SPCC Plans and Facility Response Plans

Part 112 of EPA's rules has the owner or operator of a covered oil facility write, carry out and keep a Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plan, the SPCC Plan (40 CFR 112.3). Onshore facilities not related to transportation whose location means an oil discharge to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines could do substantial harm to the environment also submit a facility response plan (40 CFR 112.20(a)).

What puts a property on this record

The regulation does not say which facilities are on the record; it says who prepares each plan.

• SPCC Plan. With exceptions, the part reaches the owner or operator of a facility not related to transportation that has oil in an aboveground container, a completely buried tank or another container the part counts, and that, because of where it lies, could reasonably be expected to discharge harmful quantities of oil to navigable waters, adjoining shorelines or the other waters and resources the paragraph names (40 CFR 112.1(b)).
• What is left out. Exemptions include a facility that, on geography and location alone, could not reasonably be expected to discharge that way, and one with no more than 42,000 U.S. gallons of completely buried storage and 1,320 U.S. gallons aboveground, counted as the paragraph directs: only aboveground containers of 55 U.S. gallons or more count, and certain tanks and containers it lists are left out (40 CFR 112.1(d)(1)(i), (d)(2)). The Regional Administrator may still require a plan of a facility under EPA's Clean Water Act jurisdiction (40 CFR 112.1(f)).
• Facility response plan. A facility meets the criteria if it moves oil to or from vessels over water and can store 42,000 gallons or more, or if it can store 1 million gallons or more and lacks the secondary containment the paragraph requires, lies within a distance, figured under appendix C to part 112 or a comparable formula, at which a discharge could injure fish and wildlife and sensitive environments or would close a public drinking water intake, or has had a reportable oil discharge of 10,000 gallons or more in the last five years (40 CFR 112.20(f)(1)). The Regional Administrator may also require one of another onshore facility (40 CFR 112.20(b)(1)).

What a listing shows, and what it does not

The regulation does not say what a listing holds. A plan written to the general requirements carries a diagram of each fixed oil storage container's place and contents and, where experience shows equipment failure is reasonably possible, an estimate of which way, how fast and how much oil could flow (40 CFR 112.7(a)(3), (b)); a Tier I qualified facility may follow a shorter list, whose estimate need not give the rate (40 CFR 112.6(a)(3)). A response plan discusses the facility's "known or reasonably identifiable history of discharges reportable under 40 CFR part 110 for the entire life of the facility" (40 CFR 112.20(h)(4)).

After one discharge of over 1,000 U.S. gallons of oil, or two of more than 42 U.S. gallons each within twelve months, each as 112.1(b) describes, the owner or operator reports the cause and corrective action to the Regional Administrator within 60 days, once the first plan's deadline has passed (40 CFR 112.4(a), (b)). Notice to the National Response Center is separate (40 CFR 300.125(c)); see Emergency Response Notification System.

A plan's existence does not, in the sections cited, show that a discharge occurred, and the absence of a plan does not show that oil was never stored, since the part's exemptions leave some facilities out (40 CFR 112.1(d)).

In a Phase I ESA

These plans are not a standard source of Table 2, and Table 3, the standard's examples of additional records, does not name them (E1527-21, 8.2.2, Table 2, Table 3). Additional records are checked when the environmental professional judges them reasonably ascertainable, useful, accurate and complete enough for the purpose of the records review, and generally obtained in initial site assessments for the type of transaction involved, under local good commercial and customary practice (E1527-21, 8.2.4). Before the site visit, the owner, the key site manager if one is identified, and the user if not the owner are asked whether either plan exists (E1527-21, 10.8, 10.8.1.9).

At the subject property, the answer turns on what oil was stored, where and in what containers, whether any discharge occurred, and what was done about it. Where the plan, its records or the site visit show a release that left petroleum products or hazardous substances present or likely present at the subject property, the condition is listed in the Conclusions as a recognized environmental condition (REC) unless judged a de minimis condition or a historical REC, and the professional should give an opinion on additional investigation, if any (E1527-21, 3.2.20, 3.2.39, 3.2.73, 12.7, 12.8). The site visit looks for tanks, drums, stains, drains and sumps (E1527-21, 9.4.12, 9.4.15, 9.4.20, 9.4.21); ask for the plan, its inspection records, any response plan and any 112.4 report. See aboveground storage tank on the subject property and spill report at or near the subject property.

Nearby, the answer turns on whether a discharge is known or likely and whether it could reach the subject property. See adjoining or nearby property.

A listing of the subject property, or of another site inside the approximate minimum search distance, from any source the assessment uses gets the professional's judgment on its significance (E1527-21, 8.1.10).

What the federal rule says

The inquiry rule does not name these plans. Its list for the subject property includes:

Records of activities, conditions, or incidents likely to cause or contribute to releases or threatened releases as defined in § 312.1(c)

40 CFR 312.26(b)(2), edition revised as of July 1, 2025

The examples that follow include storage tank records and permits and spill reporting records (40 CFR 312.26(b)(2)). For a party seeking the liability protections, the inquiry is to identify "conditions indicative of releases or threatened releases" of hazardous substances (40 CFR 312.1(c)(1)); the standard's scope also takes in petroleum products (E1527-21, 1.1.2). The rule lets the procedures of E1527-21 be used to comply with its sections 312.23 through 312.31 (40 CFR 312.11(a)).

Where the record is kept

The SPCC Plan stays at the facility, or, where the facility is staffed less than four hours a day, at the nearest field office, for the Regional Administrator to review on site, with three years of inspection records (40 CFR 112.3(e), 112.7(e)). A response plan and a 112.4 report go to the Regional Administrator, the report copied to the state's oil pollution control agency (40 CFR 112.4(a), (c), 112.20(a)).

This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not classify any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here; the judgment of the environmental professional on the facts governs.