Fla. Stat. § 376.303 — Florida Code / Title XXVIII / Chapter 376 / Section 376.303
376.303 Powers and duties of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Status: in_force

(1) POWERS AND DUTIES. — The department has the power and the duty to: (a) Establish rules, including, but not limited to, construction standards, permitting or registration of tanks, maintenance and installation standards, and removal or disposal standards, to implement the intent of ss. 376.30-376.317 and to regulate underground and aboveground facilities and their onsite integral piping systems. Such rules may establish standards for underground facilities which store hazardous substances or pollutants, and marine fueling facilities and aboveground facilities, not covered by chapter 377, which store pollutants. The department shall register bulk product facilities and shall issue annual renewals of such registrations. Requirements for facilities with underground storage tanks having storage capacities over 110 gallons that store hazardous substances became effective on January 1, 1991. The department shall maintain a compliance verification program for this section, which may include investigations or inspections to locate improperly abandoned tanks. The department may contract with other governmental agencies or private consultants to perform compliance verification activities. The contracts may provide for an advance of working capital to local governments to expedite the implementation of the compliance verification program. Counties with permit or registration fees for storage tanks or storage tank systems are not eligible for advance funding for the compliance verification program. (b) Establish by rule a registration fee schedule for all storage systems regulated under this act sufficient to cover all costs associated with registration. 1. Revenues derived from fees imposed upon petroleum storage systems shall be deposited in the Inland Protection Trust Fund. All other revenues derived from such fees shall be deposited into the Water Quality Assurance Trust Fund. 2. The fee schedule shall provide as follows: a. For new facilities, an initial registration fee of $50 per tank is due and payable within 30 days after receipt of notification by the department. b. For facilities at which tanks are replaced, a tank replacement fee of $25 per tank is due and payable within 30 days after receipt of notification by the department. c. An annual renewal fee of $25 per tank is due and payable by July 1 of each year, except that stationary tanks of 110 gallons or less at nonresidential locations and agricultural tanks of 550 gallons or less shall not be assessed the fee. d. Any payment made more than 30 days after the date it is due is delinquent and the registrant must pay an additional fee of $20 for each tank with respect to which any payment is delinquent. e. Bulk product facilities shall be assessed a registration fee and an annual renewal fee not to exceed $1,000 per tank. 3. The department may also assess fees retroactively against late registrants for tanks for which a registration fee should have been paid beginning on or after July 1, 1986. Annual registration fees for all regulated tanks shall continue to accrue forward from the date of registration until tank removal or closure. Payment is due within 30 days of receipt of notification by the department. 4. The department shall notify each registrant of the annual fee requirement no later than June 1 of each year. Fees are due and payable by July 1. For each regulated facility registered with the department under this section, a registration placard shall be issued to the tank’s owner listing the number of tanks registered and the amount of registration fees paid, to be displayed in plain view at the office, kiosk, or other suitable location at the facility where the tanks are located. (c) Establish a registration program for aboveground hazardous substance tanks and compression vessels. 1. Owners or operators shall register their tanks and vessels with the department by December 31, 1992, pay initial registration fees by July 1, 1993, and pay annual renewal registration fees by July 1, 1994, in accordance with the requirements of this subsection. Flow-through process tanks, liquefied petroleum gas tanks, hydraulic lift tanks, electrical equipment tanks, storage tanks containing sodium hypochlorite, storage tanks containing hazardous wastes as defined under Subtitle C of the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act, stormwater tanks, wastewater collection or discharge systems, or storage tanks located entirely within a building or portion of a building with an impervious floor that contains no valves or drains that would allow a discharge from the system are not required to register. Pollutant tanks required to be registered under paragraph (b) or s. 376.323 shall not be required to be registered under this paragraph. The department shall, whenever possible, accept electronically transmitted registration data. 2. Registration fees. — a. Owners of tanks or vessels shall submit to the department an initial registration fee of $50 per tank or vessel. The fee shall be paid within 30 days after receipt of billing by the department. b. Owners of tanks or vessels shall submit an annual renewal registration fee of $25 per tank or vessel within 30 days after receipt of billing from the department. c. Total annual registration fees for initial fees or renewals shall not exceed $2,500 per facility. d. Revenues derived from such fees shall be deposited into the Water Quality Assurance Trust Fund. (d) Establish a registration program for drycleaning facilities and wholesale supply facilities. 1. Owners or operators of drycleaning facilities and wholesale supply facilities and real property owners shall jointly register each facility owned and in operation with the department by June 30, 1995, pay initial registration fees by December 31, 1995, and pay annual renewal registration fees by December 31, 1996, and each year thereafter, in accordance with this subsection. If the registration form cannot be jointly submitted, then the applicant shall provide notice of the registration to other interested parties. The department shall establish reasonable requirements for the registration of such facilities. The department shall use reasonable efforts to identify and notify drycleaning facilities and wholesale supply facilities of the registration requirements by certified mail, return receipt requested. The department shall provide to the Department of Revenue a copy of each applicant’s registration materials, within 30 working days of the receipt of the materials. This copy may be in such electronic format as the two agencies mutually designate. 2.a. The department shall issue an invoice for annual registration fees to each registered drycleaning facility or wholesale supply facility by December 31 of each year. Owners of drycleaning facilities and wholesale supply facilities shall submit to the department an initial fee of $100 and an annual renewal registration fee of $100 for each drycleaning facility or wholesale supply facility owned and in operation. The fee shall be paid within 30 days after receipt of billing by the department. Facilities that fail to pay their renewal fee within 30 days after receipt of billing are subject to a late fee of $75. b. Revenues derived from registration, renewal, and late fees shall be deposited into the Water Quality Assurance Trust Fund to be used as provided in s. 376.3078. 3. A registered drycleaning facility shall display in the vicinity of its drycleaning machines the original or a copy of a valid and current certificate evidencing registration with the department pursuant to this paragraph. A person may not sell or transfer any drycleaning solvents to an owner or operator of a drycleaning facility unless the owner or operator of the drycleaning facility displays the certificate issued by the department. Violators of this subparagraph are subject to the remedies available to the department pursuant to s. 376.302. (e) Provide for the development and implementation of criteria and plans to prevent and meet occurrences of pollution of various kinds and degrees. (f) Establish a requirement that any facility or terminal facility covered by this act be subject to complete and thorough inspections at reasonable times. Any facility or terminal facility which has discharged a pollutant in violation of the provisions of ss. 376.30-376.317 shall be fully and carefully monitored by the department to ensure that such discharge does not continue to occur. (g) Require terminal facilities to have discharge prevention and response certificates pursuant to s. 376.065. (h) Establish discharge prevention and response requirements for bulk product facilities in addition to the requirements in s. 376.065. (i) Keep an accurate record of the costs and expenses incurred for the removal of prohibited discharges and, except as otherwise provided by law, thereafter diligently pursue the recovery of any sums so incurred from the person responsible or from the United States Government under any applicable federal act, unless the department finds the amount involved too small or the likelihood of recovery too uncertain. (j) Bring an action on behalf of the state to enforce the liabilities imposed by ss. 376.30-376.317. The provisions of ss. 403.121, 403.131, 403.141, and 403.161 apply to enforcement under ss. 376.30-376.317.

