(1) The governor shall appoint a petroleum storage tank committee, which shall consist of seven members who have technical expertise and knowledge in fields related to corrective actions taken to mitigate underground and aboveground storage tank releases. The director of the division of oil and public safety or the director's designee, the executive director of the department or the designee of the executive director, and an owner or operator shall be permanent members of the committee. The remaining four members of the committee shall be chosen from among the following groups, with no more than one member representing each group: Fire protection districts; elected local governmental officials; companies that refine and retail motor fuels in Colorado; companies that wholesale motor fuels in Colorado; owners and operators of independent retail outlets; companies that conduct corrective actions or install and repair underground and aboveground storage tanks; and private citizens or interest groups. The department shall provide staff to support the activities of the committee.
Members of the committee shall serve three-year terms. All vacancies shall be filledby the governor to serve the remainder of the unexpired term.
Members of the committee shall receive no additional salary or per diem reimbursement for their services as members of the committee, but shall be allowed travel and parking costs and maintenance expenses while on official committee business conducted more than one hundred miles from their respective residences.
The committee shall be required to meet no more than twice in any month. Thecommittee shall recommend all regulatory actions proposed by the committee to the director of the division of oil and public safety for adoption or ratification. The committee shall conduct the following activities in accordance with section 24-4-105, C.R.S., as its routine business:
Establish procedures, practices, and policies governing the committee's activities;
Review standards and regulations governing underground and aboveground storagetanks;
Establish procedures, practices, and policies governing the form and procedures forapplications to the petroleum storage tank fund for reimbursement compensation;
(I) Establish procedures, practices, and policies governing any and all aspects of processing, adjusting, defending, or paying claims against the fund. To encourage tank owners and operators to report and remediate contamination and achieve compliance with rules promulgated by the director of the division of oil and public safety, the committee may approve claims involving tanks not operated in substantial compliance, but may also determine the amount, if any, by which such claims may be reduced for noncompliance. Before imposing any reduction for noncompliance the committee shall determine whether the rules issued by the director of the division of oil and public safety are both substantially and procedurally no more stringent than United States environmental protection agency regulations under 42 U.S.C. sec. 6991 and whether the areas of noncompliance were brought into compliance prior to application to the fund, where possible. The committee shall use the following guidelines when imposing a reduction for noncompliance:
Up to a ten percent reduction for failure to register a tank;
Up to a twenty-five percent reduction for improper release detection;
Up to a ten percent reduction for improper release reporting;
Up to a twenty percent reduction for improper out-of-service and closure.
(II) Nothing in this article shall be construed to require the committee to approve a claim involving substantial noncompliance. The committee shall establish specific criteria to define when denial for substantial noncompliance may be imposed.
Establish priorities governing the types of corrective actions which shall be reimbursed from the fund;
Review corrective action plans submitted pursuant to section 8-20.5-209, for whichno agreement has been reached through informal conferences between the department and the owner or operator, and make a recommendation to the department, upon request from the department or the owner or the operator, as to the corrective action that is acceptable;
Issue public notices and hold public hearings to obtain comment on the activitiesdescribed in this subsection (4);
(I) (A) Pay interest to all persons who file a properly and fully completed claim forreimbursement and are not reimbursed in a timely manner. For purposes of this paragraph (h), interest shall accrue on the amount approved for payment by the committee at the rate determined pursuant to section 39-21-110.5, C.R.S., for each day a properly and fully completed application is not processed in a timely manner.
(B) Notwithstanding this paragraph (h), if a claimant cannot be reimbursed in a timely manner because insufficient moneys in the petroleum storage tank fund prevent the issuance of a reimbursement check within thirty days after approval of the disbursement, interest shall not begin to accrue on the claim until thirty-one days after sufficient moneys are available in said fund.
(II) For purposes of this paragraph (h), "timely manner" means:
That an application filed with the petroleum storage tank fund on or after January 1,1996, shall be submitted for review by the committee within ninety working days of receipt;
That an application filed with the petroleum storage tank fund on or after July 1,1995, but before January 1, 1996, shall be submitted for review by the committee within one hundred twenty working days of receipt;
That an application filed with the petroleum storage tank fund before July 1, 1995,shall be submitted for review by the committee no later than December 31, 1995;
That reimbursement checks shall be issued within thirty days after disbursement isapproved by the committee.
The committee may, in order to perform any or all of its responsibilities and functions under subsection (4) of this section, contract for the use of outside experts, consultants, or services.
Reductions determined by the committee because of noncompliance shall be cumulative and shall apply to all eligible costs approved by the committee in the initial and all supplemental claims for the occurrence as defined in section 8-20.5-206 (2); except that in no instance shall cumulative reductions for noncompliance apply to claims submitted in accordance with section 8-20.5-206 (3) or 8-20.5-303 (3).
The reductions described in subsections (4)(d) and (6) of this section pertain to thissection only and shall not be construed to have any impact on cost-recovery actions taken in accordance with section 8-20.5-209 or any civil or criminal penalties imposed as part of an enforcement proceeding.
At its first meeting of each fiscal year, on or about July 1, the committee shall establish and set aside for reimbursements to those individuals who are eligible to make application to the fund in accordance with section 8-20.5-206 (3) or 8-20.5-303 (3), an amount equal to twenty percent of the total budget of the department from the petroleum storage tank fund, which amount shall be used for the purpose of conducting remediation activities in accordance with sections 8-20.5-206 (3), 8-20.5-209, and 8-20.5-303 (3) and shall protect the integrity of the fund as a financial assurance mechanism for tank owners and operators. The committee shall reexamine on a quarterly basis the unencumbered balance of this allocation and may set aside lesser or additional amounts for reimbursements to such applicants based on the relative number of requested reimbursements from the owners and operators of active sites, with preference given to the remediation of recently contaminated locations and to active tank sites based on their higher potential for environmental impact.
The petroleum storage tank committee shall exercise its powers and perform its duties and functions specified by this section under the department of labor and employment and the executive director thereof as if the same were transferred to the department by a
type 1 transfer, as such transfer is defined in section 24-1-105, C.R.S.
Source: L. 95: Entire article added, p. 394, § 1, effective July 1. L. 96: (4)(h)(I) amended, p. 711, § 4, effective May 15. L. 2001: (1), IP(4), and IP(4)(d)(I) amended, p. 1126, § 44, effective June 5. L. 2007: (8) amended, p. 387, § 4, effective April 3.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 25-18-105 as it existed prior to 1995.