BRIEF DESCRIPTION
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) proposes to change regulations on Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plans (plans) and Streamlined plans that certain vessels, railroads, pipelines, and oil terminal facilities must obtain to lawfully operate in the state. Based on input received from public scoping in 2019 and 2020, the department is proposing regulation changes to better implement the statutory authorities for contingency plans under AS 46.04, streamline and clarify regulations, and reorganize and update the content and approval requirements for all five parts of the plan.
ADEC proposes to adopt regulation changes at 18 AAC 75.400 – 18 AAC 75.496 (Article 4), 18 AAC 75.990, 18 AAC 75.027, and 18 AAC 75.075, and minor clarifying edits as described below, including:
(1) Amend 18 AAC 75.400 - Applicability to clarify applicability, requirements for who may apply for a plan for specific facility types, how to apply for statutory exemptions, and to repeal two subsections that duplicate statutory exemptions for certain types of natural gas facilities
(2) Amend 18 AAC 75.405 - Pre-application notification and consultation for oil discharge prevention and contingency plans; new plans and plan renewals to clarify application package requirements, including timelines and notice
(3) Amend 18 AAC 75.408 - General procedures to apply for oil discharge prevention and contingency plans to update and standardize the notification and distribution processes, and to clarify the format for plan application packages and who must sign the application
(4) Amend 18 AAC 75.415 - Procedures to apply for oil discharge prevention and contingency plans; plan amendments to change the deadline for submitting a routine plan update, clarify notification requirements for major or minor amendments, and add a new subsection to establish application procedures for temporary use of regulated aboveground oil storage tanks
(5) Amend 18 AAC 75.420 - Procedures to apply for oil discharge prevention and contingency plans; plan renewals to update review procedures during renewal, including to clarify that the entire plan will be reviewed and to repeal the option to not submit a copy of an unchanged plan
(6) Repeal 18 AAC 75.425 - Oil discharge prevention and contingency plan contents and incorporate content into new sections to provide requirements and approval criteria for Parts 1 – 5 of the contingency plan
(7) Amend 18 AAC 75.432 - Response planning standards for oil terminal facilities to clarify the response planning standard volumes for vessels operating as terminal facilities and to clarify prevention credits for leak detection systems and secondary containment enhancements
(8) Amend 18 AAC 75.434 - Response planning standards for exploration or production facilities to clarify the purpose of voluntary ignition of a well blowout proposal in determining a response planning standard volume
(9) Amend 18 AAC 45.436 - Response planning standards for crude oil pipelines to clarify the prevention credit for leak detection systems
(10) Amend 18 AAC 75.442 - Response planning standards for multiple operations to clarify language describing the response planning standard for a plan that includes multiple facility types
(11) Repeal 18 AAC 75.445 - Approval criteria for oil discharge prevention and contingency plans and incorporate content into new sections to provide requirements and approval criteria for Parts 1 – 5 of the contingency plan
(12) Repeal 18 AAC 75.447 - Department examination of new technologies
(13) Add a new section 18 AAC 75.448 - Oil discharge prevention and contingency plan, general content and approval criteria to consolidate plan general content and approval criteria information
(14) Add a new section 18 AAC 75.449 - Part 1 - Oil discharge prevention and contingency plan, Response Action Plan to consolidate and update the requirements for the Response Action Plan portion of the oil discharge prevention and contingency plan, including initial response actions and response planning standard scenarios. Specificity added for: contact information requirements, response scenario contents and approval criteria, fire control planning information, description of equipment used in surveillance and tracking of discharged oil, information for procedures to transfer recovered oil held in temporary storage, decanting planning and approval, use of the Alaska Regional Response Team Wildlife Protection Guidelines for Oil Spills in Alaska as a reference, criteria for requiring additional response strategies in the scenario, requirements for information about blowout contingency plans, and response scenarios for typical summer and winter conditions
(15) Add a new section 18 AAC 75.450 - Part 2 - Oil discharge prevention and contingency plan, Prevention Plan to consolidate the requirements for Prevention Plan contents, including descriptions of required prevention programs, technologies, and waivers or alternate compliance schedules in place at the facility
(16) Add a new section 18 AAC 75.451 - Part 3 - Oil discharge prevention and contingency plan, Supplemental Information to consolidate and update content requirements and approval criteria for Supplemental Information. Includes updates for: information required for aboveground oil storage tanks with a capacity of >10,000 gallons versus 1,000 to 10,000 gallons; piping diagrams required for oil terminal, exploration, and production facilities and for transmission pipelines; command system information; analysis of weather based on National Weather Service data or local historic weather information; calculations and storage-based limitations for effective daily recovery capacity (EDRC); temporary storage requirements; process for applying for an alternative EDRC; and requirements for response personnel training records. Clarifies that the use of a primary response action contractor does not relieve the plan holder’s responsibility to meet regulations and defines “manufacturer’s rated throughput capacity”
(17) Add a new section 18 AAC 75.452 - Part 4 - Oil discharge prevention and contingency plan, Best Available Technology Review to consolidate and describe the Best Available Technology (BAT) review requirements for technologies applicable to a plan holder’s operation, remove BAT review requirements for specific technologies required to meet a codified performance standard for corrosion control systems, pipeline leak detection systems, and tank vessel tow lines
