SPCC plan template: which one your facility may use
If your facility has 10,000 gallons or less of aboveground oil storage capacity and no reportable spill history, you may write and sign the plan yourself. With no container over 5,000 gallons (Tier I), use EPA's free Appendix G template. With a bigger container (Tier II), write a full plan to 40 CFR 112.6(b). Above 10,000 gallons, a Professional Engineer must certify it.
"No reportable spill history" means that in the three years before you sign, no single spill put more than 1,000 gallons of oil into water or onto a shoreline, and no two spills in any 12 months each put more than 42 gallons there. Spills caused by natural disasters, war or terrorism don't count (40 CFR 112.3(g)).
Which plan your facility needs
Count the shell capacity of every aboveground container of 55 gallons or more, not what is in it today. Then find your row.
| Your facility | What the rule requires | Who signs | Template you can start from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,320 gal or less aboveground and 42,000 gal or less completely buried | No SPCC plan (but clean up any spill you have) | Nobody | None needed |
| A spill could not reasonably reach a creek, ditch, lake or storm drain that leads to one | No SPCC plan; judge the land itself, not your dikes or berms (EPA recommends writing down why) | Nobody | None needed |
| Tier I: 10,000 gal or less, no container over 5,000 gal, clean history | Self-certified plan: EPA's Appendix G template, or an equivalent plan with a cross-reference section | Owner or operator | EPA Tier I template |
| Tier II: 10,000 gal or less, at least one container over 5,000 gal, clean history | Self-certified full plan to 112.7 and subpart B or C | Owner or operator; a PE for any section that deviates from a rule or calls containment impracticable | CAL FIRE's Tier II template, Ecesis's template, or a draft |
| Over 10,000 gal, or a reportable spill in the last three years | Full plan certified by a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) | A PE, who (or whose agent) must visit the site | The engineer's own format |
Seven ways to get the plan written
Three are free templates you fill in yourself, two are software, one is a filled-in draft and one is an engineer. None of the templates is filled in for you.
| Option | Price | For which facilities | What you get | Filled in for you? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPA Tier I template | Free | Tier I only | Word file of Appendix G, two sample plans (a farm, an auto garage), containment worksheets | No |
| CAL FIRE OSFM Tier II template | Free | Tier II; written for California's APSA program | EPA's Tier I layout with the 112.6(b) requirements added | No |
| Ecesis SPCC plan template | Free; Ecesis SPCC software priced on request | Full-format plans (PE or Tier II) | Word or PDF section framework with guidance notes | No |
| Mitti (by SafetyCulture) | Free plan up to 10 seats; Premium $24 a seat a month billed yearly, $29 monthly | Tier 1 and Tier 2 versions | Digital checklists you fill on a phone or export as PDF | No |
| mySPCC (Asmark Institute) | No public price | Agricultural retailers, Tier I and Tier II | Web tool that tailors a plan to the facility | Guided |
| ePlan | Free to read; $49 to download one document's Word file; Pro $99 a month | Qualified facilities, 10,000 gal or less | Draft plan, monthly inspection log and training record from your address and tank list | Yes, a draft with gaps marked |
| PE-certified plan | By quote; EPA estimates $2,111 to certify a new plan at a 1,321 to 10,000 gal site | Required over 10,000 gal or with a spill history | Site visit, engineered plan, PE certification | Yes |
EPA Tier I Qualified Facility SPCC Plan Template
Best for Tier I sites that will fill in a form themselves
This is the template in Appendix G of 40 CFR 112, re-typed as a Word file with an optional "N/A" column. Completed and signed by the owner or operator of a Tier I facility, it is the plan. EPA also posts two completed examples (a farm and an automotive service garage) and worksheets for sizing dikes. EPA's own paperwork estimate is 4 hours to prepare a new Tier I plan.
The catch: it covers Tier I only, and it is blank. You list every container, predict where a spill would flow, describe your containment and write your own inspection program. If you change its wording, your plan must add a section cross-referencing each rule requirement.
CAL FIRE OSFM Tier II Qualified Facility SPCC Plan Template
Best for Tier II sites, especially in California
EPA publishes no Tier II template. California's Office of the State Fire Marshal offers one, based on a template by the CalCUPA Forum's APSA working group: it keeps EPA's Tier I layout, adds what 40 CFR 112.6(b) requires of a Tier II plan, and leaves room for a PE to certify the sections only a PE may. California adds its own Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act on top of the federal rule, so check with your local CUPA too.
Ecesis SPCC Plan Template
Best for a full-format plan skeleton
A free Word or PDF framework organized around 40 CFR 112.7 and 112.8, with guidance notes and tables, including a PE certification page. It suits a Tier II owner or an engineer writing a full plan. Ecesis also sells SPCC software (container database, plan generation, amendment reminders) priced on request.
Mitti (by SafetyCulture)
Best for running the inspections on phones
Mitti's library has a Tier 1 SPCC template based on EPA's and a Tier 2 checklist based on EPA's inspector guidance. Its strength is the follow-through: monthly inspections, photos and sign-offs on a phone. The free plan covers up to 10 seats; Premium is $24 a seat a month billed yearly or $29 monthly.
mySPCC (Asmark Institute)
Best for agricultural retailers
A web tool for Tier I and Tier II plans at farm-supply and fertilizer retail sites, sponsored by The Fertilizer Institute, built with the Asmark Institute and listed on EPA's agriculture page with an EPA letter of support. Asmark lists no price on its site.
ePlan
Best for a first draft filled in from your site
ePlan asks four questions: where the site is, which tanks, drums and totes you have, whether you've had a spill to water in three years, and who will certify. It then looks up the parcel, the nearest stream or ditch (USGS National Hydrography Dataset), wetlands (USFWS), slope (USGS 3DEP) and flood zone (FEMA), and drafts a plan for a Tier I or Tier II facility, modeled on EPA's Tier I template, plus a monthly inspection log and a training record. Anything it can't confirm is marked for you to check, pick or fill in.
