New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 1J - PROCESSING OF DAMAGE CLAIMS PURSUANT TO THE SPILL COMPENSATION AND CONTROL ACT › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 7:1J-1.4 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings:
"Act" means the Spill Compensation and Control Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.1 1 et seq.
"Administrator" means the chief executive of the Fund.
"Affected area" means, with respect to a water supply system claim, the area within or outside the Spill Fund Claims Area for which the Department has determined, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water regulations set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:10, that the existing source of potable water is unsuitable for human consumption due to a discharge.
"Applicable contaminant standard" means the remediation standard developed pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:26D or 58:10B-12, for any particular hazardous substance.
"Board" means a Board of Arbitration convened by the administrator pursuant to 7:1J-9.1.
"Claim" means a claim for damages filed with the Department for recovery from the Fund. The claim includes all documents submitted under this chapter in support of the claim, including without limitation any amendments thereto under 7:1J-6.4.
"Claimant" means the person filing a claim.
"Cleanup and removal costs" means all costs associated with a discharge, incurred by the State, or its political subdivisions, or their agents, or any person with written approval from the Department, in: the removal or attempted removal of a hazardous substance; or the taking of reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate damage to the public health, safety, or welfare, including, but not limited to, public and private property, shorelines, beaches, surface waters, water columns and bottom sediments, soils and other affected property, including wildlife and other natural resources, and shall include costs incurred by the Department for the indemnification and legal defense of contractors pursuant to the Act, subject to the appropriation by law of moneys from the General Fund to the Fund to defray these costs.
"Covenant not to sue" means a covenant pursuant to 58:10B-13.1 or 13.2.
"Damages" means all cleanup and removal costs and all direct and indirect damages actually incurred, no matter by whom sustained, arising in connection with a discharge of a hazardous substance, or in connection with a threatened discharge, which costs and damages include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. The cost of restoring, repairing or replacing any real or personal property damaged or destroyed by a discharge, any income lost from the time such property is damaged to the time such property is restored, repaired or replaced, and any reduction in value of such property caused by such discharge in comparison with its value absent the discharge;
2. The cost of restoration and replacement, where possible, of any natural resource damaged or destroyed by a discharge;
3. Loss of income or impairment of earning capacity due to damage to real or personal property, including natural resources destroyed or damaged by a discharge, provided that such loss or impairment exceeds 10 percent of the amount which the claimant derives, based upon income or business records, exclusive of other sources of income, from activities related to the particular real or personal property or natural resources damaged or destroyed by such discharge during the week, month or year for which the claim is filed;
4. Loss of tax revenue by a state or local government for a period not to exceed one year, due to damage to real or personal property proximately resulting from a discharge (which one-year period, in the case of lost real property tax revenue, commences on the effective date of the first reduction in the assessed value of real property for damage proximately resulting from the discharge);
5. Interest on loans obtained or other obligations incurred by a claimant for the purpose of ameliorating the adverse effects of a discharge pending the payment or settlement of a claim;
6. Such sums as may be necessary to reimburse a local unit for costs incurred in an emergency response action taken to prevent, contain, mitigate, cleanup or remove a discharge or threatened discharge of a hazardous substance; and
7. Costs for legal services necessary for remediating contamination, including attorney's fees for contracting or obtaining permits, drawing of ordinances, acquisition of land and rights of way, drawing and administering construction contracts, and for legal work connected with necessary financing for the construction by a municipal utility authority of a new water system. Damages do not include costs normally associated with the listing, sale and transfer of property which is the subject of a claim.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
"Discharge" means any intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping of a hazardous substance into the waters or onto the lands of the State, or into waters outside the jurisdiction of the State when damage may result to the lands, waters or natural resources within the jurisdiction of the State.
"Discovery" means the time at which the claimant discovers, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence and intelligence should have discovered, that he or she has incurred damages.
"Emergency response action" means those activities conducted by a local unit to clean up, remove, prevent, contain or mitigate a discharge that poses an immediate threat to the environment or to the public health, safety or welfare.
"Emergency response claim" means a claim by a local unit for reimbursement of costs incurred in an emergency response action.
"Engineering controls" means any physical mechanism defined as such pursuant to the Technical Requirements for Site Remediation, N.J.A.C. 7:26E.
"Final remediation document" means a document defined as such pursuant to the Administrative Requirements for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites rules, 7:26C-1.3.
"Fund" means the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund established pursuant to the Act.
"Government entity" means a governing body, department, agency, authority or any other unit of any Federal, State, county or local government or governments, including without limitation a municipal utilities authority.
"GPD" means gallons per day.
