Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 250 - Department of Environmental Management › Chapter 140 - Waste and Materials Management › Subchapter 25 - Oil and Underground Tanks › Part 2 - Oil Pollution Control Regulations (250-RICR-140-25-2) › Section 250-RICR-140-25-2.4 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. Whenever used in these Regulations, the
				  following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. "Abandonment" means the relinquishment or
				  termination of possession, ownership or control of a storage container by
				  vacating, or by disposition.
2.
				  "AST" or "aboveground storage tank" means any container used to store oil.
				  These containers are used for purposes including - but not limited to - the
				  storage of oil prior to use, during use, or prior to further distribution in
				  commerce. DEM regulates ASTs greater than five hundred (500) gallons in size,
				  and facilities with a combined storage capacity greater than five hundred (500)
				  gallons.
3. "Bilge waste" means the
				  waste from the lower part of a vessel's containment area or hold.
4. "Biological additives" means
				  microbiological cultures, enzymes, or nutrient additives that are deliberately
				  introduced into an oil discharge for the specific purpose of encouraging
				  biodegradation to mitigate the effects of the discharge.
5. "Boom" means a structural device or
				  devices used to contain and/or absorb oil or other pollutants that may be
				  placed into water.
6. "Burning
				  agents" means those additives that, through physical or chemical means, improve
				  the combustibility of the materials to which they are applied.
7. "C.F.R." means Code of Federal
				  Regulations.
8. "Chemical agents"
				  means those elements, compounds or mixtures that coagulate, disperse, dissolve,
				  emulsify, foam, neutralize, precipitate, reduce, solubilize, oxidize,
				  concentrate, congeal, entrap, fix, make the pollutant mass more rigid or
				  viscous, or otherwise facilitate the mitigation of deleterious effects or
				  removal of the pollutant from the water.
9. "Container" means any barrel, bottle,
				  drum, vessel, storage tank, or the like that holds any oil, chemical, or
				  product derived from petroleum distillate.
10. "DEM" means the Rhode Island Department
				  of Environmental Management.
11.
				  "Director" means the Director of the Department of Environmental Management or
				  any subordinate or subordinates to whom he/she has delegated the powers and
				  duties vested in him/her by law or Regulation.
12. "Discharge" means the addition of any
				  pollutant to the waters from any point source or placement where it is likely
				  to enter waters of the State.
13.
				  "Dispersants" means those chemical agents that emulsify, disperse or solubilize
				  oil into the water column, or promote the surface spreading of oil slicks to
				  facilitate dispersal of the oil into the water column.
14. "Facility" means any parcel of real
				  estate or a contiguous series or parcels of real estate together with any and
				  all structures, facility components, improvements, fixtures and other
				  apparatuses located herein which constitutes a distinct geographic or
				  commercial unit and at which petroleum products and/or oil are
				  stored.
15. "GAA" means
				  classification of groundwater suitable for public drinking water use without
				  treatment pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws §
											46-13.1-4 and any Rules and
				  Regulations promulgated thereunder. The GAA classification areas for the State
				  of Rhode Island can be found at
www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/prot/pdfs/gwclass.pdf
.
16. "GA" means classification of groundwater
				  suitable for public or private drinking water without treatment pursuant to
				  R.I. Gen. Laws §
											46-13.1-4 and any Rules and
				  Regulations promulgated thereunder.
17. "Groundwater" means all underground
				  waters of whatever nature.
18.
				  "NFPA code 30" means the National Fire Protection Association publication
				  number 30 entitled, "Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code."
19. "NFPA code 30A" means the National Fire
				  Protection Association publication number 30A entitled, "Code for Motor Fuel
				  Dispensing Facilities and Repair Garages."