Reading the draft is free. The Word file of one document costs $49, with revisions for 30 days; Pro is $99 a month. ePlan certifies nothing: you visit the site, check every line and sign. It doesn't handle plans over 10,000 gallons or the sections only a PE may certify. Its draft is not EPA's form, so for a Tier I plan either copy it into EPA's template or keep the cross-reference section the rule requires.
A PE-certified plan from an engineering firm
Required over 10,000 gallons or after a reportable spill
The engineer or an agent visits the site and attests that the plan follows good engineering practice. For a storage site of 1,321 to 10,000 gallons, EPA's 2023 paperwork estimate puts PE certification of a new plan at $2,111, and $3,974 at 10,001 to 42,000 gallons, in 2021 dollars. Quotes vary with the site. A PE is also the only route for a Tier II plan that needs an equivalence or impracticability call.
Which option fits
- Tier I and happy with a Word form: EPA's template. It's free and it's the format the rule names.
- Tier II in California: CAL FIRE's Tier II template, and check with your local CUPA.
- Tier II elsewhere, or an engineer writing a full plan: Ecesis's free skeleton.
- Inspections and sign-offs on phones: Mitti.
- A farm-supply or fertilizer retail site: mySPCC.
- A qualified facility that would rather edit a filled-in draft than blank tables: ePlan, which also writes down the nearest water, drainage direction and flood zone and starts the inspection log and training record.
- Over 10,000 gallons, a reportable spill, or a call only an engineer may make: a PE.
What's inside EPA's Tier I template
Every Tier I self-certifier completes Sections I to III and one of Sections A to C, then the attachments:
- I. Self-certification statement. Eight statements under 112.6(a)(1), including that you visited and examined the facility and that management will fund the plan.
- II. Review and amendment record. The five-year review and technical amendments.
- III. Plan requirements. Container list with shell capacities (Table G-2), containment and spill-flow table (G-4), inspections and training (G-5), security (G-6), emergency procedures (G-7), contact list (G-8), the National Response Center call (G-9) and the 60-day report rule.
- A, B or C. A for onshore facilities other than oil production (most yards, farms and shops), B for production sites, C for drilling and workover.
- Attachments. Review and amendment logs, an optional contingency plan, inspection, dike-drainage and training logs, and a discharge notification form.
Questions
What requires an SPCC plan?
Three things together: a facility that is not transportation-related stores, uses or handles oil; it has more than 1,320 gallons of aboveground capacity in containers of 55 gallons or more, or more than 42,000 gallons completely buried; and, judging the land alone, a spill could reasonably reach navigable water or a shoreline.
Can I write my own SPCC plan?
Yes, if the facility is a qualified facility: 10,000 gallons or less aboveground and no reportable spill in three years. A Tier I site may sign EPA's template; a Tier II site signs a full plan it wrote. Your state may still require a PE.
Is there an official Tier II template?
Not from EPA. EPA's template is for Tier I. California's Office of the State Fire Marshal publishes a Tier II template; elsewhere a Tier II plan is a full plan written to 40 CFR 112.7 and the subpart for your oil.
Do I send the SPCC plan to EPA?
No. Keep a complete copy at the facility if it is attended at least four hours a day, otherwise at the nearest field office, and show it to an EPA inspector during working hours.
How often must an SPCC plan be reviewed?
At least once every five years, with a signed statement that you will or won't amend it. A change that affects spill potential, such as adding a tank, needs an amendment within six months.
Is WSDOT's SPCC plan template the same thing?
No. Washington DOT's template is for its construction contractors under its Standard Specification 1-07.15(1). It is a contract spill plan, not the 40 CFR 112 plan a facility that stores oil needs.
Guides
- Who needs an SPCC plan? The three tests, what counts toward 1,320 gallons, and two worked examples.
- Tier I vs Tier II SPCC plan Which plan you may sign, what each can't contain, and what happens when you outgrow it.
- SPCC plan requirements checklist Every element of 40 CFR 112.7 and 112.8, with what to write for each.
- SPCC secondary containment requirements General vs sized containment, freeboard, and a dike worked out step by step.
- SPCC inspection checklist What to check monthly and yearly, and the integrity testing schedule for small tanks.
- SPCC training requirements Who must be trained, the annual briefing, and a log you can copy.
- SPCC five-year review and amendments When to amend, the exact review statement, and who re-certifies.
- How much an SPCC plan costs EPA's own hour and dollar estimates for self-certified and PE-certified plans.
- SPCC plans for farms The 2,500, 6,000 and 20,000 gallon farm thresholds and what you may leave out of the count.
- SPCC spill response and contact list When a spill must be reported, to whom, and a contact list to fill in.
How we checked
On November 13, 2026 we read 40 CFR 112 on eCFR, EPA's SPCC pages, its Tier I template and its 2023 paperwork estimate for the rule (ICR 0328.19), then each provider's own page and pricing. We did not run a plan through every tool and gave nobody a score or rating. If something here is wrong, write to support@winding.ai and we'll fix it.
About this site
This site is published by Winding AI, Inc., the company that makes ePlan, one of the seven options compared here. We earn money when someone buys ePlan; we earn nothing from links to other options, and links to ePlan carry a tag so ePlan can count visits from this site. We wrote it because the top results for "spcc plan template" hand you a form without saying whether you may use it. Visits are counted with Google Analytics; there are no ads.