This Week's Headlines
EPA Issues Final Rule on Oil Spill Prevention
SCAA Joins Association Education Alliance
SCAA Joins Small Business Legislative Council
SLG 101: Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning
NOIA Congratulates Congress on Passing Vital Legislation
BP Submits Revised Spill Plan for Prudhoe Bay
Two Plead Guilty to Felony Pollution Charges
Chemical Spill from Train Leads to Injuries
Who Else Should Receive Spill Briefs?
EPA Issues Final Rule on Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures
The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency is amending certain requirements for
facilities subject to EPA's Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and
Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations. The SPCC regulations require covered
facilities to prevent, prepare for and respond to oil discharges. The
final rule will provide alternative compliance options for certain
regulated facilities.
This final rule provides streamlined options for specifically qualified
facilities and exemptions from the SPCC regulations for certain vehicle
fuel tanks and other on-board bulk oil storage containers. EPA is also
exempting mobile refuelers from the sized secondary containment
requirements for bulk storage containers, and removing requirements for
animal fats and vegetable oils that pertain to onshore and offshore oil
production facilities, oil drilling and workover facilities.
In the final rule, EPA is also extending the compliance date for farms
to either prepare and implement new SPCC plans or amend existing
(maintained) SPCC plans and implement the amended plans until EPA
publishes a future rule specifically addressing how farms should be
regulated under the SPCC rule.
To provide the regulated community time to implement these
modifications, as well as anticipated additional modifications, EPA is
also issuing a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates to July 1,
2009 for owners and operators of facilities (with the exception of
farms) to amend and implement an existing SPCC plan or in the case of
new facilities, time to prepare and implement a new SPCC plan.
Nothing in the final rule and the proposed rule removes any regulatory
requirement for owners or operators of facilities in operation before
Aug. 16, 2002 to have developed, implemented and maintained a SPCC plan
in accordance with the SPCC regulations then in effect. Such facilities
continue to be required to maintain their plans during the interim until
the applicable date for amending their existing plans and implementing
their amended plans.
Information about the SPCC Rules:
http://www.epa.gov/oilspill.
Source: U.S. EPA
SCAA Joins Association Education Alliance
SCAA has been approved for membership in the Association Education Alliance (AEA), an alliance of over 40 not-for-profit trade associations whose mission is to identify, evaluate and develop at an affordable cost, education programs for use by member associations. The objectives of AEA are:
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To advance the educational interest of and promote cooperation among its member associations.
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To acquire and disseminate among its member associations such information regarding education opportunities in the field of distribution which will assist the associations serving their members, and,
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To develop affordable educational programs for use by its member associations.
AEA has announced its schedule of training
programs for 2007. As a member of AEA, SCAA members can attend these
programs at a discounted rate. These sessions will include in person
training programs and teleconference seminars. Details about each
session will be sent out via email to SCAA members next year.
In Person Training programs will include:
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Don Buttrey’s Habit of Selling – March 20-22, 2007 and October 2-4, 2007 in Dayton, Ohio; cost is $895 per person.
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Young Distribution Professionals Conference – August 5-8, 2007 – Eaglewood Resort and Spa, Itasca, Illinois; cost is $795 per person.
Teleconference Seminars will include:
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First Quarter – Manufacturer/Distributor Relations with Michael Marks of Indian River Consulting Group
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Second Quarter – Human Resources/Hiring Issues – Nancy Coombs
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Third Quarter – Marketing Presentation
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Fourth Quarter – Customer Service Sales Program with the Telephone Doctor
Dates and locations will be announced.
SCAA Joins Small Business Legislative Council
SCAA has recently become a member of the
Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC). SBLC is an independent,
permanent, coalition of trade and professional associations who share a
common concern for the future of small business. SBLC was established in
1976 and has grown to represent nearly every sector of the economy
including manufacturing, retail, distribution, professional and
technical services, agriculture and construction. SBLC has become a
unified force that is respected throughout the government. The Council’s
views are sought and its opinions are valued by those in government who
must decide how the laws of the nation are enacted and enforced.
The purpose of SBLC is twofold: to consolidate the strength and maximize
the influence of small business on legislative and Federal policy issues
of importance to the entire small business community; and secondly, to
disseminate information on the impact of public policy on small
business. As a member of SBLC, SCAA members will now be receiving the
SBLC Weekly Update, a weekly newsletter about legislative and Federal
policy issues affecting small business
The next issue of the SBLC weekly will appear at the beginning of 2007
when the 110th Congress is in session. We hope you find this new member
service of great value to you and your business.
State and Local Guide 101: Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning
The State and Local Guide (SLG) provides emergency managers and other emergency services personnel with information on FEMA's concept for developing risk-based, all-hazard emergency operations plans.
The Guide clarifies the preparedness,
response, and short-term recovery planning elements that warrant
inclusion in State and local EOPs. It offers FEMA's best judgment and
recommendations on how to deal with the entire planning process--from
forming a planning team to writing the plan. It also encourages
emergency managers to address all of the hazards that threaten their
jurisdiction in a single EOP instead of relying on stand-alone plans.
This Guide should help State and local emergency management
organizations produce EOPs that:
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serve as the basis for effective response to any hazard that threatens the jurisdiction;
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facilitate integration of mitigation into response and recovery activities; and
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facilitate coordination with the Federal Government during catastrophic disaster situations that necessitate implementation of the Federal Response Plan (FRP).
