Qualified Facility Rules, Tier I and Tier II Plans, Spill History, and When a Licensed Engineer Has to Certify Your Oil Spill Plan
If you store oil at a New Jersey facility, you've probably heard that some businesses can self-certify their Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan while others need a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) to certify it. The answer comes down to two tests: how much oil you store aboveground, and whether you've had certain spills recently. A facility that stores 10,000 gallons or less and passes the spill history test is a "qualified facility," and its owner or operator can certify the plan without an engineer. Everyone else needs a PE.
Below, we walk through the qualified facility tests, the difference between Tier I and Tier II plans, what a PE signs when they certify a plan, why a PE generally won't certify a plan they didn't write or thoroughly review, and how New Jersey's separate state rules fit in. If you'd rather talk your situation through with someone, you can reach out to RMA at any point.
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TL;DR
You can self-certify your SPCC plan if your facility stores 10,000 gallons or less of oil aboveground and hasn't had a spill over 1,000 gallons, or two spills over 42 gallons each within 12 months, in the last three years. Facilities with no single container over 5,000 gallons can use a short EPA template, and facilities with a larger container write a full plan. Anything outside those limits needs a licensed Professional Engineer to certify the plan. A PE generally won't sign a plan they didn't prepare or review in depth, so you can't simply buy a signature on a plan you wrote yourself.
What Does It Mean to Certify an SPCC Plan?
The SPCC rule is a federal oil spill prevention requirement found in 40 CFR Part 112, and in New Jersey it's enforced by EPA Region 2. It applies to facilities that store more than 1,320 gallons of oil aboveground, counting containers of 55 gallons or more, and that could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. Every covered facility needs a written plan, and by default a plan only counts once a licensed PE has reviewed and certified it under 40 CFR 112.3(d).
In 2006, EPA added an exception for qualified facilities, which lets the owner or operator certify the plan instead of hiring an engineer. Self-certification is optional. A qualified facility can still choose to have a PE certify its plan, and either way the certification doesn't relieve the owner of the duty to carry out the plan. Our guide to the different types of SPCC plans shows how the options compare side by side.
One naming note before we go further. The Tier I and Tier II labels in the SPCC rule have nothing to do with Tier II chemical inventory reporting under Community Right to Know. They share a name and nothing else.
How Does the 10,000-Gallon SPCC Qualified Facility Limit Work?
To self-certify, your facility has to pass two tests. The first is storage capacity: no more than 10,000 gallons of aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity across the whole facility. Capacity means the shell capacity of each container, not how much oil is in it today, and containers are counted the same way they are for the 1,320 gallon threshold. A facility means the whole site, so you add up every diesel tank, generator tank, hydraulic oil reservoir, used oil tank, tote, and drum of 55 gallons or more, along with oil-filled equipment. Vegetable oils count too. Propane doesn't.
Completely buried tanks that fall under the underground storage tank rules are generally left out of this count, and New Jersey regulates those separately under N.J.A.C. 7:14B. Buried tanks that fall outside those rules can still count, so check each one before you total things up.
Crossing the line later changes your path. If a new tank or an expansion pushes the facility over 10,000 gallons, you have six months after the change to prepare and implement a PE-certified plan. A data center adding generators or a plant adding a bulk oil tank can cross the line with a single project, so capacity belongs on the checklist any time equipment gets added.
How Does Spill History Affect SPCC Self-Certification?
The second test is spill history. Looking back three years from the date you self-certify (or since the facility became subject to the rule, if it's been operating less than three years), the facility can't have had a single discharge over 1,000 gallons, and it can't have had two discharges each over 42 gallons within any 12-month period. Forty-two gallons is one barrel. The discharges that count are the ones described in 40 CFR 112.1(b), which are mainly discharges of oil that reach navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. Discharges caused by natural disasters, acts of war, or terrorism don't count against you.
