Regulatory guidance for oil industry

Facilities

Requirement	Class 1 facilities	Class 2 facilities	Class 3 facilities	Class 4 facilities
Advance notice of oil transfer	✓	✓	✓	Semi-annual reporting
Class 4 equipment requirements				✓
Contingency plans	✓
Facility inspections & site visits	✓	✓	✓	✓
Financial responsibility	✓	✓	✓
Oil spill drills	✓	✓
Oil transfers & transfer inspections	✓	✓	✓
Operations manuals	✓	✓
Out of service requirements	✓
Pre-booming, alternative measures, & equivalent compliance	✓	✓	✓
Prevention plans	✓
Response plans		✓
Safe and Effective Threshold Determination reports	✓	✓	✓
Seismic measures	✓
Training and certification programs	✓	✓		✓

Railroads and pipelines

Railroads and pipelines are considered facilities for the purposes of contingency planning.

 

Requirement	Railroads	Pipelines
Advance notice of oil transfer		Semi-annual reporting for crude
Contingency plans	✓	✓
Financial responsibility		✓
Oil spill drills	✓	✓

Pipelines

Pipelines are defined as facilities for the purposes of contingency planning.

Railroads

Railroads are defined as facilities for the purposes of contingency planning. Regulated railroads are:

• Railroads transporting crude oil in bulk, regardless of the number of tank cars transported per year.
• Class 3 railroads transporting oil in bulk that is not crude oil, 49 or more tank cars transported per year.
• Class 3 railroads transporting oil in bulk that is not crude oil, less than 49 or more tank cars transported per year.

Facilities

Class 1 facilities are large, fixed shore-side facilities such as refineries and refueling terminals. This definition includes facilities that transfer to or from tank vessels and pipelines.

Class 2 facilities are mobile facilities, such as tank trucks and portable tanks.

Class 3 category of oil-handling facilities applies to small tank farms and terminals that transfer oil to non-recreational vessels that have a fuel capacity of 10,500 gallons or more. This definition does not include facilities that transfer to tank vessels and pipelines, as they are Class 1 facilities.

Class 4 facilities are marinas or other small fueling facilities that transfer oil to non-recreational vessels with a total oil capacity of less than 10,500 gallons.

Recreational vs. non-recreational vessels

Recreational marinas are marinas that serve recreational vessels ONLY and are not subject to the oil transfer requirements. Vessels are considered recreational if owned and operated only for pleasure with no monetary gain involved, and if leased, rented, or chartered to another for recreational use without monetary gain. Examples include house boats, ski boats, and other small craft on a rental or lease agreement.

If a vessel does not meet the definition of a recreational vessel, it is considered a non-recreational vessel. Vessels considered non-recreational are owned and operated for monetary gain. It also may be leased, rented or chartered to another and used for monetary gain. This definition is based on the vessel’s use, not its size. Examples of non-recreational vessels are: sightseeing or tour boats, passenger vessels, chartered fishing boats, boats used for parasailing, tug boats, etc.