Overview of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Inspectioneering recently had the opportunity to chat with Kent Cheese, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Bureau Veritas, a global leader in testing, certification and inspection. Mr. Cheese has more than 20 years of experience working across several industries, including petrochemical and refining. Our discussion focused on the recent fenceline monitoring rule set by EPA to reduce plant emissions and the steps owner-operators can take to achieve compliance.

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In the oil & gas, chemical and petrochemical industries, identifying, understanding, and controlling process hazards in order to prevent process-related injuries and incidents is of the utmost importance. EPA and OSHA have released numerous regulations aimed at eliminating process safety incidents on American soil. Help ensure your facility stays in compliance with these 10 simple tips for improving your PSM program.

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The role of an API inspector is rapidly changing. Necessary skills for success have transformed as technology, standardization, and regulations have become part of the way of life.

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Several catastrophic spills over the past few years have sparked significant interest in oil spill prevention across the industry. Not only do facilities with large amounts of oil want to prevent environmental damage, loss of product, and civil lawsuits, but, assuming their operations are based in the United States, they must also comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations.

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On October 7, 2010, EPA maintained the November 10, 2010 compliance date for drilling, production or workover facilities that are offshore or that have an offshore component, and for onshore facilities required to have and submit Facility Response Plans (FRPs). However, EPA extended the compliance date an additional year for all other facilities to amend or develop a SPCC Plan until November 10, 2011.

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Facilities are facing increasing challenges, including justifying inflated budgets, managing contractor hours, ensuring regulatory compliance and qualifying the work being completed. To help facilities manage evolving inspection requirements, PinnacleART offers Fixed-Price Inspection (FPI), meaning we will develop and execute a comprehensive Risk-Based Inspection plan for one fixed-price. Yes, you read that right – one fixed-price.

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The purpose of the new SPCC rule is two-fold; i.e. to prevent oil spills from occurring and to respond to them if they do occur. We believe that few will argue that prevention is far better and less costly than response in general. The focus of this paper is to highlight how the new SPCC invokes existing industry standards as a requirement for implementation at all covered facilities in an effort to prevent spills. In particular, we focus on the most important industry standards that are required to prevent spills from occurring in existing facilities. Since the SPCC rule does not specifically identify any required standards the task of figuring out which standards are applicable and must be implemented is a challenging one. There are at least a hundred industry standards related to tanks and terminal facilities.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the report on this catastrophic failure that involved two storage tanks in a Pennsylvania refinery. The report issued March 20, 1998, stated that while both tanks had roof replacements since their initial construction, no further information was available about routine inspection or maintenance procedures.

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Equipment maintenance methods and philosophies continue to evolve. What has taken many by surprise is the rate of change and the sense of urgency that now surrounds issues related to Mechanical Integrity (MI) in the field of maintenance management.

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Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum are joining a group of major international oil and gas companies in an initiative aimed at curbing carbon emissions in the sector, they said in a statement on Thursday.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published new data detailing how it drastically expanded a biofuels waiver program for oil refiners since President Donald Trump’s administration took office, responding to pressure from the corn lobby to boost transparency over the opaque program.

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The Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project cleared a hurdle on Monday as the Trump administration said in a draft environmental assessment that an alternative route through Nebraska would not do major harm to water and wildlife.

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California state agencies recently announced final approval of new regulations to strengthen workplace and environmental safety at oil refineries across the state.

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The DOJ, EPA, and TCEQ have announced an agreement with Vopak Terminal Deer Park Inc. and Vopak Logistics Services USA, Inc., to improve air quality in the Houston area by strengthening air pollution controls and compliance with federal and state clean air laws at Vopak’s chemical storage terminal and wastewater treatment facility in Deer Park, Texas.

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AIM systems should ensure that the your facility’s MI software is accurately performing the calculations needed to calculate minimum thickness, long/short term corrosion rates and remaining life used to predict future inspection intervals. They should evaluate your MI software’s basic design and corrosion monitoring variables.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has settled with Wilson Oil, Inc., (doing business as Wilcox & Flegel Oil Co.) for alleged Clean Water Act spill prevention violations at its Longview Terminal facility in Longview, Washington.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice today announced a settlement with Magellan Pipeline Company, L.P., for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act related to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel spills in Texas City, Texas, Nemaha, Nebraska and El Dorado, Kansas. Magellan has agreed to complete approximately $16 million of injunctive relief across its 11,000-mile pipeline system and pay a $2 million civil penalty.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule amending its Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations to reduce the likelihood of accidental releases at chemical facilities and improve emergency response activities when those releases occur.

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Sinclair Casper Refining Company has paid $655,000 to reimburse the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for response costs incurred at the Empire State Oil Company Refinery Site in Thermopolis, Wyoming. The company entered into a settlement agreement with EPA for the recovery of past costs associated with the cleanup of the site, including the removal of asbestos, in September.

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After its recent examination of 42 operational underground storage tank (UST) systems storing diesel fuel across the United States, the EPA found that there was a significant prevalence of corrosion inside these tanks and has made recommendations for UST owners to better manage the risk of corrosion.

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It’s a scary thought to think that with all the new advancements in technology, some facilities still rely on traditional inspection contractors that perform out of date procedures. You rely on technology to keep your home and identity safe, so why run the risk of hiring inspection contractors without technological solutions to provide the vital information needed to keep your facility safe.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to revise its Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations to improve chemical process safety, assist local emergency authorities in planning for and responding to accidents, and improve public awareness of chemical hazards at regulated sources.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice today announced a settlement with HollyFrontier Corporation resolving alleged Clean Air Act violations regarding fuel quality emissions standards and testing requirements at three HollyFrontier facilities.

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Today the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) formally announced that to “Modernize U.S. Process Safety Management Regulations” is the Board’s newest Most Wanted Safety Improvement, concluding that implementation of key federal and state CSB safety recommendations will result in significant improvement of Process Safety Management (PSM) regulations in the United States.

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I applaud the issuance of the Executive Order entitled, “Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security.” Increased coordination, communication, and data collection amongst federal, state, tribal, and local agencies should result in action and assist community members and emergency responders in helping to prevent and respond to chemical incidents.

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