# The FUELS Act: What It Does

This bill makes it easier for farms to store certain fuels and chemicals without following strict federal environmental rules. Specifically, it changes how the "Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure" rule applies to agricultural operations—a regulation that requires businesses to have plans in place to prevent oil and fuel spills that could contaminate water.

The bill raises the amount of fuel and other liquids that farms can store before they have to comply with these federal spill prevention requirements. Currently, farms storing more than 20,000 gallons of oil or fuel need to follow detailed federal rules. This bill increases that threshold to 42,000 gallons, meaning farms can now store significantly more before triggering these requirements. The bill also adjusts other storage thresholds for farms with smaller amounts of fuel, raising some limits from 1,000 gallons to 1,320 gallons and from 2,500 gallons to 3,000 gallons.

In practical terms, this means many farms will no longer need to develop spill prevention plans, conduct regular inspections, or maintain detailed records for their fuel storage—as long as they stay under the new higher limits. Supporters argue this reduces paperwork burden on farmers, while critics worry it could increase the risk of fuel spills contaminating groundwater and streams that communities depend on for drinking water. The bill essentially trades environmental oversight for regulatory relief for agricultural operations.

FUELS Act

Crawford, Eric A. "Rick"

Farmers Undertake Environmental Land Stewardship Act or the FUELS Act This bill increases thresholds for requiring a farm to have a plan to address oil spills. Currently, regulations require a farm to have an oil spill control and prevention plan that is certified by a professional engineer if the farm's aboveground oil storage capacity is above a certain threshold or if the farm has a reportable oil discharge history. A farm with lower aboveground storage capacity and no reportable history is either allowed to self-certify its plan or not required to have a plan at all, depending on the farm's storage capacity.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Under the bill, the Environmental Protection Agency must require a farm to have a professionally certified plan if the farm has an aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity of 40,000 gallons or more, whereas the current threshold is 20,000 gallons. The bill also raises the aggregate capacity thresholds at which a farm with no reportable oil discharge history may self-certify its plan or is not required to have a plan. The bill also limits when a farm's aboveground oil storage containers on separate parcels shall count toward the farm's oil storage capacity for the purposes of these thresholds.