Source: FEMA click here to view the document
NOIA Congratulates Congress for Passing Vital Offshore Energy Legislation
The National Ocean Industries Association
(NOIA) commends Congress for its historic vote, passing
much-needed legislation to open more acreage on the nation’s Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS) to oil and natural gas exploration and
production.
Tom Fry, president of NOIA, said, “With today’s vote, Congress
recognized that the nation has been operating under a flawed public
policy for decades that refuses to allow energy supply to keep pace with
increasing demand. As a result, we have experienced increasing prices
for oil and natural gas as well as an increasing reliance on imported
energy.
“To ensure the future security and economic prosperity of the nation
requires rethinking the policies that have consistently placed over 80
percent of the OCS off-limits,” argued Fry, “despite a long record of
safe and environmentally-responsible exploration and production.”
“Even with exploration and production limited to such a small percentage
of the nation’s OCS, the offshore still accounts for about 30% of the
American oil and natural gas produced every year," Fry continued. "Imagine if we were to
free ourselves from these self-imposed limitations. We are the only
nation in the world to consistently limit access to our own domestic
resources. This vote begins to rectify that situation.”
Source:
National Ocean Industries Association
BP Submits Revised Spill Plan for Prudhoe Bay
BP Plc has submitted a revised plan for
preventing and responding to spills at the Prudhoe Bay oil field
following pipeline corrosion problems and oil spills earlier this year.
BP's Alaska unit sent a proposed spill-contingency plan for the nation's
biggest oil field to the state's Department of Environmental
Conservation. The current plan expires in six months.
The new contingency plan was submitted as part of a routine renewal
process that affects all oil operators and transporters in Alaska.
It is the first new plan submitted by BP for its Prudhoe Bay field since
a March spill from a corroded pipeline at the facility leaked about
200,000 gallons of oil, the largest crude oil spill on record for
Alaska's oil-rich North Slope region.
Under state law, contingency plans are in effect for five years, and
operators must obtain renewals to continue conducting business in
Alaska.
However, new state regulations that expand regulation over flow and
gathering lines -- the oil-field pipelines that carry a mixture of oil,
natural gas and water -- will go into effect after this contingency plan
update.
BP operates the Prudhoe Bay field, but ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil
also own significant shares of the unit.
Source: Reuters
Chemical Spill from Train Leads to Injuries
A freight train derailed December 4 and leaked 20,000 gallons of
petroleum products near Carbondale, Ill.
The spill forced the evacuation of more than 70 homes and sent a dozen
people to hospitals.
Two of the 21 cars that derailed from the 83-car Union Pacific train
leaked a petroleum product used as an additive for lubricating oil and a
petroleum diesel-type lubricant. Early air-quality tests around the
derailment site came back clean, but it will take time before the area
is back to normal.
About a dozen people were taken to two area hospitals for mild symptoms
related to the spill. The victims included residents and emergency
responders.
The train was on its way to Chicago from Houston when it derailed near a
crossroads between a Burlington Northern Santa Fe track and Union
Pacific rail about 2:35 a.m.
A cause has not been determined.
Source: Associated Press
Sinclair Tulsa Refining Company, Two Managers Plead Guilty to Felony Pollution Charges
Sinclair Tulsa Refining Company has
pleaded guilty to two felony counts of deliberately manipulating
wastewater discharges at its Tulsa Refinery in violation of the Clean
Water Act (CWA). In addition, two company managers, Harmon Connell and
John Kapura, have each pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating
the CWA by manipulating discharges into waters of the United States.
The company, a subsidiary of major oil and gasoline producer Sinclair
Oil, and the managers admitted to knowingly manipulating the refinery
processes, wastewater flows, and wastewater discharges to result in
unrepresentative wastewater samplings during mandatory testing required
under the CWA. The manipulated samplings were intended to influence
analytical testing results reported to the Oklahoma Department of
Environmental Quality (ODEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA).
Sinclair has agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $5 million and a
community service payment of $500,000 to be paid into an environmental
fund, to be identified at a later date. Connell and Kapura each face a
maximum penalty of three years in prison, up to a term of one year of
supervised release, and a penalty to be determined by the court.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 2, 2007.
Between January 2000 and March 2004, the Sinclair refinery discharged an
average of 1.1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day into the
Arkansas River. Under the CWA, Sinclair was permitted to discharge
treated wastewater into the Arkansas River subject to certain
limitations and conditions, which included scheduled monitoring and
required sampling during weekdays.
On numerous occasions in 2002 and 2003,
Sinclair directed employees to limit wastewater discharges with high
concentrations of oil and grease to manipulate the result of required
bio-testing. During monitoring periods, Sinclair, by way of its
employees, reduced flow rates of wastewater discharges to the river, and
diverted more heavily contaminated wastewater to holding impoundments,
among other means of ensuring that they had passed the tests.
More information on the Sinclair action on the
U.S. Dept. of Justice Web site.
Source: U.S. EPA
''Here's a tip my friend. Never, ever talk about anything to do with the environment. Makes you boring. Second, it's political. You gotta figure half the people are against you.'' -- Denny Crane
Who Else Should Receive Spill Briefs?
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The Latest News from SCAA
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Coming Events
May 15-17, 2007
SCAA 2007 Annual Meeting
Sheraton National Hotel
Arlington, Virginia
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