Originally passed in 2021 and enacted on September 1, 2023, Texas Senate Bill (SB) 900 set new design safety standards to better promote the safety of aboveground storage vessels (ASVs).
Because 36,000 currently regulated ASVs are impacted by this legislation, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) expanded its ASV safety program to include the safety performance standards of affected storage vessels.
Speaking on a panel discussing these new standards at the National Institute for Storage Tank Maintenance’s (NISTM) 16th Annual National Aboveground Storage Tank Conference and Trade Show in The Woodlands, Texas, Becca Moore, special assistant to the deputy division director of the occupational licensing and registration division at Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, outlined new ASV safety requirements.
ASVs must be officially registered and certified to demonstrate compliance with safety standards, along with the payment of an annual registration fee, Moore explained.
"New ASVs will be required to register with the TCEQ within 30 days after the start of operation."
Because no physical paper forms will be used for this program, Moore said that each facility will be assigned a registration associated with a "unique registered entity number."
Moore further explained that customers are required to provide all registration and compliance information to TCEQ electronically via the State of Texas Environmental Electronic Reporting System.
ASVs constructed before September 1, 2027, must provide certification status with the standards at the time of registration."
"The facility will self-certify each ASV as either ‘compliant’ or ‘non-compliant,’" Moore said. "If an ASV in ‘non-compliant,’ the owner will need to provide the date of the next regularly scheduled out-of-service maintenance."
Existing ASVs must attain compliance with the ASV Program during the next regularly scheduled out-of-service maintenance or before September. 1, 2037, "or whichever comes first," she elaborated.
All ASVs are then required to certify compliance with the safety standards every 10 years.
Moore then outlined TCEQ’s requirements for ASVs’ annual fees, and admitted the estimated number of ASVs and the size distribution the agency used for the fee calculations "has an unknown degree of uncertainty."
The new parameters require that ASVs maintain meticulous records that "must be immediately accessible for the owner/operator and during inspections."
"The proposed fee structure will allow TCEQ to adjust the fees up or down as needed to cover the cost of administering the program," Moore said.
In addition to a total fee of $2,000 per ASV, proposed fees consist of a $200 flat fee per vessel, regardless of size, plus $0.0024 per barrel of capacity for vessels exceeding 20,000 barrels, she said.
The new parameters require that ASVs maintain meticulous records that "must be immediately accessible for the owner/operator and during inspections," Moore said.
These records may be electronic, located onsite or offsite, including copies of all records relating to registration, certification, and compliance with the safety standards.
These records, Moore emphasized, must be kept for the operational life of the ASV.
To ensure ASV’s compliance with SB 900’s new measures, TCEQ will conduct onsite inspections of the registered ASVs at least once every five years to verify compliance.
"Owners or operators must allow TCEQ to enter their facility at reasonable times and provide requested information," Moore said. Further, TCEQ may inspect, obtain samples collected by the owner or operator and conduct monitoring, or request that the owner or operator conduct monitoring themselves.
TCEQ may direct an owner or operator to conduct monitoring and/or testing should there be reasonable cause to believe that a release occurred, Moore concluded.
