PT Notes
Amendments to EPA's RMP Rule - Compliance Dates
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EPA has proposed several amendments relating to the RMP rule. This PT Note addresses compliance dates for the proposed amendments.
The Clean Air Act (CAA) does not directly address when amendments should become applicable. The proposed amendments to the RMP rule modify terms of the existing rule, and, in some cases, amplify or clarify existing requirements. EPA is proposing to:
- Require regulated sources to comply with new STAA, incident investigation root cause analysis, third- party compliance audit, employee participation, emergency response public notification and exercise evaluation reports, and information availability provisions, unless otherwise stated, 3 years after the effective date of the final rule.
- Require regulated sources to comply with the revised emergency response field exercise frequency provision by March 15, 2027, or within 10 years of the date of an emergency response field exercise conducted between March 15, 2017, and August 31, 2022.
- Allow regulated sources one additional year (i.e., 4 years after the effective date of the final rule) to update and resubmit risk management plans to reflect new and revised data elements.
For STAA, this means that by 3 years after the effective date of the final rule, the owner or operator of a source with a regulated RMP process involving HF alkylation, or a source with a process in NAICS code 324 or 325, located within one mile of another NAICS code 324 or 325 RMP facility process, must have completed or updated their PHA to include an STAA. Recognizing that some facilities may have performed PHAs recently or may be due to perform PHAs shortly after EPA issues a final rule, EPA is considering a second option for STAA compliance that would require any stationary source that must perform STAA as part of its PHA to comply with the STAA requirement for PHAs performed after 1 year from the date of the final rule.
For incident investigation root cause analysis, this means that the owner or operator of a source that experiences any RMP-reportable accident more than 3 years after the effective date of the rule must conduct a root cause analysis for their incident investigation of the accident.
For third-party compliance audits, this means that the owner or operator of a source where a second RMP-reportable accident occurs within 5 years, or of a source where one reportable accident in an RMP-regulated process in NAICS code 324 or 325, located within 1 mile of another source's RMP-regulated NAICS code 324 or 325 process, occurs after 3 years of the effective date of the final rule, must obtain a third-party audit for their next required compliance audit.
For employee participation, this means that by 3 years after the effective date of the final rule, the owner or operator of a source must have updated or developed, and begun implementing, an employee participation plan that addresses employee consultation when resolving PHA, compliance audit, and incident investigation recommendations and decisions; stop work authorities; and RMP accident and non-compliance reporting.
For emergency response, this means that by 3 years after the effective date of the final rule, the owner or operator of a non-responding source must have onsite documentation of emergency response public notification procedures. It also means that by 3 years after the effective date of the final rule, owners or operators of non-responding and responding sources must have the means to ensure that a community notification system is in place to warn the public of releases. It also means that for any RMP-reportable accident occurring more than 3 years after the effective date of the final rule, sources must provide appropriate and timely data and information to local responders detailing their current understanding and best estimates of the nature of the release. It also means that by 3 years after the effective date of the rule, emergency exercise evaluation reports must include documentation of specific exercise elements.
For information availability, this means that by 3 years after the effective date of the final rule, the owner or operator must make the required chemical hazard information available to the public upon request and provide notification to the public that the information is available.
EPA is proposing to provide this 3- year phase-in for several reasons. First, the initial 1996 RMP rule required compliance per the statute within 3 years. EPA believes the proposed amendments are not as extensive as developing a full RMP program. Therefore, EPA does not believe compliance with these proposed amendments should require a longer time frame than compliance with the initial rule. Second, while EPA believes that, for most sources, activities associated with these proposed provisions may reasonably require significant time to complete, EPA believes the 3-year phase-in is as expeditious as practicable considering the circumstances.
EPA states that, for example, the new incident investigation root cause analysis, employee participation, emergency response, and information availability requirements will involve training and program development activities. EPA believes that for the third-party audit provisions, the extended compliance timeframe will allow potential auditors enough time to meet the competency and independence criteria necessary to serve as a third-party auditor.
EPA believes that in many cases, sources subject to the STAA provisions will prefer to perform a full PHA update when implementing the STAA requirements. EPA states that sources subject to STAA provisions are among the largest and most complex sources regulated under the RMP rule, and therefore, PHAs and PHA updates at these sources typically require a significant level of effort. Since PHA updates are normally done at 5- year intervals, EPA believes it would be appropriate to allow most sources to adopt these provisions in their normal PHA update cycle if they so choose.
For the emergency response provisions, EPA believes evaluating and securing resources for public notification systems and the associated training with local responders will take time to be coordinated.
Lastly, EPA intends to publish guidance for certain provisions, such as STAA, incident investigation root cause analysis, third-party audits, employee participation, and emergency response. EPA expects that once these materials are complete, owners and operators will need time to familiarize themselves with the new materials and incorporate them into their risk management programs.
For field exercises, EPA is proposing to require the owners or operators of sources to have planned, scheduled, and conducted their first field exercise by March 15, 2027. For this provision, EPA is proposing to revert to the original timeframe in the 2017 amendments rule, based on the Agency's view that this change will allow local authorities to set longer time periods to address the major concern that the 2019 reconsideration rule identified with the practicability of the 2017 date, which was the potential inability of local authorities to voluntarily participate in the exercises when they had multiple facilities in their jurisdiction.
EPA is also proposing to provide one additional year for owners or operators to update risk management plans to reflect proposed new or revised data elements in the regulations. EPA believes the additional year will allow owners and operators an opportunity to begin to comply with the new or revised regulatory provisions prior to certifying compliance in the risk management plan.
Additionally, EPA states that the Agency will need to make significant revisions to its online risk management plan submission system, RMP*eSubmit, to accommodate the newly required and revised data elements, and sources will not be able to update risk management plans with new or revised data elements until the submission system is ready. Also, once it is ready, EPA believes that allowing an additional year for sources to update risk management plans will prevent potential problems with thousands of sources submitting updated risk management plans on the same day.
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