(2) GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT OF POWERS AND DUTIES. — The powers and duties of the department under ss. 376.30-376.317 shall extend to the boundaries of the state described in s. 1, Art. II of the State Constitution.

(3) INSPECTION OF POLLUTANT STORAGE TANKS. — (a) The department may inspect the installation of any pollutant storage tank. Any person installing a pollutant storage tank, as defined in s. 489.105(17), shall certify that such installation is in accordance with the standards adopted pursuant to this section. The department shall promulgate a form for such certification which shall at a minimum include: 1. A signed statement by the certified pollutant storage systems contractor, as defined in s. 489.105(3)(p), that such installation is in accordance with standards adopted pursuant to this section; and 2. Signed statements by the onsite persons performing or supervising the installation of a pollutant storage tank, which statements shall be required of tasks that are necessary for the proper installation of such tank. (b)1. The department shall, to the greatest extent possible, contract with local governments to provide for the administration of its responsibilities under this subsection. Such contracts may allow for administration outside the jurisdictional boundaries of a local government. However, no such contract shall be entered into unless the local government is deemed capable of carrying out such responsibilities to the satisfaction of the department. 2. To this end, the department shall inform local governments as to the provisions of this section and as to their options hereunder. At its option, any local government may apply to the department for such purpose on forms to be provided by the department and shall supply such information as the department may require. (c) The department may enjoin the installation or use of any pollutant storage tank that has been or is being installed in violation of this section or chapter 489. (d) No new or replaced tanks at bulk product facilities may be put into service or filled with pollutants until the facility has been inspected by the department and determined to be in compliance with department rules adopted pursuant to this chapter.

(4) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE SITE ACCESS. — The department may require a property owner to provide site access for activities associated with contamination assessment or remedial action. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit an action by the property owner to compel restoration of his or her property or to recover damages from the person responsible for the polluting condition requiring assessment or remedial action activities.

(5) REGISTRY. — The department shall prepare and maintain a registry of all contaminated sites located in a brownfield area designated pursuant to s. 376.80, which are subject to institutional and engineering controls, in order to provide a mechanism for the public and local governments to monitor the status of these controls, monitor the department’s short-term and long-term protection of human health and the environment in relation to these sites, and evaluate economic revitalization efforts in these areas. At a minimum, the registry must include the type of institutional or engineering controls employed at a particular site, types of contaminants and affected media, land use limitations, and the county in which the site is located. Sites listed on the registry at which the department has subsequently issued a site rehabilitation completion order without institutional controls must be removed from the registry. The department shall make the registry available to the public and local governments within 1 year after the effective date of this act. The department shall provide local governments with actual notice when the registry becomes available. Local zoning and planning offices shall post information on how to access the registry in public view.

History: s. 84, ch. 83-310; s. 9, ch. 84-338; s. 12, ch. 86-159; s. 2, ch. 87-374; s. 17, ch. 88-156; s. 1, ch. 88-331; s. 6, ch. 89-143; s. 3, ch. 89-188; s. 23, ch. 90-54; s. 5, ch. 92-30; s. 27, ch. 93-166; s. 5, ch. 94-355; s. 298, ch. 94-356; s. 1015, ch. 95-148; s. 2, ch. 95-239; s. 16, ch. 96-263; s. 3, ch. 96-277; s. 47, ch. 96-321; s. 9, ch. 98-189; s. 6, ch. 2000-211; s. 8, ch. 2000-317; s. 59, ch. 2007-5; s. 14, ch. 2008-150; s. 41, ch. 2018-110; s. 1, ch. 2025-116.