Definitions.

  1. Law
  2. Oklahoma Statutes
  3. Environment and Natural Resources
  4. Definitions.

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For purposes of the Oklahoma Emergency Response Act:

1. "State environmental agency" includes:

  • a.the Oklahoma Water Resources Board,
  • b.the Corporation Commission,
  • c.the State Department of Agriculture,
  • d.the Oklahoma Conservation Commission,
  • e.the Department of Wildlife Conservation,
  • f.the Department of Mines and Mining,
  • g.the Department of Public Safety,
  • h.the Department of Labor,
  • i.the Department of Environmental Quality, and
  • j.the Department of Civil Emergency Management;

2. "Lead official" means the person designated by the contact agency to be the official in charge of the on-site management of the emergency;

3. "Emergency" means a sudden and unforeseeable occurrence or condition either as to its onset or as to its extent, of such severity or magnitude that immediate emergency response or action is necessary to preserve the health and safety of the public or environment or to preserve property;

4. "Dangerous substance" means explosives, gases, flammable liquids and solids, poisons, radioactive materials, hazardous materials, deleterious substances, oil, or other substance or material in a quantity or form capable of posing an unreasonable risk to public health and safety, property or to the environment;

5. "Release" means a leakage, seepage, discharge, emission or escaping of a dangerous substance into the environment of the state;

6. "Extreme emergency" means any emergency which requires immediate protective actions;

7. "Protective actions" are those steps deemed necessary by first responders to an extreme emergency to preserve the health and safety of the emergency responders, the public and the protection of the environment and property during an incident involving the release of a dangerous substance. Protective actions include but are not limited to area isolation, evacuation, dilution, cooling, encapsulation, chemical treatment and diking;

8. "First responder" means the first person to arrive at the scene of an incident involving the release of a dangerous substance who has the authority by virtue of that person's position as a local law enforcement officer, peace officer, fire protection officer or Oklahoma Highway Patrol Officer or other law enforcement officer;

9. "Contact agency" means a municipality, fire department or the Oklahoma Highway Patrol as determined by the location of an incident as follows:

LocationContact Agency

  • a.Inside corporate municipalMunicipal Fire
    • limitsDepartment
  • b.Outside corporateClosest Municipal
  • limits on private propertyFire Department
  • c.Outside corporate limitsOklahoma Highway
  • on federal/state highway,Patrol;
  • public property, county road,
  • or a railroad;

10. "Responsible party" means any person who owned, operated, or otherwise controlled activities at the facility at the time the incident or event involving releases of dangerous substances requiring protective actions occurred; and

11. "Facility" means:

  • a.any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline, including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works, well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft, or
  • b.any site or area where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise came to be located, or
  • c.any vessel, including every description of watercraft or other artificial conveyance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.

Added by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 239, eff. July 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1998, c. 207, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1998.


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