ENV-03-133 Development and Implementation of a Successful Environmental Compliance Management System for the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) Refineries in Washington State – A Case Study

Description:

As the number of environmental regulations and operating requirements included within operating permits for refineries continue to grow, many environmental managers have opted to implement environmental data management systems. This case study will demonstrate how a group of five refineries through the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) in Washington State have chosen to work together to develop and implement a compliance management system for Title V Air Operating Permits. The compliance management system that was developed and implemented for the participating WSPA refineries is used to track compliance with recently issued or soon to be issued Title V operating permits at each of the individual refineries. The need for this compliance management solution is warranted due to the numerous permit terms, applicable regulation citations, and operating, reporting, and record keeping requirements contained within each of the Title V operating permits. Each environmental manager at the refineries was concerned with how their refinery was going to track and prove compliance with the issued Title V permits for the certification report. The developed system meets their concerns and needs by assisting the refineries and environmental managers in tracking and assuring compliance with all permit requirements. The developed system also provides email notification of upcoming and overdue compliance tasks, tracks deviations from permit requirements, and allows the generation of semiannual and annual compliance certification reports for submittal to the applicable regulatory authority. Below is an abbreviated list of some of the database functionality: · Ability to produce a final certification report · Hyperlink to permit conditions and regulations · Tracking capability (e.g., dates due, dates completed, responsible parties) · Task Assigning · Sorting capability (e.g., by equipment, department, person, dates, requirement status) · Security control (e.g., for different tasks, data control, signoff) · System ability to transfer data to other databases · E-mail task due or overdue notification · Ability to add additional compliance modules for other environmental media (e.g., NPDES, RCRA) This case study will provide valuable and useful information related to the database functionality, similarity of compliance systems, development cost-sharing techniques, and lessons learned during the development and implementation of this compliance database.