Key Questions
The following key questions are answered in this module:
What types of facilities are subject to the SPCC rule?
A "facility" can be any non-transportation-related "mobile or fixed, onshore or offshore building, property, parcel, lease, structure, installation, equipment, pipe, or pipeline" that is involved in oil-related activities, including oil production, refining, storage, use, consumption, processing, distribution, waste treatment, and well drilling.
How much oil must a facility store to be subject to the SPCC rule?
Facilities with an aggregate oil storage capacity exceeding 1,320 gallons aboveground or 42,000 gallons underground, which also have a "reasonable expectation of an oil discharge," are subject to the SPCC rule.
What are "baseline conditions"?
"Baseline conditions" indicate existing equipment conditions, and they can be used for comparison with future testing and inspection results. For tanks, they can be determined by performing integrity tests and measuring shell and bottom plate thicknesses.
Why is it important to test for the presence of water in fuel tanks and containment structures?
The presence of water and fuel in steel tanks and containment structures can lead to Microbial Induced Corrosion (MIC). That is why it is important to remove water and other liquids from steel tanks and containment structures that also contain fuel.
What is "brittle fracture"?
Field-erected aboveground storage tanks have occasionally been subject to a phenomena known as "brittle fracture." These clean breaks in the metal can develop during service or be caused by defects introduced during fabrication.