In New Jersey, the paper trail matters. The Spill Act and NJDEP's discharge rules generally require reporting spills of petroleum and other hazardous substances, with some exceptions, and that duty is broader than the federal history test. Before you sign a self-certification, pull your own spill logs, any reports you made to NJDEP, and your incident records for the last three years. Our article on when you have to report an oil spill covers the sheen rule and what triggers a report.
If the history test fails, the facility isn't a qualified facility and needs a PE-certified plan. Because the look-back runs from the date you self-certify, an old spill can age out of the window, but confirm the dates and volumes carefully before you rely on that. If you have questions about how a past spill affects your legal exposure, an environmental attorney is the right person to ask.
What's the Difference Between a Tier I and Tier II SPCC Plan?
Qualified facilities split into two tiers based on container size. A Tier I qualified facility passes both tests above and has no individual aboveground container larger than 5,000 gallons. A Tier II qualified facility passes both tests but has at least one container larger than 5,000 gallons.
| Plan Path |
Who It Fits |
What Gets Prepared |
Who Certifies |
| Tier I self-certified |
Qualified facility with no single container over 5,000 gallons |
EPA's Appendix G template, or a full plan |
Owner or operator |
| Tier II self-certified |
Qualified facility with at least one container over 5,000 gallons |
Full plan under 40 CFR 112.7 and the applicable subparts |
Owner or operator, with a PE certifying any deviations (a hybrid plan) |
| PE-certified |
Over 10,000 gallons aboveground, a failed spill history test, or any facility that chooses it |
Full plan |
Licensed Professional Engineer |
Tier I facilities can use EPA's short Appendix G template, which becomes the plan once the owner or operator completes and signs it. Short doesn't mean light. The template still requires a failure analysis, secondary containment sized for the largest container plus room for precipitation, overfill protection for every container, and inspection and testing procedures. The owner certifies, among other things, that they're familiar with Part 112, have visited and examined the facility, prepared the plan to sound industry practices, will fully implement it, and have management approval and resources behind it. A Tier I facility can also choose a fuller plan or a PE-certified plan instead. Our guide to the Tier I self-certified SPCC plan goes through the template in more detail.
Tier II facilities write a full SPCC plan that meets the general requirements in 40 CFR 112.7 and the applicable subparts, and the owner or operator signs the same kind of certification. The limit is on deviations. A Tier II plan can't include an alternative measure for environmental equivalence, or a determination that secondary containment is impracticable, unless a licensed PE reviews and certifies that piece in writing. That arrangement is called a hybrid plan: self-certified overall, with PE-certified portions. Tier I facilities can't use a hybrid plan. Our articles on the self-certified Tier II plan and the PE-certified plan go deeper on each.
What Does a Professional Engineer Certify on an SPCC Plan?
When a PE certifies a plan, the engineer attests to five things under 40 CFR 112.3(d)(1). They're familiar with Part 112. They or their agent has visited and examined the facility. The plan follows good engineering practice, including applicable industry standards and the rule. Procedures for required inspections and testing are in place. And the plan is adequate for the facility. The last one carries the weight. The engineer is saying the plan fits your site, with their license behind it.
Certification stays attached to the plan after that. On a PE-certified plan, technical amendments, meaning changes to your facility's design, construction, operation, or maintenance that affect its potential for a discharge, need to be certified by a PE, and the plan needs a review at least every five years. Our guides on Professional Engineers and SPCC plan requirements and five-year SPCC plan reviews cover what triggers each.
Can You Write Your Own SPCC Plan and Have a PE Sign It?
Facilities that don't qualify often ask whether they can write the plan themselves and have an engineer stamp it. Generally, they can't. A PE who certifies a plan is putting a license and professional liability behind the attestations above, so most won't certify a plan they didn't prepare themselves or review in depth. That review usually means a site visit, a look at your tanks, piping, loading areas, and containment, and a check of the calculations. A binder handed over with a request for a signature tends to get declined, or it turns into a rewrite.
There are two realistic paths. A PE can prepare the plan and certify it, or a consultant can prepare the plan and a PE can review and approve it. Some firms have a PE on staff, and others work with a trusted outside PE. Either way, the engineer's review is real work, so choose who prepares the plan with certification in mind from the start. If you qualify as a Tier I or Tier II facility, none of this applies, because you don't need a PE to sign off in the first place.
