Ohio Code 3734.122 – Storage and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls, substances, equipment, and devices containing or contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls
(A) As used in this section, “commercial facility” means a facility of a business engaged for profit in the storage and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls, substances, equipment, and devices containing or contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or both.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 3734.122
- Agency: means the environmental protection agency. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Board of health: means the board of health of a city or general health district or the authority having the duties of a board of health in any city as authorized by section 3709. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Director: means the director of environmental protection. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, emitting, or placing of any solid wastes or hazardous waste into or on any land or ground or surface water or into the air. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Hazardous waste: includes any substance identified by regulation as hazardous waste under the "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976" 90 Stat. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Health district: means a city or general health district as created by or under authority of Chapter 3709 of the Revised Code. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Person: includes the state, any political subdivision and other state or local body, the United States and any agency or instrumentality thereof, and any legal entity defined as a person under section 1. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
- Rule: includes regulation. See Ohio Code 1.59
- United States: includes all the states. See Ohio Code 1.59
(B) The director of environmental protection, in accordance with Chapter 119 of the Revised Code, may adopt, amend, suspend, or rescind rules with respect to all of the following subjects:
(1) Notification of the existence or proposed establishment of any commercial facility;
(2) Required inspections of commercial facilities, including, without limitation, a requirement that any such commercial facility be inspected before commencing its activities;
(3) Establishing standards for the storage and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and substances, equipment, and devices containing or contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls at commercial facilities;
(4) Establishing standards and criteria for defining substances, equipment, and devices containing or contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls for the purposes of this section.
Rules adopted under divisions (B)(3) and (4) of this section shall be identical to federal laws and regulations governing the storage and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and substances, devices, and equipment containing or contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls.
No person shall violate a rule adopted under this section.
(C) The director shall not issue an enforcement order or request the attorney general to bring a civil action for injunction or imposition of a civil penalty under section 3734.13 of the Revised Code, and neither the director, a board of health of a health district, nor the legislative authority of a political subdivision shall request the attorney general, the prosecuting attorney of a county, or a city director of law to prosecute or bring an action for injunction under section 3734.10 of the Revised Code, for a violation of a rule adopted under division (B) of this section if the United States environmental protection agency has commenced and is pursuing administrative or civil proceedings to impose a civil penalty or has commenced criminal prosecution of the violation under applicable federal law. This division does not require that administrative, civil, and criminal actions to enforce a rule adopted under division (B) of this section be abandoned if the action was commenced before the United States environmental protection agency initiated an administrative, civil, or criminal action with respect to the violation.
(D) The director may expend moneys credited to the hazardous waste clean-up fund created in section 3734.28 of the Revised Code for the payment of the cost of measures necessary for the proper cleanup of sites where polychlorinated biphenyls and substances, equipment, and devices containing or contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls have been stored or disposed of. Before beginning to clean up any site under this division, the director shall develop a plan for the cleanup and an estimate of its cost. The director may carry out the plan in whole or in part by entering into contracts for that purpose. The director shall keep an itemized record of the cost of the measures performed, including, without limitation, the cost for labor, materials, and any contract services required. Upon completion of the measures, the director shall record the cost of performing those measures at the office of the county recorder of the county in which the site is located. The cost so recorded constitutes a lien against the property on which the site is located until discharged. Upon written request of the director, the attorney general shall institute a civil action to recover the cost. Any moneys so received shall be credited to the hazardous waste clean-up fund created in section 3734.28 of the Revised Code.