NATA News NATA News Volume 7, Issue 47, November 24, 2008 Latest News EPA Issues Compliance Extension On SPCC Amendments Late last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued changes to the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) final rule that was issued in December 2006, including an extension of the compliance date for affected entities (those newer facilities built after August 16, 2002) from July 1, 2009, to November 20, 2009. According to the EPA, these "new amendments to the SPCC rule will clarify regulatory requirements, tailor requirements to particular industry sectors, and streamline certain requirements for facility owners or operators subject to the rule. With these changes, EPA expects to encourage greater compliance with the SPCC regulations, thus resulting in increased protection of human health and the environment." The EPA provided a new definition of "facility" that may allow separate "facilities" at a location. With this new definition, airports could possibly require leased operations and tenant operations to prepare their own SPCC Plan as a separate "facility." The EPA provided a definition of "loading/unloading racks" as follows that will allow many airports to utilize simpler general secondary containment rules for their loading/unloading operations at their tank farms: "Loading/unloading rack means a fixed structure (such as a platform, gangway) necessary for loading or unloading a tank truck or tank car, which is located at a facility subject to the requirements of this part. A loading/unloading rack includes a loading or unloading arm and may include any combination of the following: piping assemblages, valves, pumps, shut-off devices, overfill sensors, or personnel safety devices." Facilities that have a "loading rack" will be required to build a containment structure for the delivery vehicle or rail car large enough to contain the largest compartment in the vehicle. If the facility only has simple "loading areas" (which is the case on most airports), then only the general secondary containment rules apply and a more simple containment structure is required. The certifying professional engineer (PE) who prepares your plan will provide the details that will be appropriate to your airport. The EPA is providing additional streamlined provisions of smaller facilities. Under the last rule published by the EPA in December 2006, facilities that have less than 10,000 gallons of total aggregate storage can prepare their own SPCC Plan and will not require a PE to certify the plan. These self-certified plans still require all the SPCC requirements and the SPCC Plan would be similar to a PE's plan, only without the cost of hiring the PE. Under this new rule today, if a facility has less than 10,000 gallons of aggregate storage AND no container greater than 5,000 gallons (and several other requirements), the facility will be allowed to utilize a streamlined template provided by the EPA to prepare their self-certified SPCC Plan. This approach will be much easier for smaller facilities and will likely apply to many smaller airports and smaller airport tenant operations. Click here to review the association's SPCC Update that we recently provided to members. Click here to review EPA's SPCC Rule Web Page. A comprehensive regulatory analysis of these new amendments will be provided to members shortly. For more information please contact Eric Byer. Back to Top CBP Manifest Rules Include Few Changes Regulations published last week by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) will require every private aircraft arriving or departing the United States to submit an electronic passenger and crew manifest via the agency's Electronic Advance Passenger Information System (eAPIS). Compliance with the manifest requirement is required for any flight on or after May 18, 2009. This requirement applies to every private aircraft regardless of weight or passenger capacity. All commercial operators have complied with similar requirements for several years. The eAPIS Internet application is already widely used by the on-demand air charter industry to comply with commercial operator manifest requirements. Although the CBP received hundreds of comments challenging the need for the rules, the agency has moved forward with instituting the manifest requirement. In comments to the agency, NATA had expressed concern with the ability of operators to submit manifests using the Internet-based eAPIS when many locations, particularly those outside the U.S., may not have computers or Internet access available. NATA is pleased that the CBP attempted to address this concern by allowing pilots to submit their return manifests in advance of the departure. The CBP states that while manifests must be submitted at least 60 minutes prior to flight there is no specified maximum time for supplying the manifest data and obtaining landing clearance. Customs recognized that allowing manifest submissions potentially several days in advance could be problematic should the need arise for a change in the expected time of arrival or a change to the arrival location. The CBP will allow the pilot to make such changes via telephone or radio. It does not appear that the CBP will permit the addition of new passengers to a manifest via any method other than eAPIS. The new regulations appeared in the Federal Register Tuesday, November 18, and are available for download by clicking here. Back to Top President Bush Opens Military Air Space For Holiday Travel President Bush announced last week that airspace usually dedicated solely to the military will open temporarily to commercial airliners, helping to ease congestion during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday travel seasons. Last year, military airspace was opened on the East Coast to civilian flights during the holiday season. However, this year airspace in the Midwest, the Southwest, and the West Coast, including the skies over Phoenix and Los Angeles will also be open to civilian flights. "Opening up military airspace worked last year, and now we're expanding that innovation this year," Bush said. Bush added that the White House was working with the FAA, Transportation Security Administration and the airlines to speed up check-in and boarding processes and help passengers whose flights are canceled or delayed. In addition, President Bush stated that the Department of Transportation recently completed regulations that provide increased protections for consumers, such as ensuring that commercial airlines provide greater compensation for lost bags and penalties when airlines fail to notify travelers of hidden fees. These rules are expected to take effect in December. Reducing air congestion is an ongoing effort, including airport improvements projects, and boosting flight capacity at our nation's busiest airports. A total of 14 new runways have been completed in the past eight years of the Bush administration. Three of those runways opened last week at Seattle-Tacoma, Washington-Dulles and Chicago O'Hare, which will also help to ease congestion. The most important component of improving air travel continues to be upgrading our air traffic control system by implementing the Next Generation Air Traffic Control System or NextGen. Passage of the FAA Reauthorization legislation is critical to ensuring these systems receive funding and that implementation isn't delayed. Back to Top Congress Reconvenes And Votes On House And Senate Leadership Changes Congress returned to Washington last week to work on unfinished business before the second session of the 110th Congress comes to an end. The post-election legislative agenda has been difficult to miss, as every major network has highlighted both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate hearings on the potential bailout of the three troubled U.S. automakers, General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler. The proposed $25 million legislation to aid U.S. automakers failed to reach a deal in the U.S. House of Representatives last week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated that the House will likely be back in session in December as a result. House Leadership Changes: • The U.S. House of Representatives voted to retain Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as the Republican Minority Leader in the House. Dan Lungren (R-CA) was his unsuccessful challenger. • Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) was nominated as the new minority whip because current Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) decided not to run again for the post. • Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) unexpectedly withdrew from the race to retain his chairmanship of the National Republican Congressional Committee, leaving the gavel to his rival, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX). House Committee Assignment Changes: • The U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Caucus voted by secret ballot to replace Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the current chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) won by a 133 to 121 vote. Waxman is currently the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The result gives Waxman, an environmentalist, a key role in shaping legislation on climate change, energy, healthcare and other priorities of President- elect Obama. Senate Committee Assignment Changes: • U.S. Senate Democrats voted by secret ballot to retain Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) as chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The decision was a surprise after Lieberman spoke in favor of GOP Presidential Candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at the Republican National Convention. Many Democrats attributed the vote to be the result of a spirit of reconciliation promoted by President- elect Obama. In lieu of stripping Lieberman's committee chairmanship, the senators voted instead to take his seat on the Committee on Environment and Public Works, which includes revoking his chairmanship of the global warming subcommittee. The result amounts to a far milder punishment than many members and aides expected. Back to Top This Week's Announcements For President-Elect Obama's Cabinet Today, President-elect Obama announced that his economic team will be headed by Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary and Lawrence Summers as head of the National Economic Council.