This also explains why downloaded templates and AI-written plans don't solve a certification problem. They can fill pages, but nobody with a license will stand behind them without doing the work. We've written about whether you can get an SPCC plan online and whether ChatGPT or AI can write an SPCC plan, and a plan that no PE will certify isn't usable for a facility that needs PE certification.
Does New Jersey Require an Engineer for DPCC and DCR Plans?
The self-certification rules above are federal, and EPA Region 2 enforces SPCC in New Jersey. The state runs its own parallel program under NJDEP's Discharges of Petroleum and Other Hazardous Substances rules, N.J.A.C. 7:1E. Facilities that count as major facilities under those rules must prepare a Discharge Prevention, Containment and Countermeasure (DPCC) plan and a Discharge Cleanup and Removal (DCR) plan and submit them to NJDEP for approval. Whether your facility counts as a major facility depends on its total storage capacity and what it stores, so check N.J.A.C. 7:1E against your own inventory.
The state side has its own engineer requirement. N.J.A.C. 7:1E-4.11 calls for a certification from a licensed professional engineer when a DPCC plan, a plan renewal, or an amendment for a change requiring sound engineering practice is submitted. In plain terms, qualifying for federal self-certification doesn't take the engineer out of the picture if your facility is a major facility. A New Jersey site in that position ends up with an SPCC plan and a DPCC/DCR plan, and the two should be developed together so they don't contradict each other.
Our guides to SPCC plans in New Jersey and who enforces SPCC plans cover how the federal and state layers fit together. For current spill reporting requirements, including the NJDEP hotline number, check NJDEP's website rather than an old plan or a printed card.
Which SPCC Certification Path Fits, and What Does It Cost?
Here's the order we'd work through it. Add up your aboveground oil storage capacity across the whole site. Find your largest single container. Pull three years of spill records. Those three steps tell you whether you're a Tier I facility, a Tier II facility, or in PE-certified territory. If you're a qualified facility, self-certifying is allowed, and it isn't required.
For a small site with a handful of tanks, a clean history, and someone with time to learn the rule, EPA's free template can be a reasonable do-it-yourself project, and you may not need us at all. The tradeoff is that your name is on every attestation, including that the plan is implemented, the containment is sized correctly, and inspections are happening. Mistakes in a self-certified plan are yours to answer for, and an environmental attorney can explain what that exposure looks like. Larger Tier II sites, and any site that wants an engineer's review for its own protection, may choose PE certification even though they could self-certify.
On cost, RMA has published a range of $2,500 to $15,000 for SPCC plans. Where you land depends on total storage capacity, the number and type of containers, whether the plan needs PE certification, and whether your secondary containment needs evaluating. For updates, a simple Tier I update runs about $1,500, while a complex PE-certified update starts around $7,500. Plans that need PE certification tend to cost more because the engineer's review and site work are part of the job. Our SPCC plan cost guide breaks down the drivers, and the pricing calculator below gives you a ballpark for our help with your own facility.
Whichever path you take, the plan only works if it's implemented. That includes training oil-handling employees and holding discharge prevention briefings at least once a year, and our online environmental training library is a place to start.
How Can RMA Help With SPCC Plan Certification in New Jersey?
We're based in New Jersey, so NJDEP's rules and the way they sit alongside the federal SPCC rule are part of our daily work. If you're not sure which path you're on, we can look at your storage capacity, your largest container, and your spill history and tell you whether you can self-certify, need a hybrid plan, or need a PE-certified plan. If self-certifying makes sense and you'd rather do it yourself, we'll tell you that. If you want the plan prepared for you, we do that too, and where PE certification is needed, the plan goes through the engineer's review and approval.
There's no pressure and no obligation. You can call us, email us, or fill out the form on our website, and someone from our team will follow up. Whenever you're ready, contact RMA and we'll walk through your facility with you.
