Rep. Crawford Re-Introduces Legislation to Ease Fuel Storage Restrictions for Small Farmers and Ranchers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sara Robertson (Sara.Robertson2@mail.house.gov)
Rep. Crawford Re-Introduces Legislation to Ease Fuel Storage Restrictions for Small Farmers and Ranchers
3/1/2022
Washington — Representative Rick Crawford (AR-01) introduced H.R. 6765, the Farmers Undertake Environmental Land Stewardship Act or the FUELS Act. The legislation would make the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure rules (SPCC) enforceable by raising the exemption level for a single container up to 10,000 gallons of fuel while the aggregate level for an entire production facility would be adjusted to 42,000 gallons.
Currently, to store more than 20,000 gallons of fuel in aggregate aboveground storage farmers are required to get Professional Engineers (PEs) to inspect the containers and provide official certification. These guidelines are essentially unenforceable due to the fact that most of the farming community lacks access to PEs. The FUELS Act would ease the SPCC rules on small farmers and ranchers by modifying the exemption level to be more reflective of producer’s spill risk and financial resources and would significantly reduce the number of farms the EPA has to regulate by at least 1.1 million.
| SPCC Current Rule (33 USC1361) | FUELS Act | |
| Require Professional Engineer | Single container greater than10,000 gallons | Single container greater than10,000 gallons |
| Aggregate aboveground storage greater than or equal to 20,000gallons | Aggregate aboveground storage greater than or equal to 42,000gallons. | |
| Self-Certification | Aggregate aboveground storage ranging from 6,000-20,000gallons. | Aggregate aboveground storage ranging from 10,000-42,000gallons. |
| No Compliance Required | 0-6,000 gallons aggregatestorage. | 0-10,000 gallons aggregatestorage. |
| Excluded from ComplianceCalculations | All containers on separate parcels less than 1,000 gallons. | All containers on separate parcels less than 1,320 gallons. |
| Containers on separate parcels that have aggregate capacityless than 2,500 gallons. | Containers on separate parcels that have aggregate capacityless than 3,000 gallons. |
This is the 6th time Rep. Crawford has introduced the FUELS Act.
“The federal government tends to forget that folks living in rural America face a limited supply of resources and this includes our farmers. We should be doing everything in our power to create laws that are enforceable and do not hinder the American people growing a lucrative business. FUELS Act is sensible legislation that places a greater degree of responsibility on the farmer or rancher to self-certify compliance, instead of having to procure the services of certified Professional Engineers,” said Rep. Crawford.
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