Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 25 - STATE WATER CONTROL BOARD › Chapter 640 - ABOVEGROUND STORAGE TANK AND PIPELINE FACILITY FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS › Section 9VAC25-640-10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall
				  have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise:
"Aboveground storage tank" or "AST" means any one or
				  combination of tanks, including pipes, used to contain an accumulation of oil
				  at atmospheric pressure, and the volume of which, including the volume of the
				  pipes, is more than 90% above the surface of the ground. This term does not
				  include line pipe and breakout tanks of an interstate pipeline regulated under
				  the federal Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act of 1996
				  (49
				  USC §
										60101 et seq.).
"Accidental discharge" means any sudden or nonsudden
				  discharge of oil from a facility that results in a need for containment and
				  clean up which was neither expected nor intended by the operator.
"Annual aggregate" means the maximum financial responsibility
				  requirement that an operator is required to demonstrate annually.
"Board" means the State Water Control Board. When used
				  outside the context of the promulgation of regulations, including regulations
				  to establish general permits, pursuant to this chapter, "board" means the
				  Department of Environmental Quality.
"Change in service" means change in operation, conditions of
				  the stored product, specific gravity, corrosivity, temperature or pressure that
				  has occurred from the original that may affect the tank's suitability for
				  service.
"Containment and clean up" means abatement, containment,
				  removal and disposal of oil and, to the extent possible, the restoration of the
				  environment to its existing state prior to an oil discharge.
"Controlling interest" means direct ownership of at least 50%
				  of the voting stock of another entity.
"Department" or "DEQ" means the Department of Environmental
				  Quality.
"Discharge" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring,
				  emitting, emptying or dumping.
"Facility" means any development or installation within the
				  Commonwealth that deals in, stores or handles oil, and includes a
				  pipeline.
"Financial reporting year" means the latest consecutive
				  12-month period for which any of the following reports used to support a
				  financial test is prepared:
(i) a 10-K
				report submitted to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
				(SEC);
(ii) an annual report of
				tangible net worth submitted to Dun and Bradstreet;
(iii) annual reports submitted to the Energy
				Information Administration or the Rural Utilities Service; or
(iv) a year-end financial statement
				authorized under
				9VAC25-640-70
				B or C. "Financial reporting year" may thus comprise a fiscal or calendar year
				period.
"Group self-insurance pool" or "pool" means a pool organized
				  by two or more operators of facilities for the purpose of forming a group
				  self-insurance pool in order to demonstrate financial responsibility as
				  required by § 62.1-44.34:16 of the Code of Virginia.
"Legal defense cost" means any expense that an operator or
				  provider of financial assurance incurs in defending against claims or actions
				  brought (i) by the federal government or the department to require containment
				  or clean up or to recover the costs of containment and clean up, or to collect
				  civil penalties under federal or state law or to assert any claim on behalf of
				  the Virginia Petroleum Storage Tank Fund; or (ii) by any person to enforce the
				  terms of a financial assurance mechanism.
"Local government entity" means a municipality, county, town,
				  commission, separately chartered and operated special district, school board,
				  political subdivision of a state or other special purpose government which
				  provides essential services.
"Member" means an operator of an aboveground storage tank or
				  pipeline who has entered into a member agreement and thereby becomes a member
				  of a group self-insurance pool.
"Member agreement" means the written agreement executed
				  between each member and the pool, which sets forth the conditions of membership
				  in the pool, the obligations, if any, of each member to the other members, and
				  the terms, coverages, limits, and deductibles of the pool plan.
"Occurrence" means an accident, including continuous or
				  repeated exposure to conditions, that results in a discharge from an AST. Note:
				  This definition is intended to assist in the understanding of this chapter and
				  is not intended either to limit the meaning of "occurrence" in a way that
				  conflicts with standard insurance usage or to prevent the use of other standard
				  insurance terms in place of "occurrence."
"Oil" means oil of any kind and in any form, including, but
				  not limited to, petroleum and petroleum byproducts, fuel oil, lubricating oils,
				  sludge, oil refuse, oil mixed with other wastes, crude oil and all other liquid
				  hydrocarbons regardless of specific gravity.
