When used in this chapter, the listed terms have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(1) "Affiliate" means persons who are affiliates to each other if, directly or indirectly, either one controls or has the power to control the other or a third person controls or has the power to control both. Indicia of control include, but are not limited to, interlocking management or ownership, identity of interest among family members, shared facilities and equipment, common use of employees, or a business entity organized following the suspension, debarment, or exclusion of a person, under applicable regulation, where the person has the same or similar management, ownership, or principal employees as the suspended, debarred, or excluded person.
(2) "Bodily injury" means actual medically documented costs and medically documentable future costs of adverse health effects that have resulted from exposure to a release of petroleum or petroleum products from an underground storage tank. Bodily injury does not mean pain and suffering.
(3) "Committed funds" means that portion of the Superb Account reserved as a result of action by the Department of Health and Environmental Control to approve costs for planned site rehabilitation activities.
(4) "Compensation" means billing the Superb Account for costs associated with site rehabilitation after receiving prior approval from the department and in accordance with regulations promulgated pursuant to this chapter and criteria established by the department as authorized by this chapter. All compensation is considered committed funds.
(5) "Department" means the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
(6) "Familial relationship" means a connection or association by family or relatives, in which a family member or relative has a material interest. Family or relatives include father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandparent, great grandparent, grandchild, great grandchild, step grandparent, step great grandparent, step grandchild, step great grandchild, or fiancee.
(7) "Financial relationship" means a connection or association through a material interest or sources of income which exceed five percent of annual gross income from a business entity.
(8) "Fund" means the funds provided for under this chapter and deposited in the Superb Account or the Superb Financial Responsibility Fund hereinafter created.
(9) "Occurrence" means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions which results in a release from an underground storage tank.
(10) "Operator" means any person in control of, or having responsibility for the daily operation of an underground storage tank.
(11) "Orphan site" means a site where there has been a release from an underground storage tank but responsible party issues have not been resolved, and site rehabilitation has not been undertaken.
(12) "Owner" means:
(a) in the case of an underground storage tank system in use on November 8, 1984, or brought into use after that date, a person who owns an underground storage tank system used for storage, use, or dispensing of regulated substances;
(b) in the case of any underground storage tank system in use before November 8, 1984, but no longer in use on that date, a person who owned such an underground storage tank immediately before the discontinuation of its use; or
(c) a person who has assumed legal ownership of the underground storage tank through the provisions of a contract of sale or other legally binding transfer of ownership.
(13) "Person" means any individual, partner, corporation organized or united for a business purpose, or a governmental agency.
(14) "Petroleum" and "petroleum product" means crude oil or any fraction thereof which is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure (60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.7 pounds for each square inch absolute), including any such liquid which consists of a blend of petroleum and alcohol and which is intended for use as a motor fuel. The terms "petroleum" and "petroleum product" do not include any:
(a) hazardous substance as defined in Section 101(14) of the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA);
(b) substance, other than used oils, regulated as a hazardous waste under Subtitle C of Title II of the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA); or
(c) mixture of petroleum or a petroleum product containing any such hazardous substance or hazardous waste in greater than de minimis quantities.
(15) "Property damage" means a documented adverse physical impact to structures or property as a result of a release of petroleum or petroleum products from an underground storage tank. The total damage is limited to the difference between the original fair market value of the property or structure and the residual value or the depreciated replacement cost of the property or structure, whichever is less. The documented presence of petroleum or petroleum products at levels not posing an unacceptable risk to human health or environment shall not be grounds for a claim or suit.
(16) "Punitive damages" means damages awarded by a court to an injured party to punish the defendant for a serious wrong. This award only is in addition to actual damages awarded for bodily injury or property damage.
(17) "Regulated substance" means:
(a) a substance defined in Section 101(14) of CERCLA, but not including any substance regulated as a hazardous waste under Subtitle C of RCRA; and
(b) petroleum and petroleum products. The term "regulated substance" includes, but is not limited to, petroleum and petroleum-based substances comprised of a complex blend of hydrocarbons derived from crude oil through processes of separation, conversion, upgrading, and finishing, such as motor fuels, jet fuels, distillate fuel oils, residual fuel oils, lubricants, petroleum solvents, and used oils.
(18) "Related interest" means affiliated companies, principal owners of the client company, or any other party with which the client deals where one of the parties can influence the management or operation policies of the other.
(19) "Release" means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching or disposing from an underground storage tank into subsurface soils, groundwater, or surface water.
(20) "Site rehabilitation" means cleanup actions taken in response to a release from an underground, storage tank which includes, but is not limited to, investigation, evaluation, planning, design, engineering, construction, or other services put forth to investigate or clean up affected subsurface soils, groundwater, or surface water.
(21) "Site rehabilitation contractor" means any person who carries out site rehabilitation actions, including persons retained or hired by these persons to provide services related to site rehabilitation.
(22) "Substantial compliance" means that an underground storage tank owner or operator has demonstrated a good faith effort to comply with regulations necessary and essential in preventing releases, in facilitating their early detection, and in mitigating their impact on public health and the environment.
(23) "Third party claim" means a civil action brought or asserted by an injured party against an owner or operator of an underground storage tank for bodily injury or property damages resulting from a release of petroleum or petroleum products from an underground storage tank. The underground storage tank owner or operator, the owner of the property where the underground storage tank is located, a person to whom properties are transferred in anticipation of damage due to a release, employees or agents of an owner or operator, or employees or agents of the property owner must not be considered a third party.
(24) "Underground storage tank" means any one or combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected to it, which is used to contain an accumulation of regulated substance, and the volume of which is ten percent or more beneath the surface of the ground. The term does not include any:
(a) farm or residential tank of one thousand one hundred gallons or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;
(b) tank used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;
(c) septic tank;
(d) pipeline facility, including gathering line, regulated under the Federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 or the Federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979, or any pipeline facility regulated under state laws comparable to the provisions of these federal provisions of law;
(e) surface impoundment, pit, pond or lagoon;
(f) storm water or wastewater collection system;
(g) flow-through process tank;
(h) liquid trap or associated gathering lines directly related to oil or gas production and gathering operations;
(i) storage tank situated in an underground area, such as a basement, cellar, mineworking, drift, shaft, or tunnel, if the petroleum storage tank is situated upon or above the surface of the floor;
(j) hydraulic lift reservoirs, such as for automobile hoists and elevators, containing hydraulic oil; or
(k) any pipes connected to any tank which is described in subitems (a) through (j).
HISTORY: 1988 Act No. 486, Section 2; 1992 Act No. 501, Part II Section 43A; 1993 Act No. 164, Part II, Section 36A; 1994 Act No. 497, Part II, Section 80C; 1995 Act No. 145, Part II, Section 2A; 1995 Act No. 146, Section 8A.