Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 22, 2024

Title 6 - Domestic Security last revised: Nov 19, 2024
§ 27.203 - Calculating the screening threshold quantity by security issue.

(a) General. In calculating whether a facility possesses a chemical of interest that meets the STQ for any security issue, a facility need not include chemicals of interest:

(1) Used as a structural component;

(2) Used as products for routine janitorial maintenance;

(3) Contained in food, drugs, cosmetics, or other personal items used by employees;

(4) In process water or non-contact cooling water as drawn from environment or municipal sources;

(5) In air either as compressed air or as part of combustion;

(6) Contained in articles, as defined in 40 CFR 68.3;

(7) In solid waste (including hazardous waste) regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq., except for the waste described in 40 CFR 261.33; or

(8) In naturally occurring hydrocarbon mixtures prior to entry of the mixture into a natural gas processing plant or a petroleum refining process unit. Naturally occurring hydrocarbon mixtures include condensate, crude oil, field gas, and produced water as defined in 40 CFR 68.3.

(b) Release chemicals—(1) Release-toxic, release-flammable, and release-explosive chemicals. Except as provided in paragraphs (b)(2) and (b)(3), in calculating whether a facility possesses an amount that meets the STQ for release chemicals of interest, the facility shall only include release chemicals of interest:

(i) In a vessel as defined in 40 CFR 68.3, in a underground storage facility, or stored in a magazine as defined in 27 CFR 555.11;

(ii) In transportation containers used for storage not incident to transportation, including transportation containers connected to equipment at a facility for loading or unloading and transportation containers detached from the motive power that delivered the container to the facility;

(iii) Present as process intermediates, by-products, or materials produced incidental to the production of a product if they exist at any given time;

(iv) In natural gas or liquefied natural gas stored in peak shaving facilities; and

(v) In gasoline, diesel, kerosene, or jet fuel (including fuels that have flammability hazard ratings of 1, 2, 3, or 4, as determined by using National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 704: Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response [2007 ed.], which is incorporated by reference at § 27.204(a)(2)), stored in aboveground tank farms, including tank farms that are part of pipeline systems;

(2) Release-toxic, release-flammable, and release-explosive chemicals. Except as provided in paragraph (b)(2)(i), in calculating whether a facility possesses an amount that meets the STQ for release-toxic, release-flammable, and release-explosive chemicals, a facility need not include release-toxic, release-flammable, or release-explosive chemicals of interest that a facility manufactures, processes, or uses in a laboratory at the facility under the supervision of a technically qualified individual as defined in 40 CFR 720.3.

(i) This exemption does not apply to specialty chemical production; manufacture, processing, or use of substances in pilot plant scale operations; or activities, including research and development, involving chemicals of interest conducted outside the laboratory.

(ii) [Reserved]

(3) Propane. In calculating whether a facility possesses an amount that meets the STQ for propane, a facility need not include propane in tanks of 10,000 pounds or less.

(c) Theft and diversion chemicals. In calculating whether a facility possesses an amount of a theft/diversion chemical of interest that meets the STQ, the facility shall only include theft/diversion chemicals of interest in a transportation packaging, as defined in 49 CFR 171.8. Where a theft/diversion-CW chemical is designated by “CUM 100g,” a facility shall total the quantity of all such designated chemicals in its possession to determine whether the facility possesses theft/diversion-CW chemicals that meet or exceed the STQ of 100 grams.

(d) Sabotage and contamination chemicals. A facility meets the STQ for a sabotage/contamination chemical of interest if it ships the chemical and is required to placard the shipment of that chemical pursuant to the provisions of subpart F of 49 CFR part 172.

[72 FR 65419, Nov. 20, 2007, as amended at 86 FR 41891, Aug. 4, 2021]
authority: 6 U.S.C. 624; Pub. L. 101-410, 104 Stat. 890, as amended by Pub. L. 114-74, 129 Stat. 599; Pub. L. 113-254, 128 Stat. 2898, as amended by Pub. L. 116-150, 134 Stat. 679
source: 72 FR 17729, Apr. 9, 2007, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 6 CFR 27.203