New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 19 - OTHER AGENCIES › NEW JERSEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY › Chapter 31J - PETROLEUM UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK REMEDIATION, UPGRADE AND CLOSURE FUND › Subchapter 1 - PETROLEUM UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK REMEDIATION, UPGRADE AND CLOSURE FUND › Section 19:31J-1.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
					 subchapter, shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly
					 indicates otherwise:
"Act" means
					 P.L.
					 1997, c. 235
					 (N.J.S.A.
					 58:10A-37.1 et seq.).
"Applicant" means a corporation, partnership, limited
					 liability corporation, individual, society, association, consortium, joint
					 venture, commercial entity, county, municipality, or public school district
					 which has been determined by the Department to be eligible for financial
					 assistance or a grant.
"Authority" means the New Jersey Economic Development
					 Authority.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental
					 Protection.
"Discharge" means the intentional or unintentional release
					 by any means of petroleum from a petroleum underground storage tank into the
					 environment.
"Eligible owner or operator" means:
1. Any owner or operator, other than the owner or operator
					 of a petroleum underground storage tank storing heating oil for onsite
					 consumption in a residential building, who owns or operates less than 10
					 petroleum underground storage tanks in New Jersey, who has a net worth of less
					 than $ 3,000,000 and who demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Authority, the
					 inability to qualify for and obtain a commercial loan for all or part of the
					 eligible project costs ("Category 1");
2. The owner or operator of a petroleum underground storage
					 tank storing heating oil for onsite consumption in a residential building
					 located in New Jersey ("Category 2");
3. A public entity who owns or operates a petroleum
					 underground storage tank in New Jersey;
4. An independent institution of higher education that owns
					 or operates a petroleum underground storage tank ("Category 4");
5. A nonprofit organization, corporation, or association
					 located in New Jersey with not more than 100 paid employees, that is qualified
					 for exemption from Federal taxation pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the
					 Federal Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3), who demonstrates to
					 the satisfaction of the Authority the inability to qualify for and obtain a
					 commercial loan for all or part of the eligible project costs ("Category 5");
					 or
6. A duly incorporated volunteer fire, ambulance, first
					 aid, emergency, or rescue company or squad located in New Jersey ("Category
					 6").
"Eligible project" means a project determined by the
					 Department to be eligible to apply to the Authority to receive financial
					 assistance.
"Eligible project costs" means the reasonable costs for
					 equipment, work or services required to effectuate a remediation, an upgrade or
					 a closure which equipment, work or services are eligible for payment from the
					 Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Remediation, Upgrade and Closure
					 Fund.
"Estate applicant" means an eligible owner or operator that
					 applies through an executor or administrator with the authority to incur debt
					 on behalf of the estate. The administration of the estate must not yet be
					 settled.
"Facility" means one or more operational or nonoperational
					 petroleum underground storage tanks under single ownership at a common
					 site.
"Financial assistance" means a grant or loan or a
					 combination of both.
"Fund" means the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank
					 Remediation, Upgrade and Closure Fund.
"Independent institution of higher education" means those
					 institutions of higher education incorporated and located in the State, which,
					 by virtue of law or character or license, are nonprofit educational
					 institutions empowered to grant academic degrees and which provide a level of
					 education which is equivalent to the education provided by the State's public
					 institutions of higher education as attested by the receipt of and continuation
					 of regional accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and
					 Schools, and which are eligible to receive State aid under the provisions of
					 the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New
					 Jersey. "Independent institution of higher education" does not include any
					 educational institution dedicated primarily to the preparation or training of
					 ministers, priests, rabbis, or other professional persons in the field of
					 religion.
"Non-residential building" means any building that is not a
					 residential building.
"Operator" means any person in control of, or having
					 responsibility for, the daily operation of a facility at the time that the
					 application for financial assistance is submitted. The term "operator" also
					 includes a person who, prior to the time that the application for financial
					 assistance is submitted, sold a facility for which the person had daily
					 operational control or responsibility for its daily operation, and who, in
					 order to meet the person's obligation under State or Federal law to remediate
					 contamination caused by the discharge of hazardous substances from the
					 facility, contracts with the buyer to conduct the remediation of the
					 contamination subsequent to the closing of the sale of the facility.
"Owner" means any person who owns a facility.
"Paid employees" means:
1. All persons in an employment position in New Jersey
					 certified by the applicant as permanent, which position provides for employment
					 for compensation for at least 35 hours per week where the wages for such
					 position are subject to withholding as provided in the New Jersey Gross Income
					 Tax Act, N.J.S.A. 54A:1-1 et seq.;
					 or
2. Persons holding such other employment arrangement
					 approved in writing by the Authority. Paid employees shall not include
					 temporary or seasonal employees or those employed by a vendor, independent
					 contractor, consultant, agent or other entity doing business with the applicant
					 unless approved in writing by the Authority.
"Pension" means a sum of money, usually funded fully or in
					 large part by an employer, or in the case of the self-employed, by the pension
					 recipient, set aside for the recipient as a retirement benefit. This includes,
					 but is not limited to, all plans as defined by 26 U.S.C. § 401.
"Petroleum underground storage tank" means a tank of any
					 size, including appurtenant pipes, lines, fixtures, and other related equipment
					 that normally and primarily stored petroleum, the volume of which, including
					 the volume of the appurtenant pipes, lines, fixtures and other related
					 equipment, is 10 percent or more below the ground.
"Primary residence" means a homestead actually and
					 continually occupied by an applicant as the applicant's permanent residence, as
					 distinguished from a vacation home, property owned and rented or offered for
					 rent by the applicant, and other secondary real property holdings. For an
					 estate applicant, the primary residence shall be determined based on the facts
					 as of the time of the decedent's death. An applicant can have only oneprimary
					 residence for purposes of this subchapter.
"Public entity" means any county, municipality, or public
					 school district, but shall not include any authority created by those
					 entities.
"Regulated tank" means a petroleum underground storage tank
					 that is required to be upgraded pursuant
					 N.J.S.A.
					 58:10A-21 et seq. or 42 U.S.C. §§
					 6991 et seq.
"Remediation" means all necessary actions to investigate
					 and clean up any known, suspected, or threatened discharge of petroleum,
					 including, as necessary, the preliminary assessment, site investigation,
					 remedial investigation, and remedial action, as those terms are defined in
					 N.J.S.A.
					 58:10B-1.
"Residential building" means a dwelling and not ancillary
					 structures.
"State" means State of New Jersey.
"Unregulated tank" means a petroleum underground storage
					 tank that is not required to be upgraded pursuant to
					 N.J.S.A.
					 58:10A-21 et seq. or 42 U.S.C. §§
					 6991 et seq.
"Upgrade" means the replacement of a regulated tank, the
					 installation of secondary containment, monitoring systems, release detection
					 systems, corrosion protection, spill prevention, or overfill prevention
					 thereof, or any other necessary improvement to the regulated tank in order to
					 meet the standards for regulated tanks adopted pursuant to section 5 of P.L.
					 1986, c.102 (N.J.S.A. 58:10A-25) and 42 U.S.C.
					 §§ 6991 et seq.