SECTION 338.2. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The words and terms used in the specific standards found in §338.5 of this title (relating to Standards) shall have the meaning of that standard, if defined. However, the words and terms as defined in this section shall supersede a definition if provided in a specific standard found in §338.5 of this title.

(1) Aboveground storage vessel -- A vessel made of non-earthen materials (e.g., concrete, steel, or plastic) located on or above the surface of the ground and that:

(A) has a capacity (based on overfill height) of 21,000 gallons or more;

(B) stores a regulated substance as defined in paragraph (8) of this subsection;

(C) is located at or is part of a petrochemical plant, a petroleum refinery, or a bulk storage terminal as defined by this subsection;

(D) is not a vessel exempted under §338.3 of this title (relating to Exemptions).

(2) Bulk storage terminal -- means an end-of-line pipeline storage terminals (excluding breakout tanks, which are used to relieve surges in a pipeline system and/or receive/store liquids transported by a pipeline for reinjection and continued transportation by pipeline), refinery storage terminals, for-hire storage terminals, rail storage terminals, and barge storage terminals.

(3) Facility -- A site, tract, or other defined area where one or more aboveground storage vessels are located.

(4) Flow-through process vessel -- A vessel through which regulated substances as defined by Texas Water Code §26.343 flows as an integral part of a production process such as petroleum refining or petrochemical production. These vessels collect material discharged from a feedstock storage vessel, or equipment within the process before the material is transferred to other equipment or storage vessel(s) within the process or to product or by-product storage vessel(s). This term excludes any vessel:

(A) Used for the static storage of regulated substances prior to their introduction into the production process; or

(B) Used for the static storage of regulated substances that are products or by-products of the production process.

(5) National consensus standard -- Any performance standard for storage tanks, or a modification thereof, that:

(A) has been adopted and promulgated by a nationally recognized standards-producing organization under procedures where it can be determined by the executive director that persons interested and affected by the scope or provisions of the standard have reached substantial agreement on its adoption; and

(B) was formulated in a manner that afforded an opportunity for diverse views to be considered.

(6) Petrochemical plant --

(A) A facility that in a single continuous operation or using a batch processing method manufactures a petrochemical.

(B) A petrochemical plant may be either a single facility existing by itself or a facility within a chemical plant complex consisting of a number of separate chemical plants each of which produces a single basic or intermediate chemical product. In a chemical plant complex, each facility is considered individually to determine whether it qualifies as a petrochemical plant.

(C) The term does not include:

(i) a facility or chemical plant that manufactures "allied chemical products"; or

(ii) a facility or chemical plant, other than one that produces a basic or an intermediate chemical, that generates any chemical as a waste product or a by-product.

(7) Petroleum refinery -- A facility that manufactures finished petroleum products from crude oil, unfinished oils, natural gas liquids, other hydrocarbons, and oxygenates. Products of these refineries include gasoline, diesel, kerosene, distillate fuel oils, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), residual fuel oils, lubricants, and other products refined through alkylation, coking, cracking, dewaxing, desulphurization, distillation, hydrotreating, isomerization, polymerization, or other chemical processes. These facilities also produce petrochemical feedstock for use by chemical plants. The term does not include facilities at an oil or gas lease site that removes water or other impurities and merely makes the product more marketable.

(8) Regulated substance -- as defined by Texas Water Code §26.343 to include:

(A) a substance defined in Section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Section 9601 et seq.), but does not include a substance regulated as a hazardous waste under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. Section 6921 et seq.);

(B) petroleum, including crude oil or a fraction of it, that is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure;

(C) any other substance designated by the executive director, and

(D) a mixture containing one percent or greater by weight of a regulated substance would be considered to meet this definition.

Source Note: The provisions of this §338.2 adopted to be effective August 24, 2023, 48 TexReg 4487