Texas NRCS Pilot Program Assists Farmers & Ranchers with
Fuel & Oil Spill Containment
The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Texas is piloting an Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) Conservation Activity Plan program to assist farmers and ranchers in compliance with revised regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - intended to prevent and mitigate fuel and oil spills on their operations.
The program is designed to help farmers and ranchers that have above-ground storage tank facilities with the capacity to store more than 1,320 gallons of fuel. The EPA mandates that agricultural operations with concentrated fuel depots have a Spill Prevention Containment and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan and an Agricultural Secondary Containment Facility. NRCS will help develop or update existing spill prevention plans that avoid and mitigate on-farm oil spillage.
"An important part of our mission at NRCS is helping farmers and ranchers develop plans to protect human health and the environment, including assistance complying with the new regulations," said Salvador Salinas, NRCS Texas Acting State Conservationist. "This pilot program will help agricultural producers meet a new regulatory requirement designed to reduce the dangers of on-farm oil spills."
There are two opportunities for assistance. For those facilities that have more than 10,000 gallons of fuel, oil and lubricants, NRCS will provide $2500 for the development of the SPCC plan. The plan will be developed by a private firm that has registered with NRCS to have the technical knowledge, skills and abilities to complete all facets of the plan. For those operations that do not have an Agricultural Secondary Containment Facility, NRCS will assist with the installation of the practice up to $10,000.
Assistance with these two opportunities is available now at your local NRCS field office, as applications are currently being taken. The program will have two ranking periods for applications received - the first period will be January 28, 2011, and a second ranking period will occur for applications on hand as of June 3, 2011.
Farmers and ranchers who need assistance should contact NRCS at their nearest USDA Service Center. For more information or to locate a service center online, visit the NRCS Texas website at http://www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov.
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