20. "Oceangoing ship" or "seagoing vessel"
				  means a vessel that:
a. Is operated under the
				  authority of the United States and engages in international voyages;
				  or
b. Is operated under the
				  authority of the United States and is certified for ocean service; or
c. Is operated under the authority of the
				  United States and is certified for coastwise service beyond three (3) miles
				  from land; or
d. Is operated under
				  the authority of the United States and operates at any time seaward of the
				  outermost boundary of the territorial sea of the United States; or
e. Is operated under the authority of a
				  country other than the United States.
21. "Oil" means petroleum, gasoline, tar,
				  asphalt, or any product or mixture thereof, or any substance refined from
				  petroleum or crude oil.
22. "Oil
				  carrying vessel" means any floating craft or vessel equipped to carry bulk oil
				  as cargo, or equipped to carry more than five thousand (5,000) gallons of fuel
				  for its own use or which carries oil or chemical wastes.
23. "Oil spill cleanup debris" means waste
				  resulting from the cleanup of oil debris caused by spilling, depositing,
				  releasing or placing of oil onto the land or waters of the State and include
				  but not be limited to soil, absorbent material, or any other material
				  contaminated with oil.
24.
				  "Operator" means the person or persons in control of or having responsibility
				  for operating or maintaining any property which is subject to these
				  Regulations.
25. "Owner" means the
				  person who holds title to, or lawful possession of, real or personal property
				  which is subject to these Regulations.
26. "Person" means an individual, trust,
				  firm, joint stock company, corporation (including a quasi-government
				  corporation), partnership, association, syndicate, municipality, municipal or
				  State agency, fire district, club, nonprofit agency, or any subdivision,
				  commission, Department, bureau, agency or Department of State or Federal
				  government (including quasigovernment corporation), or any interstate or
				  international body.
27. "Point
				  source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but
				  not limited to any pipe, tank, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete
				  fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or
				  vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged.
				  This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture.
28. "Place" or "release" means adding,
				  spilling, releasing, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying,
				  discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, spraying into the air, dumping or
				  disposing oil into the environment that either poses a risk to human health or
				  welfare, or has the potential to contaminate land and/or is likely to enter the
				  waters of the State.
29.
				  "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage,
				  garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials,
				  radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, or industrial,
				  municipal, agricultural or other waste, petroleum products, including but not
				  limited to oil.
30. "Reception
				  facility" means a facility that has obtained a "certificate of adequacy" from
				  the Coast Guard pursuant to 33 C.F.R. Part 158 (2018), and means anything
				  capable of receiving shipboard oil or chemical wastes that includes, but is not
				  limited to:
a. Fixed piping that conveys
				  wastes from the vessel to a storage or treatment system;
b. Tank barges, railroad cars, or tank trucks
				  and other mobile facilities; and
c.
				  Any combination of fixed and mobile facilities. This term shall also include
				  "certified shore facility or terminal", as used in R.I. Gen. Laws §
												46-12-37.
31. "Sinking agents" means those additives
				  applied to oil discharges to sink floating pollutants below the water
				  surface.
32. "Surface collecting
				  agents" means those chemical agents that form a surface film to control the
				  layer thickness of oil.
33.
				  "Terminal" means an onshore facility or an onshore structure used or intended
				  to be used as a port or facility for the transfer or other handling of oil. A
				  ship repair yard is a terminal.
34.
				  "Threat of release" means a reasonable likelihood of an imminent and
				  substantial threat to public health or welfare, or the environment, that may
				  require action to prevent or mitigate damage resulting from said
				  release.
35. "Vessel" means every
				  description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of
				  being used, as a means of transportation on water, whether self-propelled or
				  otherwise, and shall include barges, tugs and any other floating structure used
				  for the storage and/or transportation of oil.
36. "Waters of the state" means all surface
				  waters and ground waters, including waters of the territorial sea, tidewaters,
				  all inland waters of any river, stream, brook, pond or lake, wetlands and all
				  underground waters of whatever nature.
37. "Wellhead protection area" means the
				  critical portion of a three dimensional zone surrounding a public well or well
				  field through which water will move toward and reach such well or well field as
				  designated by the Director.