49-1001 - Definitions

49-1001. Definitions

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Being used" means not having been taken out of operation.

2. "Closure" means the removal of an underground storage tank from operation.

3. "Corrective actions" means those actions that are prescribed pursuant to section 49-1005.

4. "Designated representative" means a person to whom an owner or an operator, or both, assign in writing any right, title or interest that the owner or operator, or both, may have in and to the proceeds of a reimbursement for a corrective action made under article 3 of this chapter.

5. "Energy policy act" means the underground storage tank compliance act, title XV, subtitle B of the energy policy act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58; 119 Stat. 1092), as amended.

6. "Fiduciary" means:

(a) A trust company or bank certified or authorized to engage in the trust business pursuant to title 6, chapter 8, article 1.

(b) Any person appointed by a court or testamentary act to act as personal representative, executor, trustee, administrator, guardian, conservator, receiver or trustee in bankruptcy.

(d) Any person acting as a trustee pursuant to title 14, chapter 7.

(e) Any person acting pursuant to and subject to fiduciary obligations under the employee retirement income security act of 1974 (29 United States Code sections 1101 through 1114).

7. "Guarantor" means a person, other than an owner or operator, who provides evidence of financial responsibility for an owner or operator pursuant to this chapter.

8. "Motor fuel" means petroleum or a petroleum based substance that is motor gasoline, aviation gasoline, number 1 or number 2 diesel fuel or any grade of oxygenated gasoline typically used in the operation of a motor engine.

9. "New piping component" means any underground pipe or combination of pipes that contains and conveys a regulated substance between a tank and a motor fuel dispenser, including any valve, elbow, connector or joint that is added to an underground storage tank on or after January 1, 2009 and that was not originally included or installed as part of the underground storage tank.

10. "Occurrence" means an incident or accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in a release from an underground storage tank.

11. "Operator" means a person in control of, or having responsibility for, the day-to-day operation of an underground storage tank.

12. "Out of operation" means having been closed in accordance with all applicable fire codes and other statutory and regulatory requirements for closure in effect on the date that closure was accomplished.

13. "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation, joint venture, partnership, association, consortium, state, municipality, interstate body, commission, political subdivision of a state and the United States government.

14. "Petroleum" means petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction of crude oil, which is liquid at sixty degrees Fahrenheit and 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute, 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, residual fuel oils, lubricants, jet fuels, distillate fuel oils, petroleum solvents and used oils.

15. "Political subdivision" means a county, city, town or other taxing district other than the state that is authorized to take property by eminent domain.

16. "Regulated substance" means:

(a) Petroleum.

(b) A substance specified in the comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act of 1980 (P.L. 96-510; 94 Stat. 2767; 42 United States Code section 9601(14)) but not including a substance regulated as a hazardous waste under the hazardous and solid waste amendments of 1984 (P.L. 98-616; 98 Stat. 3221).

17. "Release" means a spill, leak, emission, discharge, escape, leach or disposal of a regulated substance from an underground storage tank into groundwater, surface water or soils.

18. "Suspected release" means any of the following:

(a) The discovery by owners and operators or others of released regulated substances at the underground storage tank site or in the surrounding area.

(b) Erratic behavior of regulated substance dispensing equipment, the sudden loss of a regulated substance from an underground storage tank, an unexplained presence of water in the underground storage tank or other extraordinary operating conditions that could reasonably be associated with a release from an underground storage tank and that are observed by owners and operators, unless system equipment is found to be defective but not leaking and is repaired or replaced immediately.

(c) That the monitoring results from a release detection method required under 40 Code of Federal Regulations sections 280.41 and 280.42, this chapter or rules adopted pursuant to this chapter indicate that a release may have occurred unless either of the following occurs:

(i) The monitoring device is found to be defective and is immediately repaired, recalibrated or replaced and additional monitoring data do not confirm the initial result.

(ii) In the case of inventory control, a second month of inventory reconciliation data does not confirm the initial result.

19. "Tank" means a stationary device constructed of wood, concrete, steel, plastic or other nonearthen materials and used to contain regulated substances.

20. "Under-dispenser containment" means a secondary containment device that is beneath a motor fuel dispenser, that is connected to the underground storage tank and that is designed to be liquid tight.

21. "Underground storage tank" means a tank or combination of tanks and underground pipes and impact valves connected to tanks being used or having been used to contain regulated substances and which has at least ten percent of the total volume of the tank and underground portions of pipes connected to the tank underground. Underground storage tank does not mean any of the following:

(a) A farm or residential tank of one thousand one hundred gallons or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes.

(b) A tank used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored.

(d) A pipeline facility, including gathering lines, regulated under either:

(i) The natural gas pipeline safety act of 1968 (49 United States Code sections 1671 through 1686).

(ii) The hazardous liquid pipeline safety act of 1979 (49 United States Code section 2001).

(e) An intrastate pipeline facility regulated under a state law comparable to the provisions of law referred to in subdivision (d), item (i) or (ii) of this paragraph.

(f) A surface impoundment, pit, pond or lagoon.

(g) A storm water or wastewater collection system.

(h) A flow-through process tank.

(i) A liquid trap or associated gathering lines directly related to oil or gas production and gathering operations.

(j) A storage tank situated in an underground area, such as a basement, cellar, mine working, drift, shaft or tunnel, if the storage tank is situated on or above the surface of the floor.

(k) Pipes connected to any of the structures described in subdivisions (a) through (j) of this paragraph.

22. "Volunteer" means a property owner or a person other than an owner or operator that assumes responsibility for corrective actions for a release from an underground storage tank.