed to reduce the process of converting rainfall to runoff, which helps prevent pollutants from getting into the runoff in the first place. These non-structural BMPs include education, management, and pollution prevention practices such as Spill Prevention, Containment and Control.
Structural BMPs, as the name implies, include engineered and/or constructed systems that directly affect storm water runoff at the point of generation or discharge. They also include Proprietary/Miscellaneous Systems like catch basin inserts, as well as other Infiltration, Detention, and Wetland Systems, to name just a few.
Phase II of the Storm Water Regulation affects Construction Activities and Municipalities. For example, municipalities are required to take responsibility for implementation and education of all operations and organizations within their jurisdictions, regardless of size. For the first time, local government is evaluating compliance at the individual business level in order to meet the federal mandate to control pollution of surface water supplies by storm water run-off generated within their boundaries.
A business entity of ANY SIZE within an EPA designated “Urbanized Area” can no longer avoid either compliance or verification of exemption from the requirements of Pollution Prevention.
OIL SPILLS: Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure EPA 40CFR112.
The SPCC is the national oil spill regulation. This regulation, originally published in 1974 under the authority of the Clean Water Act, was amended in 2002. Legal challenges to its implementation were recently settled.
The regulation is intended to prevent oil discharge into navigable waters and related areas, rather than to address a cleanup after a spill has occurred. It generally affects all facilities with at least 1320 gallons aboveground storage capacity, or 42000+ gallons underground storage capacity. The SPCC requires affected facilities to prepare and file an action plan (the SPCC Plan).
Affected facilities include, among others, onshore and offshore drilling, platforms, barges and mobile facilities; fixed and mobile onshore or offshore production; oil refining and storage; any industrial, commercial, agricultural or public facility that uses or stores oil; some waste treatment operations; loading racks, transfer hoses and related equipment; vehicles and pipelines. Oils, fats and greas |
