Performance Standards for Spill Prevention at Oil Storage Facilities

Abstract

Performance standards state requirements in terms of required results, with criteria for verifying compliance but without stating the methods for achieving required results. A performance standard may define functional requirements for the item, operational requirements, or interface and interchangeability characteristics. A performance standard may be viewed in juxtaposition to a prescriptive standard, which may specify design requirements, such as materials to be used, how a requirement is to be achieved, or how an item is to be fabricated or constructed. A performance standard for spill prevention specifies the outcome required, but leaves the specific measures to achieve that outcome up to the discretion of the regulated facility. In contrast to a design standard or a technology-based standard that specifies exactly how to achieve compliance, a performance standard sets a goal and lets each regulated facility owner or operator decide how to meet it. Since 1993, U.S. Federal regulations complied with Executive Order 12866, which specifies the use of performance standards. Thus, it is not surprising that the 2002 revisions of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency'S Oil Pollution Prevention regulation, which was first published in 1973, included several performance-based provisions. The regulation requires nearly every significant oil storage facility in the nation to prepare a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plan. Regulatory provisions that had set prescriptive standards or design requirements in 1973, allow much more flexibility today. This poster presentation briefly examines the trend toward performance-based environmental regulations in the U.S. and the evolution of the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation.