§ 68.3 - Definitions.

§ 68.3 Definitions.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 17685, Mar. 11, 2024.

For the purposes of this part:

Accidental release means an unanticipated emission of a regulated substance or other extremely hazardous substance into the ambient air from a stationary source.

Act means the Clean Air Act as amended (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.)

Active measures mean risk management measures or engineering controls that rely on mechanical or other energy input to detect and respond to process deviations. Examples of active measures include alarms, safety instrumented systems, and detection hardware (such as hydrocarbon sensors).

Administrative controls mean written procedural mechanisms used for hazard control.

Administrator means the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

AIChE/CCPS means the American Institute of Chemical Engineers/Center for Chemical Process Safety.

API means the American Petroleum Institute.

Article means a manufactured item, as defined under 29 CFR 1910.1200(b), that is formed to a specific shape or design during manufacture, that has end use functions dependent in whole or in part upon the shape or design during end use, and that does not release or otherwise result in exposure to a regulated substance under normal conditions of processing and use.

ASME means the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

CAS means the Chemical Abstracts Service.

Catastrophic release means a major uncontrolled emission, fire, or explosion, involving one or more regulated substances that presents imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and the environment.

CBI means confidential business information.

Classified information means “classified information” as defined in the Classified Information Procedures Act, 18 U.S.C. App. 3, section 1(a) as “any information or material that has been determined by the United States Government pursuant to an executive order, statute, or regulation, to require protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national security.”

Condensate means hydrocarbon liquid separated from natural gas that condenses due to changes in temperature, pressure, or both, and remains liquid at standard conditions.

Covered process means a process that has a regulated substance present in more than a threshold quantity as determined under § 68.115.

Crude oil means any naturally occurring, unrefined petroleum liquid.

Designated agency means the state, local, or Federal agency designated by the state under the provisions of § 68.215(d) .

DOT means the United States Department of Transportation.

Environmental receptor means natural areas such as national or state parks, forests, or monuments; officially designated wildlife sanctuaries, preserves, refuges, or areas; and Federal wilderness areas, that could be exposed at any time to toxic concentrations, radiant heat, or overpressure greater than or equal to the endpoints provided in § 68.22(a) , as a result of an accidental release and that can be identified on local U. S. Geological Survey maps.

Field gas means gas extracted from a production well before the gas enters a natural gas processing plant.

Hot work means work involving electric or gas welding, cutting, brazing, or similar flame or spark-producing operations.

Implementing agency means the state or local agency that obtains delegation for an accidental release prevention program under subpart E, 40 CFR part 63. The implementing agency may, but is not required to, be the state or local air permitting agency. If no state or local agency is granted delegation, EPA will be the implementing agency for that state.

Inherently safer technology or design means risk management measures that minimize the use of regulated substances, substitute less hazardous substances, moderate the use of regulated substances, or simplify covered processes in order to make accidental releases less likely, or the impacts of such releases less severe.

Injury means any effect on a human that results either from direct exposure to toxic concentrations; radiant heat; or overpressures from accidental releases or from the direct consequences of a vapor cloud explosion (such as flying glass, debris, and other projectiles) from an accidental release and that requires medical treatment or hospitalization.

LEPC means local emergency planning committee as established under 42 U.S.C. 11001(c).

Major change means introduction of a new process, process equipment, or regulated substance, an alteration of process chemistry that results in any change to safe operating limits, or other alteration that introduces a new hazard.

Mechanical integrity means the process of ensuring that process equipment is fabricated from the proper materials of construction and is properly installed, maintained, and replaced to prevent failures and accidental releases.

Medical treatment means treatment, other than first aid, administered by a physician or registered professional personnel under standing orders from a physician.

Mitigation or mitigation system means specific activities, technologies, or equipment designed or deployed to capture or control substances upon loss of containment to minimize exposure of the public or the environment. Passive mitigation means equipment, devices, or technologies that function without human, mechanical, or other energy input. Active mitigation means equipment, devices, or technologies that need human, mechanical, or other energy input to function.

NAICS means North American Industry Classification System.

NFPA means the National Fire Protection Association.

Natural gas processing plant (gas plant) means any processing site engaged in the extraction of natural gas liquids from field gas, fractionation of mixed natural gas liquids to natural gas products, or both, classified as North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code 211112 (previously Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 1321).

Natural hazard means meteorological, climatological, environmental or geological phenomena that have the potential for negative impact, accounting for impacts due to climate change. Examples of such hazards include, but are not limited to, avalanche, coastal flooding, cold wave, drought, earthquake, hail, heat wave, hurricane, ice storm, landslide, lightning, riverine flooding, strong wind, tornado, tsunami, volcanic activity, wildfire, and winter weather.

Offsite means areas beyond the property boundary of the stationary source, and areas within the property boundary to which the public has routine and unrestricted access during or outside business hours.

OSHA means the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Owner or operator means any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, or supervises a stationary source.

Passive measures mean risk management measures that use design features that reduce either the frequency or consequence of the hazard without human, mechanical, or other energy input. Examples of passive measures include pressure vessel designs, dikes, berms, and blast walls.

Petroleum refining process unit means a process unit used in an establishment primarily engaged in petroleum refining as defined in NAICS code 32411 for petroleum refining (formerly SIC code 2911) and used for the following: Producing transportation fuels (such as gasoline, diesel fuels, and jet fuels), heating fuels (such as kerosene, fuel gas distillate, and fuel oils), or lubricants; Separating petroleum; or Separating, cracking, reacting, or reforming intermediate petroleum streams. Examples of such units include, but are not limited to, petroleum based solvent units, alkylation units, catalytic hydrotreating, catalytic hydrorefining, catalytic hydrocracking, catalytic reforming, catalytic cracking, crude distillation, lube oil processing, hydrogen production, isomerization, polymerization, thermal processes, and blending, sweetening, and treating processes. Petroleum refining process units include sulfur plants.

Population means the public.

Practicability means the capability of being successfully accomplished within a reasonable time, accounting for environmental, legal, social, technological, and economic factors. Environmental factors would include consideration of potential transferred risks for new risk reduction measures.

Procedural measures mean risk management measures such as policies, operating procedures, training, administrative controls, and emergency response actions to prevent or minimize incidents.

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Process means any activity involving a regulated substance including any use, storage, manufacturing, handling, or on-site movement of such substances, or combination of these activities. For the purposes of this definition, any group of vessels that are interconnected, or separate vessels that are located such that a regulated substance could be involved in a potential release, shall be considered a single process.

Produced water means water extracted from the earth from an oil or natural gas production well, or that is separated from oil or natural gas after extraction.

Public means any person except employees or contractors at the stationary source.

Public receptor means offsite residences, institutions (e.g., schools, hospitals), industrial, commercial, and office buildings, parks, or recreational areas inhabited or occupied by the public at any time without restriction by the stationary source where members of the public could be exposed to toxic concentrations, radiant heat, or overpressure, as a result of an accidental release.

Regulated substance is any substance listed pursuant to section 112(r)(3) of the Clean Air Act as amended, in § 68.130.

Replacement in kind means a replacement that satisfies the design specifications.

Retail facility means a stationary source at which more than one-half of the annual income (in the previous calendar or fiscal year) is obtained from direct sales to end users or at which more than one-half of the fuel sold, by volume, is sold through a cylinder exchange program.

RMP means the risk management plan required under subpart G of this part.

Root cause means a fundamental, underlying, system-related reason why an incident occurred that identifies a correctable failure(s) in management systems, and if applicable, in process design.

Stationary source means any buildings, structures, equipment, installations, or substance emitting stationary activities which belong to the same industrial group, which are located on one or more contiguous properties, which are under the control of the same person (or persons under common control), and from which an accidental release may occur. The term stationary source does not apply to transportation, including storage incident to transportation, of any regulated substance or any other extremely hazardous substance under the provisions of this part. A stationary source includes transportation containers used for storage not incident to transportation and transportation containers connected to equipment at a stationary source for loading or unloading. Transportation includes, but is not limited to, transportation subject to oversight or regulation under 49 CFR parts 192, 193, or 195, or a state natural gas or hazardous liquid program for which the state has in effect a certification to DOT under 49 U.S.C. section 60105. A stationary source does not include naturally occurring hydrocarbon reservoirs. Properties shall not be considered contiguous solely because of a railroad or pipeline right-of-way.

Third-party audit means a compliance audit conducted pursuant to the requirements of § 68.59 and/or § 68.80, performed or led by an entity (individual or firm) meeting the competency and independence requirements described in § 68.59(c) or § 68.80(c).

Threshold quantity means the quantity specified for regulated substances pursuant to section 112(r)(5) of the Clean Air Act as amended, listed in § 68.130 and determined to be present at a stationary source as specified in § 68.115 of this part.

Typical meteorological conditions means the temperature, wind speed, cloud cover, and atmospheric stability class, prevailing at the site based on data gathered at or near the site or from a local meteorological station.

Vessel means any reactor, tank, drum, barrel, cylinder, vat, kettle, boiler, pipe, hose, or other container.

Worst-case release means the release of the largest quantity of a regulated substance from a vessel or process line failure that results in the greatest distance to an endpoint defined in § 68.22(a).

[59 FR 4493, Jan. 31, 1994, as amended at 61 FR 31717, June 20, 1996; 63 FR 644, Jan. 6, 1998; 64 FR 979, Jan. 6, 1999; 65 FR 13250, Mar. 13, 2000; 82 FR 4696, Jan. 13, 2017; 84 FR 69913, Dec. 19, 2019; 89 FR 17685, Mar. 11, 2024]