When used in this chapter:

(1)  “Department” means the Rhode Island department of environmental management.

(2)  “Director” means the director of the department of environmental management, or his or her designee.

(3)  “Eligible costs” means costs, expenses, and other obligations as incurred by a responsible party for site investigation, site remediation, or other corrective action activities ordered or directed, and approved, by the department or performed by the responsible party and not specifically identified by the department as ineligible.

(4)  “Facility” means any parcel of real estate or contiguous parcels of real estate owned and/or operated by the same person(s), which together with all land, structures, facility components, improvements, fixtures, and other appurtenances located therein, form a distinct geographic unit and at which petroleum products or hazardous materials are or have been stored in underground storage tanks.

(5)  “Fund” means the Rhode Island underground storage tank financial responsibility fund established herein.

(6)  “Operator” means any person in control of, or having the responsibility for, the daily operation of an underground storage tank system.

(7)  “Owner” means any person, corporation, group, or other entity who or that holds exclusive or joint title to, or lawful possession of, a facility or part of a facility.

(8)  “Petroleum product” means crude oil, or any fractions thereof, that is liquid at standard conditions of temperature sixty degrees fahrenheit (60°F) and pressure fourteen and seven tenths pounds per square inch absolute (14.7 psia) and includes substances derived from crude oil including, but not limited to, the following:

(i)  Gasoline;

(ii)  Fuel Oils;

(iii)  Diesel Oils;

(iv)  Waste Oils; and

(v)  Gasohol, lubricants, and solvents.

(9)  “Release” means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, injecting, emitting, escaping, leaching, discharging, or disposing of any material stored in an underground storage tank system subject to the regulations into groundwater, surface water, soil, air, or any other environmental media.

(10)  “Responsible party” means the person or persons liable for release of petroleum or the remediation of a release.

(11)  “Site” means any location at which, or from which, there has been a release of petroleum associated with an underground storage tank or an underground storage tank system, or any location to which such petroleum has migrated.

(12)  “UST” or “Underground storage tank system” means any one or more underground tanks, and their associated components, including piping, used to contain, transport, or store petroleum product or hazardous material whose volume is ten percent (10%) or more beneath the surface of the ground.

History of Section.
P.L. 1994, ch. 144, § 1; P.L. 1998, ch. 114, § 1; P.L. 2001, ch. 328, § 1; P.L. 2002, ch. 297, § 1; P.L. 2006, ch. 246, art. 27, § 3; P.L. 2016, ch. 148, § 1; P.L. 2016, ch. 160, § 1; P.L. 2017, ch. 80, § 1; P.L. 2017, ch. 92, § 1; P.L. 2023, ch. 79, art. 3, § 11, effective June 16, 2023.