Spill law and responsibilities in the United States

Spills are governed by several layers of law at once. Environmental laws protect water, soil and air and require spills to be prevented, reported and cleaned up. Occupational health and safety laws protect the workers who handle chemicals and respond to releases. Transport laws, covered in HSE-250, apply while goods are moving. Municipal bylaws control what can go into sewers. Knowing which layer applies, and who is responsible under each, is the first step to compliance.

In the United States, environmental protection is shared between the federal government and the states. Congress has passed broad laws administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coast Guard and other agencies, and most states run their own programs that meet or exceed the federal requirements. Local governments and sewer authorities control what can be discharged to sewers. In practice a workplace spill may trigger federal reporting, state reporting and local requirements at the same time.

Federal environmental law

The Clean Water Act is the most important federal spill law for oil and many chemicals. Section 311 prohibits discharging oil or hazardous substances into navigable waters, adjoining shorelines or the contiguous zone in quantities that may be harmful. For oil, EPA regulations at 40 CFR part 110 define a harmful quantity as one that violates water quality standards, or causes a film or sheen on the water surface or adjoining shoreline, or causes a sludge or emulsion beneath the surface. This is the sheen rule: any visible sheen counts, regardless of volume. The person in charge must report the discharge immediately to the National Response Center. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 added liability for cleanup and damages and requirements for response planning.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, known as CERCLA or Superfund, covers releases of hundreds of listed hazardous substances. Each has a reportable quantity, or RQ, set in pounds; for example, benzene has an RQ of 10 pounds. If a release of a listed substance equals or exceeds its RQ within any 24-hour period, the person in charge must immediately notify the National Response Center. CERCLA also makes owners, operators and others strictly liable for the cost of cleaning up releases. The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, or EPCRA, adds a requirement in section 304 to notify the state emergency response commission and local emergency planning committee of releases of extremely hazardous substances and CERCLA substances above their RQs.

Other federal rules apply in particular settings. The Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure rule at 40 CFR part 112, covered in lessons 4 and 5, requires plans at facilities that store oil above set thresholds. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act governs the hazardous waste that spill cleanup creates, as lesson 10 explains. The Clean Air Act risk management program applies to facilities with large quantities of certain toxic and flammable chemicals. Spills during transport also fall under the DOT Hazardous Materials Regulations, covered in HSE-250.

State environmental law

Every state has environmental laws that prohibit pollution and require spills to be reported and cleaned up, and many have their own reporting thresholds that are stricter than federal ones. Some require reporting of any petroleum release above a few gallons, or any release that reaches water or soil. Texas, for example, sets reportable quantities for spills to land and water under its administrative code and runs a spill reporting line through its environmental agency. California requires immediate reporting of hazardous material releases to the state's Office of Emergency Services and the local emergency agency. Other states run a single spill hotline that forwards reports to the right agencies. Your site's spill plan should list the state number and the thresholds that apply.

States also regulate hazardous waste, often running the federal RCRA program with additions; contaminated site cleanup standards for soil and groundwater; and underground and aboveground storage tanks, often through their own tank programs and fire codes. Lessons 10 and 11 cover waste and reporting in more detail.

Occupational health and safety law

OSHA standards protect the workers who handle chemicals and respond to spills. The Hazard Communication Standard, introduced in HSE-102, gives workers labels and safety data sheets. Employers must have an emergency action plan (29 CFR 1910.38) and supply protective equipment. The HAZWOPER standard (29 CFR 1910.120) applies to emergency response to releases of hazardous substances: workers who respond to anything beyond an incidental release must be trained to the level of their role, from first responder awareness up to hazmat technician. An incidental release is one that can be absorbed, neutralized or otherwise controlled at the time of release by employees in the immediate area or by maintenance staff, and that does not pose an emergency or significant safety or health threat.

The distinction between a small spill that trained workers can safely handle and an emergency that needs specialist responders runs through this course. Your employer's spill plan should spell out which spills you may clean up, with which equipment, and when you must evacuate and call for help.

Municipal rules

Local sewer-use ordinances and pretreatment programs prohibit discharging fuels, solvents, oils above set limits, and many chemicals into sewers, and often require spills to sewers to be reported immediately to the sewer authority. Municipal stormwater programs prohibit non-stormwater discharges to storm drains. Fire departments enforce fire codes that govern how flammable liquids are stored.

Who is responsible

US spill laws generally place duties on the owner or operator of the facility or vessel and the person in charge at the time of the release. Under CERCLA, liability for cleanup costs is strict, meaning no proof of fault is needed, and can be joint and several, meaning one responsible party may have to pay the whole cost and seek contribution from others. Corporate officers can face personal criminal liability for knowing violations.

Most environmental offenses are strict liability offenses. The prosecution does not have to prove you intended the spill or were careless. Instead, a company or person can defend itself by showing due diligence: that it took all reasonable steps to prevent the spill. Due diligence is shown by records: risk assessments, inspections, maintenance logs, training records, spill plans, drills and evidence that problems were fixed. This is why the paperwork in lessons 5 and 11 matters.

How the layers fit together in practice

A single spill can trigger several laws at once, and each has its own purpose. The Clean Water Act protects surface water from oil and hazardous substances. CERCLA and EPCRA make sure emergency agencies and communities learn about releases of hazardous substances. RCRA governs the waste the cleanup creates. State law adds its own reporting and cleanup standards. OSHA protects the workers who respond. Local ordinances protect the sewer system and the treatment plant. DOT rules apply if the spill happens while goods are being moved. None of these replaces the others, so a company cannot satisfy one agency and ignore the rest.

In practice, regulators often coordinate. A single call to a spill line may be shared with other agencies, and joint investigations are common after serious spills. But the legal duty to report and to clean up stays with the company and the people in control of the substance. That is why the site spill plan should translate the laws into a short, practical list: what to report, to whom, how fast and who makes the call.

Orders, inspections and enforcement

Federal and state inspectors have broad powers. They can enter a facility to inspect, take samples, examine records and ask questions. After a spill, agencies can issue orders requiring a company to stop an activity, contain and clean up the spill, investigate the extent of contamination, monitor groundwater or improve its prevention measures. Under CERCLA, EPA can order responsible parties to clean up or do the work itself and recover the costs. Failing to comply with an order brings further penalties. Many violations are handled through administrative penalties and consent agreements rather than court cases, but serious or knowing violations can be prosecuted.

Enforcement is not only about large spills. Inspectors regularly find violations at sites where nothing has spilled yet: missing secondary containment, no spill plan, out-of-date training, unlabeled waste, drums stored over drains. Fixing these before an inspection, or before a spill, is far cheaper than fixing them afterwards.

Keeping track of what applies to your site

Because so many rules can apply, many companies keep a short legal register for each site: a list of the laws, regulations, permits and bylaws that apply, what each one requires, who is responsible and when it was last checked. For spills, the register usually records which substances are stored and in what amounts, which reporting thresholds and phone numbers apply, what containment and inspection rules cover the tanks, which permits limit what may go down the drains and which waste rules govern cleanup material. The register should be reviewed at least once a year and whenever the site adds a new chemical, a new tank or a new process. A register does not need to be long. A clear two-page table that supervisors actually read is worth more than a thick binder nobody opens, and it is good evidence of due diligence if a spill is ever investigated.