South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 61 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL › Subchapter 61-98 - STATE UNDERGROUND PETROLEUM ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE BANK (SUPERB) SITE REHABILITATION AND FUND ACCESS REGULATION › Section 61-98.I - Scope and Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
A. Scope.
			 This regulation, promulgated pursuant to the State Underground Petroleum
			 Environmental Response Bank Act (SUPERB), sets forth certain requirements for
			 site rehabilitation for releases from underground storage tanks (USTs) governed
			 under the SUPERB Act and Regulation Regulation
			 61-92; accessing the SUPERB
			 account; certification of site rehabilitation contractors and suspension and
			 decertification of site rehabilitation contractors by the Department of Health
			 and Environmental Control (the Department).
B. Definitions.
1. Active Remediation. Physical actions taken
			 to reduce the concentrations of chemicals of concern.
2. Affiliate. Persons are affiliates of each
			 other if, directly or indirectly, either one controls or has the power to
			 control the other, or a third person controls or has the power to control both.
			 Indicia of control include, but are not limited, to: interlocking management or
			 ownership, identity of interest among family members, shared facilities and
			 equipment, common use of employees, or a business entity organized following
			 the suspension or debarment of a person which has the same or similar
			 management, ownership or principal employees as the suspended, debarred, or
			 voluntarily excluded person.
3.
			 Attenuation. The reduction in concentrations of chemicals of concern in the
			 environment with distance and time due to processes that include, but are not
			 limited to, diffusion, dispersion, and absorption.
4. Carcinogen. Substances which have been
			 classified for human carcinogenic risk by the U.S. Environmental Protection
			 Agency.
5. Certification. An action
			 taken by the Department in accordance with this regulation to authorize a
			 contractor to perform site rehabilitation under the SUPERB Act.
6. Chemicals of Concern. Specific
			 constituents that are identified for evaluation in the risk assessment
			 process.
7. Civil Judgment. The
			 disposition of a civil action by any court of competent jurisdiction, whether
			 entered by verdict, decision, settlement, stipulation, or otherwise.
8. Corrective Action. A subset of site
			 rehabilitation activities conducted to protect human health, safety, and the
			 environment. These activities include recovery of free-product, evaluating
			 risks, evaluating and implementing intrinsic remediation, making no further
			 action decisions, implementing institutional controls, active remediation,
			 designing and operating cleanup systems and equipment, and monitoring of
			 progress.
9. Corrective Action
			 Plan. A document outlining proposed corrective actions.
10. Direct Exposure Pathway. An exposure
			 pathway where the point of exposure is at the source without a release to any
			 other medium (for example, inhalation of vapors or dermal contact with
			 free-product).
11. Engineering
			 Controls. Modifications to a site, such as capping or water treatment at the
			 point of use, to reduce or eliminate the potential for exposure to chemicals of
			 concern.
12. Engineering Report. A
			 document outlining the proposed technical equipment specifications of a
			 corrective action system.
13.
			 Exposure. Contact of a receptor(s) with chemicals of concern. Exposure is
			 quantified as the amount of the chemical of concern available at the exchange
			 boundaries, such as skin or lungs, and available for absorption by the human
			 body.
14. Exposure Assessment. The
			 determination or estimation, qualitative or quantitative, of the magnitude,
			 frequency, duration, and route of exposure.
15. Exposure Factor. An intake variable
			 value, either established by the Environmental Protection Agency or based on
			 site-specific data, used to estimate an exposure concentration.
16. Exposure Pathway. The course chemicals of
			 concern take from the source area(s) to an exposed organism. An exposure
			 pathway describes a unique mechanism by which a receptor(s) is exposed to
			 chemicals of concern. A complete exposure pathway includes a source or release
			 from a source, an exposure point, and an exposure route. If the exposure point
			 differs from the source, a transport/exposure media (e.g., ground water) is
			 included.
17. Exposure Point. The
			 point at which it is assumed that a receptor, either potential or actual, can
			 come into contact, either now or in the future, with the chemicals of concern.
			 Maximum contaminant levels or other existing water quality standards must be
			 met at the exposure point.
18.
			 Exposure Route. The manner in which chemicals of concern come in contact with
			 an organism (i.e., ingestion, inhalation, dermal contact).
19. Familial Relationship. A connection or
			 association by family or relatives, in which a family member or relative has a
			 material interest. Family or relatives include: father, mother, son, daughter,
			 brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife,
			 father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law,
			 sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother,
			 stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandparent, great grandparent,
			 grandchild, great grandchild, step grandparent, step great grandparent, step
			 grandchild, step great grandchild, or fiancee.
20. Financial Relationship. A connection or
			 association through a material interest of sources of income which exceed five
			 percent of annual gross income from a business entity.
21. Hazard Index. The sum of two or more
			 hazard quotients for multiple regulated substances and/or multiple exposure
			 pathways which impact the same target organ or act by the same method of
			 toxicity.
22. Hazard Quotient. The
			 ratio of a single substance exposure level over a specific time period to a
			 reference dose for that substance derived from a similar exposure
			 period.
23. Indirect Exposure
			 Pathways. An exposure pathway with at least one intermediate release to any
			 media between the source and the point of exposure (for example, leaching of
			 chemicals of concern from soils to ground water).
24. Institutional Controls. The restriction
			 on use of or access to a site to eliminate or minimize potential exposure to
			 chemicals of concern.
25. Intrinsic
			 Remediation. The verifiable reduction of concentrations of chemicals of concern
			 through naturally occurring microbial activity or attenuation
			 mechanisms.
26. Legal Proceedings.
			 Any criminal proceedings or any civil judicial proceedings to which the
			 Federal, State, or Local government or quasi-governmental authority is a party.
			 The term includes appeals from such proceedings.
27. Maximum Contaminant Level. A standard for
			 drinking water established by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the
			 Safe Drinking Water Act which is the maximum permissible level of chemicals of
			 concern in water which is used as a drinking water supply.
28. Non-Carcinogen. Substances shown either
			 through epidemiological studies or through laboratory studies to cause adverse
			 health effects other than cancer.
29. Notice. A written communication served in
			 person or sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or its equivalent,
			 to the last known address of a party, its identified counsel, its agent for
			 service of process, or any partner, officer, director, owner, or joint venturer
			 of the party. Notice, if undeliverable, shall be considered in effect five days
			 after being properly sent to the last address known by the
			 Department.
30. Person. An
			 individual, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity organized or united
			 for a business purpose, or a governmental agency.
31. Point(s) of Compliance. A location(s)
			 selected between the source area and the exposure point(s) where chemicals of
			 concern must be at or below the determined target levels in specific media
			 (e.g., soil, ground water, air).
32. Proposal. A plan, request, invitation to
			 consider or similar communication outlining cost, labor, or equipment estimates
			 by or on behalf of a person seeking to directly or indirectly participate or to
			 receive a benefit, directly or indirectly, from site rehabilitation.
33. Reasonably Anticipated Future Use. Future
			 land use which can be predicted given current use, local government planning,
			 and zoning.
34. Reasonable Maximum
			 Exposure. Combination of upper-bound and mid-range exposure factors to be used
			 in dose estimation equations to provide a result which represents an exposure
			 scenario that is both protective and reasonable; not the worst case.
35. Receptors. Persons, structures,
			 utilities, surface water, sensitive habitats, water supply wells, or other
			 living organisms that are, or may be, affected by a release.
36. Related Interest. Affiliated companies,
			 principal owners of the client company, or any other party with which the
			 client deals where one of the parties can influence the management or operation
			 policies of the other.
37. Release.
			 Means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching or
			 disposing from an underground storage tank into subsurface soils, ground water,
			 or surface water.
38. Risk. The
			 probability that a chemical of concern, when released into the environment,
			 will cause an adverse effect in exposed humans or other living
			 organisms.
39. Risk Assessment. An
			 analysis of the potential for adverse health effects caused by chemicals of
			 concern to determine the need for corrective action. Also used to develop
			 target levels where remedial action is required.
40. Risk Reduction. The lowering or
			 elimination of the level of risk posed to human health or the environment
			 through initial response action, corrective action, or institutional or
			 engineering controls.
41.
			 Risk-Based Screening Levels. Risk based, non site-specific, corrective action
			 target levels for chemicals of concern.
42. Sensitive Habitat. Fresh and salt water
			 fisheries, fish habitats including shellfish areas, coastal and inland
			 wetlands, and habitats of threatened or endangered species.
43. Site. Includes all land, regardless of
			 ownership considerations or property boundaries, which is directly affected by
			 the chemicals of concern.
44. Site
			 Classification. A qualitative evaluation of a site based on known or readily
			 available information.
45. Site
			 Conceptual Exposure Model. An analysis of the current and reasonably potential
			 future pathways based on reasonably anticipated receptors and current and
			 reasonably anticipated future use to identify complete exposure pathways. The
			 analysis should be documented in a flow chart or diagram, or other appropriate
			 format, to depict the complete exposure pathways. The site conceptual exposure
			 model should be updated as additional information is obtained for the
			 site.
46. Site Rehabilitation.
			 Cleanup actions taken in response to a release from a UST which includes, but
			 is not limited to, assessment, investigation, evaluation, planning, design,
			 engineering, construction, or other services put forth to investigate or
			 cleanup affected subsurface soils, ground water or surface water.
47. Site Rehabilitation Contractor. An
			 individual or corporation, other than the owner/operator, who performs site
			 rehabilitation under the SUPERB Act and this regulation.
48. Site-Specific Target Level. Risk-based
			 corrective action target levels for chemicals of concern developed for a
			 particular site under the Tier 2 and Tier 3 evaluations.
49. Source Area. Either the location of
			 free-phase hydrocarbons or the location of highest soil and ground-water
			 concentration of the chemicals of concern.
50. Tier 1 Evaluation. A risk-based analysis
			 where non-site-specific values based on conservative exposure factors (i.e.,
			 risk-based screening levels), potential exposure pathways, and land use are
			 evaluated to determine appropriate actions.
51. Tier 2 Evaluation. A risk-based analysis
			 applying the risk-based screening levels at the exposure point, development of
			 site-specific target levels for potential indirect exposure pathways based on
			 site-specific conditions, and establishment of points of compliance.
52. Tier 3 Evaluation. A risk-based analysis
			 to develop values for potential direct and indirect exposure pathways at the
			 exposure point based on site-specific conditions.
53. UST. Underground Storage Tank, as defined
			 in Regulation 61-92.280.12.
54.
			 Wellhead Protection Area. A Department approved area surrounding public water
			 supply wells that is designed to protect the wells from threats by: 1) direct
			 introduction of chemicals of concern in the immediate well area, 2) microbial
			 contaminant, and 3) chemicals of concern.