By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) has introduced legislation that would exempt dairy farms from an EPA rule that treats milk like oil, with regard to a spill.
The rule in question is called the oil spill prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC) program. The EPA has made a fact sheet available online for farmers who will be affected by the rule. The location is listed below.
For a little history, in December 2008 the Bush administration’s EPA amended the regulation to exclude milk containers; however, once the Obama administration took office the new EPA reversed course to once again include milk containers. That’s where things stand now, except the EPA hasn’t decided yet – at least publicly – what the final rule will look like.
Unless the rule is changed, farmers affected by it might have to get an engineer to certify they are in compliance with the regulation, which would cost an estimated $2,500.
According to the EPA’s fact sheet for farmers, SPCC applies to any farm which “stores, transfers, uses, or consumes oil or oil products, such as diesel fuel, gasoline, lube oil, hydraulic oil, adjuvant oil, crop oil, vegetable oil, or animal fat; and stores more than 1,320 U.S. gallons in aboveground containers or more than 42,000 U.S. gallons in completely buried containers; and could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to waters of the U.S. or adjoining shorelines, such as interstate waters, intrastate lakes, rivers and streams.”
Last month, Miller introduced her legislation, HR5426, specifically exempting milk containers from the SPCC.
“The EPA’s criterion, which considers milk to be oil, is placing undue, over-burdensome regulatory requirements on our dairy producers and will cause a financial strain on a vital industry,” Miller said in a news release issued May 27, 2010. “Milk is a natural resource and directing the EPA to proceed with exempting our dairy producers is a common sense solution. Our nation should take every step to prevent oil spills in our waters and shores. EPA needs to immediately exempt dairy from this mandate.”
Erin Sayago, press secretary for Miller, said last week “we’re hoping it will get some good traction. It has to go through the committee first. There are numerous farms in Rep. Miller’s district. The law would basically say that dairy farmers are exempt from this regulation.”
Barb Carr, the EPA’s SPCC coordinator for Region V, said there is a lot of discussion about the milk container rule at the EPA nationally.
“This matter is up at Administrator Jackson’s office,” Carr said. “There are a lot of people with concerns and questions.”
Troy Swackhammer, an engineer at the EPA’s Washington, D.C. offices, said there is a proposal out there now to exempt milk containers from the regulation. He also said the compliance date could be extended out further; he cautioned, however, that since the extension would apply to the whole regulation, not just the part that would apply to milk containers, people in Washington are worried about what another extension would look like, given the recent oil spill off the Louisiana coast.
“We did respond to industry’s concern, and we did propose an exemption for certain milk containers,” he said. “EPA management hasn’t made a decision yet on what to do. We’re working on that. We hope to have something out soon to further explain what to do. We obviously need to say something soon.”
More details on the SPCC regulation can be found at, www.epa.gov/oilspill |
