75-10-704. Environmental quality protection fund. (1) Subject to legislative fund transfers, there is in the state special revenue fund an environmental quality protection fund to be administered as a revolving fund by the department. The department is authorized to expend amounts from the fund necessary to carry out the purposes of this part.

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Terms Used In Montana Code 75-10-704

  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Department: means the department of environmental quality provided for in 2-15-3501. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Environment: means any surface water, ground water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the state of Montana or under the jurisdiction of the state of Montana. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Facility: means :

    (i)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, or aircraft; or

    (ii)any site or area where a hazardous or deleterious substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, placed, or otherwise come to be located. See Montana Code 75-10-701

  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Fund: means the environmental quality protection fund established in 75-10-704. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • Hazardous or deleterious substance: means a substance that because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may pose an imminent and substantial threat to public health, safety, or welfare or the environment and is:

    (a)a substance that is defined as a hazardous substance by section 101(14) of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), 42 U. See Montana Code 75-10-701

  • 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
  • Orphan share: means the percentage share of remedial action costs for a facility that is attributable, under the procedures in 75-10-742 through 75-10-751, to identified but bankrupt or defunct persons who are not an affiliate of any viable person, unless affiliated by stock ownership. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Person: means an individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company, joint venture, consortium, commercial entity, partnership, association, corporation, commission, state or state agency, political subdivision of the state, interstate body, or the federal government, including a federal agency. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
  • Release: means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of a hazardous or deleterious substance directly into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous or deleterious substance), but excludes releases confined to the indoor workplace environment, the use of pesticides as defined in 80-8-102 when they are applied in accordance with approved federal and state labels, and the use of commercial fertilizers, as defined in 80-10-101, when applied as part of accepted agricultural practice. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Remedial action: includes all notification, investigation, administration, monitoring, cleanup, restoration, mitigation, abatement, removal, replacement, acquisition, enforcement, legal action, health studies, feasibility studies, and other actions necessary or appropriate to respond to a release or threatened release. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Remedial action costs: means reasonable costs that are attributable to or associated with a remedial action at a facility, including but not limited to the costs of administration, investigation, legal or enforcement activities, contracts, feasibility studies, or health studies. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201

(2)The fund may be used by the department only to carry out the provisions of this part and for remedial actions taken by the department pursuant to this part in response to a release of hazardous or deleterious substances.

(3)The department shall:

(a)except as provided in subsection (7), establish and implement a system, including the preparation of a priority list, for prioritizing sites for remedial action based on potential effects on human health and the environment; and

(b)investigate, negotiate, and take legal action, as appropriate, to identify liable persons, to obtain the participation and financial contribution of liable persons for the remedial action, to achieve remedial action, and to recover costs and damages incurred by the state.

(4)There must be deposited in the fund:

(a)all penalties, forfeited financial assurance, natural resource damages, and remedial action costs recovered pursuant to 75-10-715;

(b)all administrative penalties assessed pursuant to 75-10-714 and all civil penalties assessed pursuant to 75-10-711(5);

(c)funds allocated to the fund by the legislature;

(d)proceeds from the resource indemnity and ground water assessment tax as authorized by 15-38-106;

(e)funds received from the interest income of the resource indemnity trust fund pursuant to 15-38-202;

(f)funds received from the interest income of the fund;

(g)funds received from settlements pursuant to 75-10-719(7);

(h)funds received from the interest paid pursuant to 75-10-722;

(i)costs recovered pursuant to 75-8-106(7) and penalties recovered pursuant to 75-8-109; and

(j)funds transferred from the orphan share account pursuant to 75-10-743(10). The full amount of these funds must be dedicated each fiscal year as follows:

(i)50% to the state’s contribution for cleanup and long-term operation and maintenance costs at the Libby asbestos superfund site and allocated pursuant to 75-10-1603 and 75-10-1604; and

(ii)50% to metal mine reclamation projects at abandoned mine sites, as provided in 82-4-371. This subsection (4)(j)(ii) does not apply to exploration or mining work performed after March 9, 1971. Projects funded under this subsection (4)(j)(ii) are not subject to the requirements of Title 75, chapter 10, part 7.

(5)Whenever a legislative appropriation is insufficient to carry out the provisions of this part and additional money remains in the fund, the department shall seek additional authority to spend money from the fund through the budget amendment process provided for in Title 17, chapter 7, part 4.

(6)Whenever the amount of money in the fund is insufficient to carry out remedial action, the department may apply to the governor for a grant from the environmental contingency account established pursuant to 75-1-1101.

(7)(a) There is established a state special revenue account for all funds donated or granted from private parties to remediate a specific release at a specific facility. There must be deposited into the account the interest income earned on the account. A person is not liable under 75-10-715 solely as a result of contributing to this account.

(b)Funds donated or granted for a specific project pursuant to this subsection (7) must be accumulated in the fund until the balance of the donated or granted funds is sufficient, as determined by the department, to remediate the facility pursuant to the requirements of 75-10-721 for which the funds are donated.

(c)If the balance of the fund created in this subsection (7), as determined by the department pursuant to the requirements of 75-10-721, is not sufficient to remediate the facility within 1 year from the date of the initial contribution, all donated or granted funds, including any interest on those donated or granted funds, must be returned to the grantor.

(d)If the balance for a specific project is determined by the department to be sufficient to remediate the facility pursuant to the requirements of 75-10-721, the department shall give that site high priority for remedial action, using the funds donated under this subsection (7).

(e)This subsection (7) is not intended to delay, to interfere with, or to diminish the authority or actions of the department to investigate, negotiate, and take legal action, as appropriate, to identify liable persons, to obtain the participation and financial contribution of liable persons for the remedial action, to achieve remedial action, and to recover costs and damages incurred by the state.

(f)The department shall expend the funds in a manner that maximizes the application of the funds to physically remediating the specific release.

(8)(a) A person may donate in-kind services to remediate a specific release at a specific facility pursuant to subsection (7). A person who donates in-kind services is not liable under 75-10-715 solely as a result of the contribution of in-kind services.

(b)A person who donates in-kind services with respect to remediating a specific release at a specific facility is not liable under this part to any person for injuries, costs, damages, expenses, or other liability that results from the release or threatened release, including but not limited to claims for indemnification or contribution and claims by third parties for death, personal injury, illness, loss of or damage to property, or economic loss.

(c)Immunity from liability, pursuant to subsection (8)(b), does not apply in the case of a release that is caused by conduct of the entity providing in-kind services that is negligent or grossly negligent or that constitutes intentional misconduct.

(d)When a person is liable under 75-10-715 for costs or damages incurred as a result of a release or threatened release of a hazardous or deleterious substance, the person may not avoid that liability or responsibility under 75-10-711 by subsequent donations of money or in-kind services under the provisions of subsection (7) and this subsection (8).

(e)Any donated in-kind services that are employed as part of a remedial action pursuant to this subsection (8) must be approved by the department as appropriate remedial action. (Subsection (4)(j) terminates June 30, 2027–sec. 5, Ch. 387, L. 2015.)

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