THE THREAT OF OIL SPILLS FROM STORAGE TANKS AT END USER FACILITIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT The oil pollution prevention program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) addresses a large regulated community—the owners and operators of several hundred thousand nontransportation-related facilities. Regulated oil facilities generally are thought of as refineries, terminals, production field tanks, fuel oil dealers, or gasoline service stations. Some studies of the nationwide petroleum storage capacity do not even consider tanks owned by petroleum consumers, while others recognize that end users constitute a significant part of the nation's oil storage. The storage capacity of fixed petroleum tankage in the tertiary segment (agricultural, commercial, electric utility, industrial, military/government, residential, and transportation sectors) is estimated to comprise more than 20 % of the total U.S. storage capacity. EPA estimates that more than one-half of the facilities required to prepare Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans are such end users. The focus of oil pollution prevention, of course, is preventing spills. Several years ago, an American Petroleum Institute report on aboveground storage tank incidents stated that more than 25% of large petroleum releases in the United States were from tanks controlled by companies outside the petroleum industry. Recent data on large spills (10,000 gallons or more) show similar patterns. Of course, most nontransportation-related spills are from storage tanks or facilities in the petroleum industry (production wells, refineries, terminals, tank farms, and fuel oil dealers). More than 40%, however, are from electric utilities, manufacturing plants, military bases, airports, railroad yards, and other end user facilities. Smaller spills come from a variety of facility types. It is important for EPA and other groups to recognize the end user community and the threat of spills from end user facilities, and to begin to work with the owners and operators of end user facilities to educate them about EPA's oil pollution prevention regulation.