2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 75. Environmental Protection › Chapter 11. Underground Storage Tanks › Part 4. Montana Petroleum Brownfields Revitalization Act › 75-11-403. Definitions -- application

75-11-403. Definitions -- application.
(1) The definitions used in this part are for the purpose of determining the eligibility of petroleum release sites to receive and expend federal brownfields funding received by a grant recipient from the United States environmental protection agency under the federal Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001, Title II of Public Law 107-118.
(2) As used in this part, the following definitions apply:
(a) "Department" means the department of environmental quality provided for in 2-15-3501.
(b) "Grant recipient" means a city, town, county, consolidated city-county, tribal government, economic development organization, nonprofit organization, or state agency that has received federal brownfields money from the environmental protection agency.
(c) "Person" means an individual, firm, trust, estate, partnership, company, association, joint-stock company, syndicate, consortium, commercial entity, corporation, state government agency, or local government.
(d) "Petroleum brownfields sites" means real property where the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse is or may be complicated by the presence or perceived presence of petroleum contamination.
(e) "Petroleum tank release site" means a site where there has been a release from a petroleum storage tank and assessment, remediation, or both are being pursued in accordance with Title 75, chapter 11, part 3.
(f) "Potentially liable person" means a grant recipient who:
(i) dispensed or disposed of, or owned the site when others dispensed or disposed of, petroleum or petroleum product at the site;
(ii) exacerbated existing petroleum contamination at the site; or
(iii) failed to take reasonable steps with regard to petroleum contamination at the site.
(g) "Reasonable steps" means, as appropriate, stopping continuing releases, preventing threatened future releases, or preventing or limiting human, environmental, or natural resource exposure to earlier petroleum or petroleum product releases. The term may include limiting access to the property, monitoring known contaminants, and complying with state, local, or both state and local requirements.
(h) "Responsible party" means:
(i) a person who is responsible for conducting the assessment, investigation, and cleanup at a petroleum tank release site as determined through:
(A) a judgment rendered in a court of law or an administrative order;
(B) an enforcement action by federal authorities or the department; or
(C) a citizen suit, contribution action, or other third-party claim brought against the current owner of the petroleum tank release site; or
(ii) a current owner of a petroleum tank release site who:
(A) dispensed or disposed of petroleum or petroleum product contamination at the site;
(B) exacerbated existing petroleum contamination at the site;
(C) owned the site when any dispensing or disposal of petroleum by others took place; or
(D) failed to take reasonable steps with regard to petroleum contamination at the site.
(i) "Viable responsible party" means a responsible party who is determined by the department in accordance with 75-11-407 to have the financial capability to conduct the assessment, investigation, or cleanup activities at a petroleum tank release site.
History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 296, L. 2015; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 57, L. 2023.