"GPM" means gallons per minute.
"Ground water" means the portion of water beneath the land surface that is within the zone of saturation (below the water table) where the pore spaces are filled with water.
"Hazardous substance" means any substance defined as such under the Discharges of Petroleum and Other Hazardous Substances regulations, 7:1E-1.7.
"Institutional controls" means a mechanism defined as such pursuant to the Technical Requirements for Site Remediation, N.J.A.C. 7:26E.
"Local unit" means any county or municipality, or any agency or other instrumentality thereof, or a duly incorporated volunteer fire, ambulance, first aid, emergency, or rescue company or squad.
"Most probable ground water flow direction" means the most probable direction of ground water flow within the Spill Fund Claims Area, as determined by the Department.
"Most probable pollutant transport rate" means the most probable rate at which each hazardous substance present in ground water in a concentration exceeding the applicable contaminant standard will be transported within the ground water flow regime, as calculated by the Department pursuant to 7:1J-3.8(c).
"Natural resources" means all land, fish, shellfish, wildlife, biota, air, waters and other such resources owned, managed, held in trust or otherwise controlled by the State.
"Notice of Intent to Deny," or "NOI," means a notice issued by the administrator to a claimant pursuant to 7:1J-6.6, notifying the claimant that the claimant's claim lacks sufficient information to support a determination that the claim is eligible for compensation from the Fund.
"Person" means any public or private corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships, joint stock companies, individuals, the United States, the State of New Jersey and any of its political subdivisions or agents.
"Point-of-entry water treatment system" or "POET" means a water treatment system used to remove contaminants from the water entering a structure from a potable well.
"Potable water" means drinking water, water for other personal uses, and water for purposes requiring a supply of water which the Department determines is suitable for human consumption pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water regulations set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:10. "Potable water" does not include water for use in firefighting, for agricultural purposes, or for other non-potable purposes.
"Potentially responsible party" means any person who may have discharged a hazardous substance from which a claim arises, or may be responsible in any way for any hazardous substance from which a claim arises, including, without limitation, any of the following:
1. Any person whose act or omission results or has resulted in a discharge;
2. Each owner or operator of any land, facility, vehicle or vessel from which a discharge has occurred;
3. Any person who owns or controls any hazardous substance which is discharged;
4. Any person who has directly or indirectly caused a discharge;
5. Any person who has allowed a discharge to occur; or
6. Any person who brokers, generates or transports the hazardous substance discharged.
"Pre-Act discharge" means a discharge of a hazardous substance which occurred before April 1, 1977.
"Private water purveyor" means a water purveyor which is not a government entity. The term "private water purveyor" does not include a municipal utilities or county utilities authority organized pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:14B.
"Spill Fund Claims Area," or "SFCA," means the geographic area delineated by the Department pursuant to 7:1J-3.6.
"Subject property" means property which is the subject of a claim.
"Threatened discharge" means any of the following circumstances with respect to a hazardous substance:
1. A hazardous substance which has not been discharged from a grounded or disabled vessel, if the Department determines that such removal is necessary to prevent an imminent discharge of such hazardous substance; or
2. A hazardous substance which has not been discharged, if the Department determines that such substance is not satisfactorily stored or contained and said substance possesses any one or more of the following characteristics:
i. Explosiveness;
ii. High flammability;
iii. Radioactivity;
iv. Chemical properties which in combination with any discharged hazardous substance at the same storage facility would create a substantial risk of imminent damage to public health or safety or imminent and severe damage to the environment;
v. Is stored in a container from which its discharge is imminent as a result of contact with a hazardous substance which has already been discharged and such additional discharge would create a substantial risk of imminent damage to public health or safety or imminent and severe damage to the environment; or
vi. High toxicity and is stored or being transported in a container or motor vehicle, truck, railcar or other mechanized conveyance from which its discharge is imminent as a result of the significant deterioration or the precarious location of the container, motor vehicle, truck, railcar or other mechanized conveyance, and such discharge would create a substantial risk of imminent damage to public health or safety or imminent and severe damage to the environment.
"Useful storage capacity" means that portion of a water storage facility capable of meeting the distribution system pressure requirements contained in 7:10-11.7(c)  and 7:19-6.7.
"Water purveyor" means a person which owns, operates, manages or controls a water supply system, plant or equipment.
"Water Supply System Claim," or "WSSC," means a claim (whether asserted by a water purveyor or any other person) for compensation for construction and ancillary costs associated with providing an alternative supply of water required because of damage to an existing supply of water caused by a discharge of a hazardous substance. Ancillary costs shall not include the cost of operation, monitoring and maintenance.