Company Provides Compliance and Beyond for Your SPCC Plan:

Century Group

In an effort to assist railroads, industry, military facilities and light rail transit in meeting their objective of being good stewards of the environment, the Century Group offers the HDPE Enviropan®, an innovative, state-of-the-art railroad spill containment system.

With more than four decades of expertise in the railroad construction and maintenance industry, the Century Group, headquartered in Sulphur, La., is technically supported by an experienced and qualified staff that understands railroad design, construction and railroad spill collection systems.

With Century’s innovation and expertise, the patented HDPE Enviropan system represents the highest in environmental and safety standards in railroad spill containment.

SPCC regulations creeping up

Many facilities with railroad transloading racks — oil refineries, power generation stations, ports, railroad transloading facilities, food processing facilities and petrochemical complexes — are required to have a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan, which is a part of the EPA’s Protection Rule published under the authority of Section 311(j)(i)(c) of the Clean Water Act.

This prevention rule calls for facilities subject to the rule to prepare and implement a plan to prevent discharge of oil into or upon navigable waters in the United States or adjoining shorelines. The new compliance deadlines for SPCC plans are:

• Oct. 31, 2007, for any existing facilities to amend an existing SPCC plan or to implement a plan that meets SPCC criteria.
• A facility that meets SPCC criteria and becomes operational after Oct. 31, 2007, must prepare and implement an SPCC plan before starting operations.
• Specifically, part of the new regulations relate to railroad tank cars and railroad transloading facilities.

The SPCC regulations state that for a facility tank car and tank truck loading/unloading rack (excluding offshore facilities), “where [the] loading/unloading area drainage does not flow into a catchment basin or treatment facility designed to handle discharges, use a quick drainage system for tank car or tank truck loading/unloading areas. You must design a containment system to hold at least the maximum capacity of any single compartment of a tank car or tank truck loaded/unloaded at the facility.”

The Essence of Enviropan

The HDPE Enviropan meets the EPA SPCC regulations because the system is manufactured out of one of the most durable, high-density polyethylene compounds in which many fuel and storage tanks are manufactured. Normally the Enviropans are a part of the total secondary containment plan to sufficiently contain the accidental spillage of a railroad tank car. In most cases the Enviropan system is piped to a wastewater treatment or an oil/water separation system, in which the aggregate containment capacity including the HDPE railroad spill collection pans meets or exceeds SPCC regulations.

With regard to railroad transloading racks, the Century Enviropans in most cases will provide the necessary containment required to capture the volume of material spilled until the necessary emergency action takes place to stop the discharge.

The Enviropan system is widely used across North America for railroad spill containment and is considered the best available technology among engineers, railroads, industry and the military because it’s durable, economical and easy to install.

Century Service 

If your facility meets the criteria for a SPCC plan, and you have a railroad tank car transloading rack, then you probably need a railroad spill collection system. This is where Century Group can assist engineers, planners and EH&S personnel in developing a system that provides the most innovative, cost-effective and user-friendly railroad spill collection and secondary containment at your railroad transloading or fueling area.

Century’s experienced and innovative staff is committed to making sure that your railroad spill collection and containment project minimizes railroad track downtime, runs smoothly and meets all expectations and regulations.

Century’s goal is not only compliance, but making sure that the spill containment system being installed is compatible with the materials being handled, easy to install, safe and will provide the maximum service life.

For more information, visit www.centurygrp.com or call (800) 527-5232.

The above article was reprinted with permission from the August 2006 issue of BIC Magazine.