Dangerous and Hazardous Materials

In 1973, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) first promulgated the Federal Clean Water Act as 40 CFR 112. The Clean Water Act requires that facilities covered under the USEPA’s SPCC regulations develop and submit a “Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan” that is certified by a professional engineer. The purpose of this regulatio is to prevent the discharge of oil into the United States navigable waters. Because the SPCC Rule includes facilities which may discharge oil into groundwater or storm run-off which in turn may flow into navigable waters, nearly all facilities that store or use oil products are affected.

Loss of confidence in the industry in one part of the world will undermine confidence elsewhere and threaten the reputation of the industry as a whole. These words open the SIGTTO Profile and are as pertinent today as they were 10 or even 26 years ago when the Society was formed. SIGTTO was established in 1979 as a non profit making company, registered in Bermuda and granted observer status at IMO in 1982. SIGTTO membership operates nearly 95% of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) tonnage and terminals and almost 60% of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tonnage and terminals.

What is ‘quality’ Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) inspection and how do you achieve it? In industry today, you will get as many answers as questions asked. This presentation provides one view of current industry practice and guidance regarding AST inspection from the view of an experienced inspection contractor.

This article covers the development of a relatively new AST standard that addresses inspection for small petroleum tanks. While there are several existing petroleum storage tank inspections standards such as API 653, the standards provide little specific guidance for small field erected or shop built tanks. For the most part there have been no relevant tank standards that appropriately address the need for inspections of these tanks.