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Hazardous Substance Discharge and Removal
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For purposes of sections 6.345 to 6.380, the following words and phrases mean.

City Manager. City Manager or designee.

Environment. Waters in the city, surface and underground drinking water supply, land surface, subsurface strata and ambient air.

Facility. Any site or area where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise come to be located and where a release has occurred or where there is a threat of a release, but does not include any consumer product in consumer use or any vessel.

Hazardous Substance. Any hazardous waste as defined in ORS 466.005; any substance defined as a hazardous substance pursuant to Section 101(14) of the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, P.L. 96-510, as amended, and P.L. 99-499; oil, including gasoline, crude oil, fuel oil, diesel oil, lubricating oil, oil sludge or refuse of any other petroleum-related product or waste or fraction thereof that is liquid at a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute.

Owner or operator. Any person who owned, leased, operated, controlled or exercised significant control over the operation of a facility. “Owner or operator” does not include a person, who, without participating in the management of a facility, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect a security interest in the facility.

Person. An individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, joint venture, consortium, commercial entity, partnership, association, corporation, commission, state and any agency thereof, political subdivision of the state, interstate body or the Federal Government including any agency thereof.

Release. Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping or disposing into the environment including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, underground storage tanks and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous substance, or threat thereof, but excludes:

(a) Any release which results in exposure to a person solely within a work place, with respect to a claim that the person may assert against the person’s employer under ORS chapter 656;

(b) Emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling stock, aircraft, vessel or pipeline pumping station engine;

(c) Any release of source, by-product or special nuclear material from a nuclear incident, as these terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, if such release is subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under section 170 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or, for the purposes of any removal or remedial action, any release of source by-product or special nuclear material from any processing site designated under section 102(a)(1) or 302(a) of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978;

(d) A discharge in accordance with federal, state or local governing regulations or permits of the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority, with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit, with waste discharge requirements established by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), or with the sewer pretreatment requirements of the Industrial Monitoring Section of the city’s Public Works Department’s Wastewater Division;

(e) The normal application of fertilizer

(f) Application of pesticides as defined by ORS Chapter 634, when such application is made within the provision of applicable state and federal regulations;

(g) Application of agricultural lime, gypsum and other agricultural/horticultural soil amendments when made for that purpose and according to current industry practice;

(h) Application of water based paint, when used as athletic field marking; and

(i) Any release from a residential heating oil tank serving an owner-occupied single family dwelling.

Removal. The cleanup or removal of a released hazardous substance from the environment, such actions as may be necessary in the event of the threat of release of a hazardous substance into the environment, such actions as may be necessary to monitor, assess and evaluate the release or threat of release of a hazardous substance, the disposal of removed material, or the taking of such other actions as may be necessary to prevent, minimize or mitigate damage to the public health, safety or welfare which may otherwise result from a release or threat of release. “Removal” also includes but is not limited to security fencing or other measures to limit access, provision of alternative drinking and household water supplies, temporary evacuation and housing of threatened individuals and action taken under ORS 465.260.

Removal action costs. Reasonable costs which are attributable to or associated with a removal action at a facility, including but not limited to the costs of administration, investigation, legal or enforcement activities, contracts and health studies.

Responsible Party. The current owner or operator; any owner or operator at or during the time of the acts or omissions that resulted in the release; any owner or operator who became the owner or operator after the time of the acts or omissions that resulted in the release, and who knew or reasonably should have known of the release when the person first became the owner or operator; any owner or operator who obtained actual knowledge of the release at the facility during the time the person was the owner or operator of the facility and then subsequently transferred ownership or operation of the facility to another person without disclosing such knowledge; any person who unlawfully hinders or delays entry to, investigation of or removal action at a facility; and any person who, by any acts or omissions, caused, contributed to, or exacerbated the release, unless the acts or omissions were in material compliance with applicable laws, standards, regulations, licenses or permits.

Underground storage tank. Any one or combination of tanks and underground pipes connected to the tank, used to contain an accumulation of a regulated substance, and the volume of which, including the volume of the underground pipes connected to the tank, is ten percent or more beneath the surface of the ground.

Waters. Includes lakes, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, canals, and all other bodies of surface or underground waters, natural or artificial, public or private, which are wholly or partially within the city or within its jurisdiction.

(Section 6.340 added by Ordinance No. 19862, enacted June 22, 1992, effective July 22, 1992; and amended by Ordinance No. 20301, enacted November 10, 2003, effective December 10, 2003.)