(18) Add a new section 18 AAC 75.453 - Part 5 - Oil discharge prevention and contingency plan, Response Planning Standard to consolidate the Response Planning Standard information that must be included in the plan
(19) Amend 18 AAC 75.455 - Department review procedures for oil discharge prevention and contingency plans; new plans, plan renewals, and major plan amendments to clarify plan application review timelines and procedures, to revise the timeline for the department to issue requests for additional information and final decisions, and to update criteria for public hearings
(20) Amend 18 AAC 75.459 - Preissuance Conference to clarify prerequisites for requesting a preissuance conference
(21) Amend 18 AAC 75.460 - Department decision on oil discharge prevention and contingency plans; new plans, plan renewals, and major plan amendments to revise the content of department decisions, revise plan publication requirements, and revise notification procedures
(22) Amend 18 AAC 75.465 - Proof of approved plan to clarify allowable document formats and verification log requirements, and to clarify and consolidate requirements for plan documents that must be available at all times
(23) Amend 18 AAC 75.475 - Notification of nonreadiness to specify that the cleanup contractor must notify the department if there are significant changes to response plan components for a streamlined plan, and to remove specificity of what constitutes a written notice
(24) Repeal and readopt 18 AAC 75.480 - Inspections to provide greater detail about department-led inspections and requirements for plan holders
(25) Repeal and readopt 18 AAC 75.485 - Discharge exercises to update requirements for discharge exercises and to adopt by reference the department’s Oil Spill Response Exercise Manual
(26) Add a new section 18 AAC 75.489 - Definitions to define “temporary basis” for use of aboveground oil storage tanks within Article 4
(27) Repeal and readopt 18 AAC 75.495 - Regional master discharge prevention and contingency plan boundaries to update regional planning boundaries and current place name designations
(28) Amend 18 AAC 75.496 - Regional response operations plan boundaries for nontank vessels to update current place name designations
(29) Amend 18 AAC 75.990 - Definitions to update the definition of "annual average daily oil production volume," add new definitions for "deadweight tonnage," "failsafe," and "primary operational control," and repeal the definition of "Prince William Sound towing package"
(30) Amend 18 AAC 75.027(f) - Requirements for laden tank vessels to clarify and update requirements for tank vessel tow lines
(31) Repeal 18 AAC 75.075(i) because definition of “failsafe” will be added to 18 AAC 75.990
(32) Editorial updates to clarify language, update citations, and align with the State of Alaska Drafting Manual are made throughout the above identified sections and also in 18 AAC 75.410, 18 AAC 75.426, 18 AAC 75.428, 18 AAC 75.429, 18 AAC 75.430, 18 AAC 75.456, 18 AAC 75.457, 18 AAC 75.500, 18 AAC 75.510, 18 AAC 75.560, 18 AAC 75.580, and 18 AAC 75.990
You may comment on the proposed regulation changes, including the potential costs to private persons of complying with the proposed changes, by submitting written comments electronically via our public notice site at
https://dec.alaska.gov/comment/ . The full contents of all submitted comments are considered public records and will be posted online in full during the public comment period. If you are unable to submit comments via this site you may submit them by mail to Zuzana Culakova, ADEC P.O. Box 111800, Juneau, AK 99811 or in person to Zuzana Culakova, ADEC 410 Willoughby Ave, Suite 303, in Juneau, or by electronic mail at
dec.cpr@alaska.gov and they will be uploaded to the public comment site. The comments must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 31, 2022.
ADEC will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and response available at
http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/regulation-projects. ADEC may, but is not required to, answer written questions received after the 10-day cut-off date and before the end of the comment period. You may submit written questions relevant to the proposed action to ADEC by sending in questions by electronic mail at
dec.cpr@alaska.gov or by sending the questions by mail to Zuzana Culakova, ADEC P.O. Box 111800, Juneau, AK 99811 or in person to Zuzana Culakova, ADEC 410 Willoughby Ave, Suite 303, in Juneau. The written questions must be received by January 21, 2022, which is 10 days before the end of the public comment period. If you are a person with a disability who needs an accommodation in order to participate in this process, please contact ADEC HR Manager Brian Blessington at (907) 269-6272 or TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 no later than January 21, 2022 to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.
A copy of the proposed regulation changes is available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System and by contacting Zuzana Culakova at the email or address above or by calling 907-465-5346. This document also contains portions of regulation that are not proposed to change, to assist the reader in understanding the proposed changes. After the public comment period ends, ADEC will either adopt the proposed regulation changes or other provisions dealing with the same subject, without further notice, or decide to take no action. The language of the final regulations may be different from that of the proposed regulations. You should comment during the time allowed if your interests could be affected . Written comments are public records and are subject to public inspection.
Statutory authority: AS 46.03.020, AS 46.04.030, AS 46.04.040, AS 46.04.047, AS 46.04.050, AS 46.04.055, AS 46.04.060, AS 46.04.065, AS 46.04.070
Statutes being implemented, interpreted, or made specific: AS 46.03.020, AS 46.04.030, AS 46.04.040, AS 46.04.047, AS 46.04.050, AS 46.04.055, AS 46.04.060, AS 46.04.065, AS 46.04.070
Fiscal information: The proposed regulation changes are not expected to require an increased appropriation.
Date: October 28, 2021
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Jason W. Brune