May 17, 2013
In January 1969, an oil rig off the southern California coast experienced a blow-out. One of the first US environmental catastrophes receiving widespread national media coverage, the Santa Barbara oil spill led to the oil spill prevention requirements in the 1972 federal Clean Water Act.
1973 EPA regulations focused on offshore oil production and oil tankers. In 1988, nearly one million gallons of diesel fuel from an oil company above ground tank spilled into the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh. Revised EPA regulations finalized in 2002 responded to this and other oil company spills. The original November 10, 2011 compliance deadline with the 2002 spill regulations was extended for farms to May 10, 2013.
In a recent Cornhusker Economics article, J. David Aiken, UNL Water and Agricultual Law Specialist, discusses how what started as tighter restrictions for the oil industry moved to the farm and what farmers need to know to develop their SPCC plan.
