North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.94BB. Definitions
In addition to the definitions set out in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-215.77, the following definitions shall apply to this Part:
(1) “Damages” are damages for any of the following:
a. Injury or harm to real or personal property, which includes the cost of restoring, repairing, or replacing any real or personal property damaged or destroyed by a discharge under this section, any income lost from the time such property is damaged to the time such property is restored, repaired, or replaced, and any reduction in value of such property caused by such discharge by comparison with its value prior thereto.
b. Business loss, including loss of income or impairment of earning capacity due to damage to real or personal property or to damage or destruction of natural resources upon which such income or earning capacity is reasonably dependent.
c. Interest on loans obtained or other financial obligations incurred by an injured party for the purpose of ameliorating the adverse effects of a discharge pending the payment of a claim in full as provided by this Article.
d. Costs of cleanup, removal, or treatment of natural gas, oil, or drilling waste discharges.
e. Costs of restoration, rehabilitation, and, where possible, replacement of wildlife or other natural resources damaged as a result of a discharge.
f. When the injured party is the State or one of its political subdivisions, in addition to any injury described in subparagraphs (a) to (e), inclusive, damages include all of the following:
1. Injury to natural resources or wildlife, including recreational or commercial fisheries, and loss of use and enjoyment of public beaches and other public resources or facilities within the jurisdiction of the State or one of its political subdivisions.
2. Costs to assess damages to natural resources, wildlife, or habitat.
3. Costs incurred to monitor the cleanup of the natural gas, oil, or drilling waste spilled.
4. Loss of State or local government tax revenues resulting from damages to real or personal property proximately resulting from a discharge.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.94BB
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Discharge: shall mean , but shall not be limited to, any emission, spillage, leakage, pumping, pouring, emptying, or dumping of oil or other hazardous substances into waters of the State or into waters outside the territorial limits of the State which affect lands, waters or uses related thereto within the territorial limits of the State, or upon land in such proximity to waters that oil or other hazardous substances is reasonably likely to reach the waters, but shall not include amounts less than quantities which may be harmful to the public health or welfare as determined pursuant to N. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Oil: shall mean oil of any kind and in any form, including, but specifically not limited to, petroleum, crude oil, diesel oil, fuel oil, gasoline, lubrication oil, oil refuse, oil mixed with other waste, oil sludge, petroleum related products or by-products, and all other liquid hydrocarbons, regardless of specific gravity, whether singly or in combination with other substances. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Operator: shall mean any person owning or operating an oil terminal facility or pipeline, whether by lease, contract, or any other form of agreement. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Person: shall mean any and all natural persons, firms, partnerships, associations, public or private institutions, municipalities or political subdivisions, governmental agencies, or private or public corporations organized or existing under the laws of this State or any other state or country. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- personal property: shall include moneys, goods, chattels, choses in action and evidences of debt, including all things capable of ownership, not descendable to heirs at law. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Pipeline: shall mean any conduit, pipe or system of pipes, and any appurtenances related thereto and used in conjunction therewith, used, or capable of being used, for transporting or transferring oil to, from, or between oil terminal facilities. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- property: shall include all property, both real and personal. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- United States: shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Vessel: shall include every description of watercraft or other contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water, whether self-propelled or otherwise, and shall include, but shall not be limited to, barges and tugs; provided that the term "vessel" as used herein shall not apply to any pleasure, sport or commercial fishing vessel which has a fuel capacity of less than 500 gallons and is not used to transport petroleum, petroleum products, or general cargo. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Waters: shall mean any stream, river, creek, brook, run, canal, swamp, lake, sound, tidal estuary, bay, reservoir, waterway, wetlands, or any other body or accumulation of water, surface or underground, public or private, natural or artificial, which is contained within, flows through, or borders upon this State, or any portion thereof, including those portions of the Atlantic Ocean over which this State has jurisdiction. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
(2) For the purposes of this Part, “oil” and “drilling wastes” include, but are not limited to: petroleum, refined or processed petroleum, petroleum by-products, oil sludge, oil refuse, oil mixed with wastes and chemicals, or other materials used in the exploration, recovery, or processing of oil. “Oil” does not include oil carried in a vessel for use as fuel in that vessel.
(3) “Natural gas” includes natural gas, liquified natural gas, and natural gas by-products. “Natural gas” does not include natural gas carried in a vessel for use as fuel in that vessel.
(4) “Exploration” means undersea boring, drilling, soil sampling, and any other technique employed to assess and evaluate the presence of subterranean oil and natural gas deposits.
(5) “Injured party” means any person who suffers damages from natural gas, oil, or drilling waste which is discharged or leaks into marine waters, or from offshore exploration. The State, or a county or municipality, may be an injured party.
(6) “Responsible person” means any of the following:
a. The owner or transporter of natural gas, oil, or drilling waste which causes an injury covered by this Part.
b. The owner, operator, lessee of, or person who charters by demise, any offshore well, undersea site, facility, oil rig, oil platform, vessel, or pipeline which is the source of natural gas, oil, drilling waste, or is the source or location of exploration which causes an injury covered by this Part.
“Responsible party” does not include the United States, the State, any county, municipality or public governmental agency; however, this exception to the definition of “responsible person” shall not be read to exempt utilities from the provisions of this Part.
(7) “Offshore waters” shall include both the territorial sea extending seaward from the coastline of North Carolina or any other coastal state bordering the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico, and the exclusive economic zone extending seaward from the territorial sea of each such state.
(8) “Natural resources” shall include “marine and estuarine resources” and “wildlife resources” as those terms are defined in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 113-129(11) and N.C. Gen. Stat. § 113-129(17), respectively.
(9) “Coastal fishing waters” has the same meaning as in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 113-129
(10) “Exclusive economic zone” has the same meaning as in section 1001(8) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 33 U.S.C. § 2701(8). (1989, c. 656, s. 5; c. 770, s. 75.5; 2010-179, s. 1(b).)