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Call for Action
SCAA Member Input on Proposed Agency Rulemakings
Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) are seeking input from the emergency response community on a pair of regulations being considered. As part of the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) process, the Agencies are soliciting input from industry and experts.
As the “Voice of the spill response community” for the past fifty years, the Spill Control Association of America (SCAA) will be providing comments on behalf of the Association, and also encourages interested members to provide any comments on either, or both these proposed rules.
Although both of these requests are broad, and in large part do not pertain to many SCAA member companies, they do contain specific sections that either impact the emergency response industry, or would benefit from its input. As a result, we have identified sections of each notification that are pertinent to SCAA membership, and carved out specific questions that should be addressed.
Hazardous Materials: Modernizing Regulations to Improve Safety and Efficiency,
[Docket No. PHMSA-2019-0031 (HM-265A)]
PHMSA is seeking input on initiatives that it is considering to may modernize the Hazardous Materials Regulations and improve efficiencies, while maintaining or improving a high level of safety. The July 5th, 2023 Federal Register contains the full announcement, and can be found through the following link: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-07-05/pdf/2023-13903.pdf
As mentioned above, certain sections of this proposed rule are meaningful to private-industry companies that operate within in the emergency response field, and therefore SCAA will be providing comments to PHMSA only on those sections. In an effort to assist our member companies in providing their input, we have created the following summary of questions that we will be responding to, and encourage your input to us.
Public comments are due back by October 3, 2023. Comments can be entered directly through the Federal Rulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov.
In order to properly prepare our Association response, we would ask that you provide any comments back to SCAA not later than Friday, September 22nd. Written answers, comments or other input you’d like us to consider should be emailed directly to Brian House, SCAA Executive Director at bhouse@scaa-spill.org.
Used Drum Management and Reconditioning Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,
[Docket No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2023-0320; FRL: 10001-01-OLEM]
EPA is interested in hearing from the emergency response community and other interested parties on what type of information (e.g., information on the hazards and, or chemical composition of the residues) that would be beneficial to first responders?
Under the proposed rule, EPA could require drum reconditioners to have a contingency plan, similar to the requirements for hazardous waste Large Quantity Generators (LQGs). If the drum reconditioner already has some type of emergency plan, such as a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plan or “One Plan”, then those plans could be deemed sufficient to fulfill the new requirement.
The August 11th, 2023 Federal Register contains the full announcement, and can be found through the following link: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-08-11/pdf/2023-16752.pdf. As previously mentioned, only a portion of the proposed rule impacts emergency response activities, so we are seeking comments solely on the specific question cited above, which can be found on pg. 54557 of the Federal Register announcement, Column 1.
Public comments have been extended until November 22, 2023 from the original date contained in the Federal Register announcement. Comments can be entered directly through the Federal Rulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov.
In order to properly prepare our Association response, we would ask that you provide any comments back to SCAA not later than Friday, November 3rd. Written answers, comments or other input you’d like us to consider should be emailed directly to Brian House, SCAA Executive Director at bhouse@scaa-spill.org.
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