Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 25 - STATE WATER CONTROL BOARD › Chapter 590 - PETROLEUM UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS › Section 9VAC25-590-10 - 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:
"Accidental release" means any sudden or nonsudden release of
				  petroleum arising from operating an underground storage tank that results in a
				  need for corrective action or compensation for bodily injury or property
				  damage, or both, neither expected nor intended by the tank owner or
				  operator.
"Annual aggregate" means the maximum financial responsibility
				  requirement that an owner or 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, "board" means the Department of Environmental
				  Quality.
"Bodily injury" means the death or injury of any person
				  incident to an accidental release from a petroleum underground storage tank;
				  but not including any death, disablement, or injuries covered by workers'
				  compensation, disability benefits or unemployment compensation law or other
				  similar law. Bodily injury may include payment of medical, hospital, surgical,
				  and funeral expenses arising out of the death or injury of any person. This
				  term shall not include those liabilities which, consistent with standard
				  insurance industry practices, are excluded from coverage in liability insurance
				  policies for bodily injury.
"Chief financial officer" in the case of local government
				  owners and operators, means the individual with the overall authority and
				  responsibility for the collection, disbursement, and use of funds by the local
				  government.
"Controlling interest" means direct ownership of at least 50%
				  of the voting stock of another entity.
"Corrective action" means all actions necessary to abate,
				  contain and cleanup a release from an underground storage tank to mitigate the
				  public health or environmental threat from such releases and to rehabilitate
				  state waters in accordance with Parts V (9VAC25-580-190
				  et seq.) and VI (9VAC25-580-230
				  et seq.) of 9VAC25 Chapter 580, Underground Storage Tanks: Technical Standards
				  and Corrective Action Requirements. The term does not include those actions
				  normally associated with closure or change in service as set out in Part VII
				  (9VAC25-580-310
				  et seq.) of 9VAC25 Chapter 580 or the replacement of an underground storage
				  tank.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental
				  Quality.
"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 and 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
				9VAC25-590-60
				B or C of this chapter. "Financial reporting year" may thus comprise a fiscal
				or calendar year period.
"Gallons of petroleum pumped" means either the amount pumped
				  into or the amount pumped out of a petroleum underground storage tank.
"Group self-insurance pool" or "pool" means a pool organized
				  by two or more owners and/or operators of underground storage tanks for the
				  purpose of forming a group self-insurance pool in order to demonstrate
				  financial responsibility as required by § 62.1-44.34:12 of the Code of
				  Virginia.
"Legal defense cost" means any expense that an owner or
				  operator or provider of financial assurance incurs in defending against claims
				  or actions brought (i) by the federal government or the department to require
				  corrective action or to recover the costs of corrective action, or to collect
				  civil penalties under federal or state law or to assert any claim on behalf of
				  the Virginia Petroleum Storage Tank Fund; (ii) by or on behalf of a third party
				  for bodily injury or property damage caused by an accidental release; or (iii)
				  by any person to enforce the terms of a financial assurance mechanism.
"Local government" 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 owner or operator of an underground storage
				  tank 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, which results in a release from an underground
				  storage tank.
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."
"Operator" means any person in control of, or having
				  responsibility for, the daily operation of the UST system.
"Owner" means:
1. In
				the case of an UST system in use on November 8, 1984, or brought into use after
				that date, any person who owns an UST system used for storage, use, or
				dispensing of regulated substances; and
2. In the case of any UST system in use
				before November 8, 1984, but no longer in use on that date, any person who
				owned such UST immediately before the discontinuation of its use.
The term "owner" shall not include any person, who, without
				  participating in the management of an underground storage tank or being
				  otherwise engaged in petroleum production, refining, and marketing, holds
				  indicia of ownership primarily to protect the holder's security interest in the
				  tank.
"Owner" or "operator," when the owner or operator are
				  separate parties, refers to the person that is obtaining or has obtained
				  financial assurances.
"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.
"Petroleum" means petroleum, including crude oil or any
				  fraction thereof, that is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and
				  pressure (60°F and 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute).
"Petroleum marketing facilities" includes all facilities at
				  which petroleum is produced or refined and all facilities from which petroleum
				  is sold or transferred to other petroleum marketers or to the public.
"Pool plan" means the plan of self-insurance offered by the
				  pool to its members as specifically designated in the member agreement.
"Property damage" means the loss or destruction of, or damage
				  to, the property of any third party including any loss, damage or expense
				  incident to an accidental release from a petroleum underground storage tank.
				  This term shall not include those liabilities which, consistent with standard
				  insurance industry practices, are excluded from coverage in liability insurance
				  policies for property damage. However, such exclusions for property damage
				  shall not include corrective action associated with releases from tanks which
				  are covered by the policy.
"Provider of financial assurance" means a person that
				  provides financial assurance to an owner or operator of an underground storage
				  tank through one of the mechanisms listed in
				  9VAC25-590-60
				  through
				  9VAC25-590-110 and
				  9VAC25-590-250,
				  including a guarantor, insurer, group self-insurance pool, surety, issuer of a
				  letter of credit or certificate of deposit.
"Release" means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging,
				  escaping, leaching or disposing from an UST into ground water, surface water,
				  or upon lands, subsurface soils or storm drain systems.
"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 owner
				  or 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.
"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" or "UST" means any one or
				  combination of tanks (including underground pipes connected thereto) that is
				  used to contain an accumulation of regulated substances, and the volume of
				  which (including the volume of underground pipes connected thereto) is 10% or
				  more beneath the surface of the ground. This term does not include any:
1. Farm or residential tank of 1,100 gallons
				or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial
				purposes;
2. Tank used for storing
				heating oil for consumption on the premises where stored;
3. Septic tank;
4. Pipeline facility (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. Which is an 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;