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Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 10 Sec. 6643

  • Applicant: means a person who has applied for relief from State liability through participation in the Program. See
  • Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, emitting, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any ground or surface waters. See
  • Facility: means all contiguous land, structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land, used for treating, storing, or disposing of waste. See
  • following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
  • Innocent current owner: means a person that owns real property where a release or threatened release of a hazardous material exists but the person did none of the following:

  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Person: means any individual; partnership; company; corporation; association; unincorporated association; joint venture; trust; municipality; the State of Vermont or any agency, department, or subdivision of the State; federal agency; or any other legal or commercial entity. See
  • Program: means the Brownfield Property Cleanup Program. See
  • Release: means any intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, dumping, or disposing of hazardous materials into the surface or groundwaters, or onto the lands in the State, or into waters outside the jurisdiction of the State when damage may result to the public health, lands, waters, or natural resources within the jurisdiction of the State. See
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of Natural Resources or his or her duly authorized representative. See
  • secured lender: includes a person who acquires indicia of ownership by assignment from another secured lender. See
  • Storage: means the actual or intended containment of wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such wastes. See
  • Treatment: means any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous or solid waste, so as to neutralize such waste, or so as to recover energy or material resources from the waste, or so as to render such waste safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume, or for hazardous wastes, so as to render such waste nonhazardous. See

§ 6643. Application process

A person shall apply to the Secretary for participation in the Program on a form determined by the Secretary accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee of $500.00. The application shall include:

(1) A preliminary environmental assessment of the property, a legal description of the property, a description of the physical characteristics of the property, the nature and extent of releases and threatened releases at the property and the risks to human health and the environment presented by the releases or threatened release, and any other information requested by the Secretary.

(2) A description of the proposed redevelopment and use of the property.

(3) A certification that the applicant has given timely notification to the public that provides a reasonable opportunity for public comment to the Secretary regarding the information and material provided in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this section.

(4) A notarized certification, on a form provided by the Secretary, in which the applicant attests to all the following:

(A) Each person who would benefit from liability protection pursuant to section 6653 of this title has disclosed to the Secretary all information currently known to the person or in the person’s possession or control that relates to releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials at the property.

(B) No person, including a principal, owner, director, affiliate, or subsidiary, who would benefit from liability protection pursuant to section 6653 of this title:

(i) currently holds or ever held an ownership interest in the property or in any related fixtures or appurtenances, except for either of the following:

(I) a secured lender‘s holding indicia of ownership in the property primarily to assure repayment of a financial obligation;

(II) an innocent current owner;

(ii) directly or indirectly caused or contributed to any releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials at the property;

(iii) currently operates or controls or ever operated or controlled the operation at the property of a facility for the storage, treatment, or disposal of hazardous materials from which there was a release;

(iv) disposed of, or arranged for the disposal of hazardous materials at the property;

(v) generated hazardous materials that were disposed of at the property. (Added 2007, No. 147 (Adj. Sess.), § 7.)