Why don’t we wash our rental cars?

Have you ever wondered why we never wash our rental cars before we return them to the rental company?

Because we don’t own the rental cars!

The same goes with writing environmental plans. If the employees who are responsible for implementing the plan (SPCC, stormwater, RCRA contingency, etc.) have not been involved in the development and preparation of the plans in any way, they are not going to have ownership of the plans and they are not likely to implement them.

Remember: Many of these plans (especially SPCC) are perfromance-based. That means if they are not implemented as written, you can end up with a violation.

Get your employees involved in some fashion before you finalize your palns. Have them review the draft. Get them involved.

Storm water enforcement action by EPA and California

EPA Region 9 and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board conducted on-site audits of City of Los Angeles’ and City Long Beach’s municipal storm water programs and conducted 55 individual storm water inspections of port tenants in May 2007.

As a result of this effort, on November 9, 2007, EPA issued an audit report and 20 Administrative Orders to facilities at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for being not in compliance with California’s Industrial General Permit.

One of the facilities was cited for:

1. Not identifying a pollution prevention team in its storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP)
2. Not maintaining sampling records of monthly visual storm water discharge observation
3. Not adequately implementing Best Management Practices (BMP) as identified in its SWPPP. In this case, the facility lists good housekeeping as a BMP. And yet the EPA inspectors observed significant amount of trash and white material on the ground at a location that drains toward the storm drain. There were also evidence of tank overfilling and spillage of glycol and latex paint.

These are common violations for many SWPPPs because facilities often ignore the written plans and fail to IMPLEMENT them. It is very easy for an inspector to look at the written plan and compare it to reality. More often than not, the written words and reality fail to match.

The issuance of 20 Administrative Orders by EPA is convincing proof that the agencies always LOOK for evidence of implementation when it comes to environmental plans such as SWPPP. It is NOT sufficient to just hire some consultants to prepare a nice looking plan for you. You have to actually do what the consultants have put into the plan.

So always manage your consultants and make sure they don’t put something in your plan that you can’t implement. Remember: they get paid whether you implement the plan or not. Work with the consultants and your staff who will be implementing the plan to make sure your staff has ownership of that plan.  

Without ownership, it is likely no one will implement the plan.

Things to watch for when preparing environmental plans

Many companies hire consultant to prepare environmental plans for them. These plans often include Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan, storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP), or RCRA Contingency Plans. The consultants always write up a beautiful and thick report and give it to their clients who then put the plan on the bookshelf and forget all about it until an inspector shows up asking for it. 

Does that sound familiar? 

For example, if your consultant prepares a SPCC plan for you, make sure your senior management signs off on the SPCC certifying that it understands the resources required to implement the plan and it is prepared to commit such resources. It is a legal requirement that there is written “management approval at a level of authority to commit the necessary resources to fully implement the Plan”. Without such approval by way of a signature from management, the plan is “invalid” and the facility could be cited and possibly fined by US EPA. Note that enforcement of SPCC is a federal responsibility and is carried by EPA Regional Inspectors.   

The requirements of SPCC under the Clean Water Act consist of preparing a plan and implementing it. An EPA inspector will always look for evidence of implementation. If your SPCC plan calls for monthly inspection, the inspector would expect to see a completed monthly inspection checklist as evidence of your implementation of the plan.  Here is a quote from EPA’s SPCC Guidance for Regional Inspectors (dated November 28, 2005):  “In summary, the EPA inspector should verify that the owner or operator has inspection reports that document the implementation of the testing, evaluation, or inspection criteria set forth in the Plan.”

You can download a copy of EPA’s SPCC Inspection Guide at http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/guidance.htm.  It is also a legal requirement that plant personnel be trained on the SPCC plan in order for them to implement it. If your consultant includes in the plan a training schedule, the inspector would want to see a signed attendee’s list at a training session as evidence that you have actually implemented the plan.  If there is personnel change since you last prepared your plan, you will need to revise the document to reflect that if the change materially affects your plan.  For example, if you have a new plant manager, you need to change you SPCC plan to reflect that. Here are some practical tips and key point to remember on preparing environmental plans: 

1. If at all possible, try to prepare your environmental plans yourself. This is the best way to ensure you and your staff have ownership of the plans. There are numerous guidance documents on EPA’s website on how to prepare SPCC plans, SWPPP and RCRA contingency plans. These are the same documents your consultants use to prepare your plan.
2. If you must use outside consultant to prepare your plans for you, do not allow the consultant to prepare the plans in total isolation without any input from you or your staff. At a minimum, make sure the consultant meets with whoever is going to be implementing the plan. That is the only way your plant personnel will have ownership of the plan. Without such ownership, nothing will happen and the plan will most likely not be implemented as written. Remember: we don’t wash our rental cars because we don’t own them.
3. Remember that you no longer need a Professional Engineer’s certification in a SPCC plan if you do not have more than 10,000 gallons of oil on site. You can now do self certification under a new SPCC rule.
4. Make sure that you are comfortable with the inspection and training schedules that your consultant puts in the plan. Why? Because you are going to be the one implementing it – not your consultant.
5. Do not be overly ambitious in your plan. Only commit to what you can deliver. Words are cheap – it is easy to talk about what you plan to do because they are just words on a piece of paper. You want to make sure you can actually deliver it. The inspector will want to see if you keep your promise.
6. Start putting a training program together as soon as your plan is written up. Set a schedule to do the training and make sure you document all your training efforts.
7. As soon as you finish writing the plan, you must think about implementing it. Many people think that their work is done once a plan has been written by their consultants. In fact, their work has just started. Most of these plans – especially the SPCC and SWPPP – are made up of two parts: plan preparation and implementation of the plan. The only way you can demonstrate that you are actually implementing your plan is to show the EPA inspector copies of completed inspection checklists and training records.

The main point to remember about most environmental plans is that they are performance-based. In other words, it is not sufficient just to have the plans prepared, you are expected to perform by implementing the plans!