EPA Sends Spill Response Planning NPRM to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received from the EPA a draft notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for “Clean Water Act Hazardous Substance Worst Case Discharge Planning Regulations”. The rule would fulfill the requirements of 33 USC 1321(j)(5)(A) to require facilities and vessels to submit for approval “a plan for responding, to the maximum extent practicable, to a worst case discharge, and to a substantial threat of such a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance.”

A March 12^th, 2020, consent decree requires this NPRM to be published by March 12^th, 2022 and a final rule to be published by September 30^th, 2024.