Washington Administrative Code › Title 173 - Ecology, Department of (See also Titles 197, 317, 372, and 508) › Chapter 173-322A - REMEDIAL ACTION GRANTS AND LOANS › Section 173-322A-100 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
Unless otherwise defined in this chapter, words and phrases
				used in this chapter shall be defined according to WAC
				173-340-200 and
				173-204-505.
(1)
"Agreement signature date"
means, for the purposes of grant and loan agreements, the date the agreement
			 document is signed by the department.
(2)
"Applicant"
means a local
			 government that applies for a grant or loan.
(3)
"Area-wide groundwater
			 contamination"
means groundwater contamination on multiple adjacent
			 properties with different ownerships consisting of hazardous substances from
			 multiple sources that have resulted in commingled plumes of contaminated
			 groundwater that are not practicable to address separately.
(4)
"Average market rate"
means
			 the average market rate for tax-exempt general obligation municipal bonds for
			 the month of June preceding the agreement signature date, as determined using
			 rates published by
Bond Buyer
.
(5)
"Biennium"
means the
			 twenty-four-month fiscal period extending from July 1st of odd-numbered years
			 to June 30th of odd-numbered years.
(6)
"Brownfield property"
means
			 previously developed and currently abandoned or underutilized real property and
			 adjacent surface waters and sediment where environmental, economic, or
			 community reuse objectives are hindered by the release or threatened release of
			 hazardous substances that the department has determined requires remedial
			 action under this chapter or that the United States Environmental Protection
			 Agency has determined requires remedial action under the federal cleanup
			 law.
(7)
"Budget"
means, for the purpose of grant and loan agreements, a breakdown of eligible
			 costs by task.
(8)
"Cleanup
			 action"
means the term as defined in WAC
			 173-340-200 or
			 173-204-505.
(9)
"Construction completion"
means physical construction of a cleanup action component is
			 complete.
(10)
"Coordinated
			 water system plan"
means a plan for public water systems within a
			 critical water supply service area which identifies the present and future
			 water system concerns and sets forth a means for meeting those concerns in the
			 most efficient manner possible pursuant to chapter 246-293 WAC.
(11)
"Decree"
or
"consent
			 decree"
means a consent decree issued under
			 chapter
			 70.105D RCW or the
			 federal cleanup law.
(12)
"Department"
means the department of ecology.
(13)
"Department share"
means
			 the department's share of eligible costs.
(14)
"Director"
means the
			 director of the department of ecology.
(15)
"Economically disadvantaged
			 county"
means a county whose per capita income is equal to or below the
			 median per capita income of counties in Washington state, as determined on July
			 1st of each odd-numbered year using the latest official American Community
			 Survey five-year estimates of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
(16)
"Economically disadvantaged city
			 or town"
means a city or town whose per capita income is equal to or
			 below the median per capita income of cities and towns in Washington state, as
			 determined on July 1st of each odd-numbered year using the latest official
			 American Community Survey five-year estimates of the U.S. Department of
			 Commerce.
(17)
"Eligible
			 cost"
means a project cost that is eligible for funding under this
			 chapter and the terms of the grant or loan agreement.
(18)
"Extended grant agreement"
means a grant agreement entered into under
			 RCW
			    70.105D.070(4)(e)(i).
(19)
"Feasibility study"
means
			 the term as defined in chapter 173-340 or 173-204 WAC.
(20)
"Federal cleanup law"
means
			 the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
			 1980, as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986,
			  42 U.S.C. 9601  et seq.
(21)
"Grant agreement"
means a binding agreement between the local
			 government and the department that authorizes the disbursement of funds to the
			 local government to reimburse it for a portion of expenditures in support of a
			 specified scope of services.
(22)
"Hazardous substances"
means any hazardous substance as defined in
			 WAC 173-340-200.
(23)
"Hazardous waste site"
means any facility where there has been confirmation of a release or threatened
			 release of a hazardous substance that requires remedial action.
(24)
"Highly impacted community"
means a community that the department has determined is likely to bear a
			 disproportionate burden of public health risks from environmental
			 pollution.
(25)
"Independent
			 remedial actions"
means remedial actions conducted without department
			 oversight or approval and not under an order or consent decree.
(26)
"Initial investigation"
means a remedial action that consists of an investigation under WAC
			 173-340-310.
(27)
"In-kind contributions"
means property or services that benefit a project and are contributed to the
			 recipient by a third party without direct monetary compensation. In-kind
			 contributions include interlocal costs, donated or loaned real or personal
			 property, volunteer services, and employee services donated by a third
			 party.