"Operator" means any person who owns, operates, charters by
				  demise, rents or otherwise exercises control over or responsibility for a
				  facility or a vehicle or a vessel. For purposes of this chapter, the definition
				  of operator is restricted to operators of facilities.
"Person" means an individual; trust; firm; joint stock
				  company; corporation, including a government corporation; partnership;
				  association; any state or agency thereof; municipality; county; town;
				  commission; political subdivision of a state; any interstate body; consortium;
				  joint venture; commercial entity; the government of the United States or any
				  unit or agency thereof.
"Pipeline" means all new and existing pipe, rights of way,
				  and any equipment, facility, or building used in the transportation of oil,
				  including, but not limited to, line pipe, valves and other appurtenances
				  connected to line pipe, pumping units, fabricated assemblies associated with
				  pumping units, metering and delivery stations and fabricated assemblies
				  therein, and breakout tanks.
"Pool plan" means the plan of self-insurance offered by the
				  pool to its members as specifically designated in the member agreement.
"Provider of financial assurance" means a person that
				  provides financial assurance to an operator of an aboveground storage tank
				  through one of the mechanisms listed in
				  9VAC25-640-70
				  through
				  9VAC25-640-120,
				  including a guarantor, insurer, group self-insurance pool, surety, certificate
				  of deposit, or issuer of a letter of credit.
"Release" means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging,
				  escaping, leaching, or disposing from an underground storage tank or facility
				  into groundwater, surface water, or upon lands, subsurface soils or storm drain
				  systems.
"Storage capacity" means the total capacity of an AST or a
				  container, whether filled in whole or in part with oil, a mixture of oil, or
				  mixtures of oil with nonhazardous substances, or empty. An AST that has been
				  permanently closed in accordance with the requirements of 9VAC25-91 has no
				  storage capacity.
"Substantial business relationship" means the extent of a
				  business relationship necessary under Virginia law to make a guarantee contract
				  issued incident to that relationship valid and enforceable. A guarantee
				  contract is issued "incident to that relationship" if it arises from and
				  depends on existing economic transactions between the guarantor and the
				  operator.
"Tangible net worth" means the tangible assets that remain
				  after deducting liabilities; such assets do not include intangibles such as
				  goodwill and rights to patents or royalties. For purposes of this definition,
				  "assets" means all existing and all probable future economic benefits obtained
				  or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions.
"Tank" means a device designed to contain an accumulation of
				  oil and constructed of nonearthen materials, such as concrete, steel, or
				  plastic, that provides structural support. For purposes of
				  9VAC25-640-220,
				  a tank means a device, having a liquid capacity of more than 60 gallons,
				  designed to contain an accumulation of oil and constructed of nonearthen
				  materials, such as concrete, steel, or plastic, that provides structural
				  support. This term does not include flow-through process tanks as defined in
				  40 CFR Part
				  280.
"Termination" under Appendix III and Appendix IV means only
				  those changes that could result in a gap in coverage as where the insured has
				  not obtained substitute coverage or has obtained substitute coverage with a
				  different retroactive date than the retroactive date of the original
				  policy.
"Underground storage tank" means any one or combination of
				  tanks, including connecting pipes, used to contain an accumulation of regulated
				  substances, and the volume of which, including the volume of underground
				  connecting pipes, is 10% or more beneath the surface of the ground. This term
				  does not include any:
1. Farm or
				residential tanks having a capacity of 1,100 gallons or less and used for
				storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;
2. Tanks used for storing heating oil for
				consumption on the premises where stored;
3. Septic tanks;
4. Pipeline facilities (including gathering
				lines) regulated under:
a. The Natural Gas
				Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 (49 USC App. 1671 et seq.);
b. The Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act
				of 1979 (49 USC App. 2001 et seq.); or
c. Any intrastate pipeline facility regulated
				under state laws comparable to the provisions of the law referred to in
				subdivision 4 a or 4 b of this definition;