There is hereby created the Alabama Underground and Aboveground Storage Tank Trust Fund, hereinafter referred to as the “fund,” to be administered by the Secretary-Treasurer of the Retirement Systems of Alabama. The fund shall be used by the department as a revolving fund for carrying out the purposes of this chapter. The fund is not an insurance company and the laws relating to the conduct of business in this state by an insurance company do not apply to the fund. A decision that underground or aboveground storage tanks are ineligible for benefits under the fund does not expose the fund, the director, department, or commission to a claim of bad faith as such terms are used in general insurance law. Further, in no event shall combined claims against the fund for payment of response actions and third-party claims exceed the per occurrence indemnification limit set by the commission. Under no circumstances shall monies from the fund be expended to pay punitive damages. To the fund shall be credited all tank fee and Underground and Aboveground Storage Tank Trust Fund charge revenues levied, collected, and credited pursuant to this chapter. Charges against the fund shall be made in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(1) Whenever in the director’s determination incidents of soil or water contamination related to the storage of motor fuels in underground storage tanks discovered and reported to the department on or after October 1, 1988, and in aboveground storage tanks discovered and reported to the department on or after August 1, 1993, may pose a threat to the environment or the public health, safety, or welfare, and the owner or operator of the underground or aboveground storage tank has been found to be in substantial compliance, the department shall obligate moneys available in the fund to provide for:

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Terms Used In Alabama Code 22-35-4

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• following: means next after. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• month: means a calendar month. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
• year: means a calendar year; but, whenever the word "year" is used in reference to any appropriations for the payment of money out of the treasury, it shall mean fiscal year. See Alabama Code 1-1-1

a. Investigation and assessment of contamination sites;

b. The interim replacement and permanent restoration of potable water supplies;

c. Rehabilitation of contamination sites, which may consist of cleanup of affected soil and groundwater, using cost effective alternatives that are technologically feasible and reliable, and that provide adequate protection of the public health, safety, and welfare and minimize environmental damage, in accordance with the site selection and cleanup criteria established by the department, except that nothing herein shall be construed to authorize the department to obligate funds for payment of costs which may be associated with, but are not integral to, site rehabilitation, such as the cost for retrofitting or replacing underground and aboveground storage tanks. The moneys expended from the fund for any of the above approved costs shall be spent only up to such sum as will cause the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Subtitle I, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, and any other federal laws governing disbursement of federal funds for cleanup and/or third-party claims to come into effect. The total amount of reimbursement available from the fund as a result of a release from underground or aboveground tanks shall not exceed under any circumstance the per occurrence indemnification limit set by the commission, less the applicable deductible. The indemnification limit of the fund shall be determined by the commission upon recommendation of the Trust Fund Management Board, on an annual basis, which shall not be greater than two million dollars ($2,000,000), nor less than one million dollars ($1,000,000). Provided that, beginning May 20, 2009, this amount shall remain at its current level of one million dollars ($1,000,000) and may be changed, if at all, for the first time for the year beginning October 1, 2009. If the indemnification limit of the fund is increased, such increased limit shall be available for response action costs or third party claims, or both, as to those existing sites that are eligible for trust fund benefits, but such increased limits shall not be available to existing sites where the department has previously issued a No Further Action Letter.