(28)
"Innovative
			 technology"
means new technologies that have been demonstrated to be
			 technically feasible under certain site conditions, but have not been widely
			 used under the conditions that exist at the hazardous waste site. Innovative
			 technology has limited performance and cost data available.
(29)
"Interim action"
means a
			 remedial action conducted under WAC
			 173-340-430.
(30)
"Loan agreement"
means a
			 binding agreement between the local government and the department that
			 authorizes the disbursement of funds to the local government that must be
			 repaid. The loan agreement includes terms such as interest rates and repayment
			 schedule, scope of work, performance schedule, and project budget.
(31)
"Local government"
means
			 any political subdivision of the state, including a town, city, county, special
			 purpose district, or other municipal corporation, including brownfield renewal
			 authority created under RCW 70.105D.-160.
(32)
"No further action
			 determination"
or
"NFA determination"
means a written
			 opinion issued by the department under WAC
			 173-340-515(5) that the independent remedial actions performed at a hazardous waste site or
			 property meet the substantive requirements of chapter 173-340 WAC and that no
			 further remedial action is required at the hazardous waste site or property.
			 The opinion is advisory only and not binding on the department.
(33)
"Order"
means an order
			 issued under
			 chapter
			 70.105D RCW, including
			 enforcement orders issued under WAC
			 173-340-540 and agreed orders
			 issued under WAC
			 173-340-530, or an order issued
			 under the federal cleanup law, including unilateral administrative orders (UAO)
			 and administrative orders on consent (AOC).
(34)
"Oversight remedial
			 actions"
means remedial actions conducted under an order or
			 decree.
(35)
"Partial
			 funding"
means funding less than the maximum department share allowed
			 under this chapter.
(36)
"Potentially liable person"
or "
PLP"
means any person
			 whom the department finds, based on credible evidence, to be liable under
			 RCW
			    70.105D.040.
(37)
"Potentially responsible
			 party"
or "
PRP"
means "covered persons" as defined under
			 section 9607(a)(1) through (4) of the federal cleanup law (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a)).
(38)
"Property"
means, for the purposes of independent remedial action
			 grants, the parcel or parcels of real property affected by a hazardous waste
			 site and addressed as part of the independent remedial action.
(39)
"Prospective purchaser"
means a person who is not currently liable for remedial action at a facility
			 and who proposes to purchase, redevelop, or reuse the facility.
(40)
"Public water system"
means
			 a Group A water system as defined in WAC
			 246-290-020.
(41)
"Purveyor"
means an agency
			 or subdivision of the state or a municipal corporation, firm, company, mutual
			 or cooperative association, institution, partnership, or person or any other
			 entity that owns or operates a public water system, or the authorized agent of
			 such entities.
(42)
"Recipient"
means a local government that has been approved to
			 receive a grant or loan.
(43)
"Recipient share"
or
"match"
means the recipient's
			 share of eligible costs.
(44)
"Redevelopment opportunity zone"
means a geographic area
			 designated under
			 RCW
			    70.105D.150.
(45)
"Remedial action"
means any
			 action or expenditure consistent with the purposes of
			 chapter
			 70.105D RCW to identify,
			 eliminate, or minimize any threat posed by hazardous substances to human health
			 or the environment including any investigative and monitoring activities with
			 respect to any release or threatened release of a hazardous substance and any
			 health assessments or health effects studies conducted in order to determine
			 the risk or potential risk to human health.
(46)
"Remedial investigation"
means the term as defined in chapter 173-340 or 173-204 WAC.
(47)
"Retroactive costs"
means
			 costs incurred before the agreement signature date.
(48)
"Safe drinking water"
means
			 water meeting drinking water quality standards set by chapter 246-290
			 WAC.
(49)
"Scope of
			 work"
means the tasks and deliverables of the grant or loan
			 agreement.
(50)
"Site"
means any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline
			 (including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit,
			 pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle,
			 rolling stock, vessel, or aircraft; or any site or area where a hazardous
			 substance, other than a legal consumer product in consumer use, has been
			 deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise come to be
			 located.
(51)
"Site hazard
			 assessment"
means a remedial action that consists of an investigation
			 performed under WAC
			 173-340-320.
(52)
"Voluntary cleanup program"
means the program authorized under
			 RCW
			    70.105D.030(1)(i) and WAC
			 173-340-515.