WASHINGTON – U.S. Congresswoman Candice Miller (MI-10) today made the following comments regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement they will exempt dairy and dairy product producers, processors, handlers and distributers from the required Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Rule, removing the possibility of punitive damages being imposed.
“The EPA decision to exempt our dairy producers and processors is absolutely the right choice. Finally, this EPA regulation has been lifted providing our dairy producers the clarity within the SPCC program needed to comply with the EPA without being unnecessarily burdened,” Miller said. “This will allow our dairy farmers to concentrate more of their attention on operational costs and providing a consistent dairy supply throughout our nation, rather than worrying about spilled milk.”
In February, Miller was joined by 16 of her colleagues in a letter urging the Administrator of the EPA to finalize the rule exempting dairy producers immediately. Miller also introduced legislation to prohibit the enforcement of the EPA’s regulations on dairy and dairy product producers and it would have require the EPA to implement this exemption within 30 days of the legislation’s enactment.
According to the EPA, the final exemption applies to milk, milk product containers and milk production equipment. In addition, because some of these facilities may still have oil storage subject to the spill prevention regulations, EPA is also amending the rule to exclude milk storage capacity from a facility’s total oil storage capacity calculation. The agency is also removing the compliance date requirements for the exempted containers. The SPCC regulations, in place since the 1970s, require facilities storing more than 1,320 gallons of oil to create and implement plans to prepare, prevent and respond to oil spills. The exemption does not apply to fuel oil and other applicable oils stored on farms; farms that store the regulatory threshold of fuel oil and other applicable oils are covered under the SPCC.
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