Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 44 > Chapter 56 > Article 7 - Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Program

• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• CERCLA: means the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and its amendments, 42 U. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Contaminant: includes , but is not limited to, any element, substance, compound, or mixture, including disease-causing agents, which after release into the environment and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will or may reasonably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physiological malfunctions, including malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformations, in organisms or their offspring; "contaminant" does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction of crude oil, which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (14) of CERCLA, Section 101, 42 U. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Contamination: means impact by a contaminant, petroleum, or petroleum product. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such substance or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwater. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Hazardous waste: means any waste, or combination of wastes, of a solid, liquid, contained gaseous, or semisolid form which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may in the judgment of the department:
  
  a. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Nonresponsible party: means any party which is neither:
  
  (i) a responsible party at the time the voluntary cleanup contract is signed, including lenders, economic development agencies, fiduciaries, trustees, executors, administrators, custodians, subsequent holders of a security interest; nor
  
  (ii) a parent, subsidiary of, or successor to a responsible party. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Oversight costs: means those costs, both direct and indirect, incurred by the department in implementing the voluntary cleanup program. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Permit: means the process by which the department can ensure cognizance of, as well as control over the management of hazardous wastes. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• petroleum product: means crude oil or any fraction of crude oil which is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure (60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Property: means that portion of the site which is subject to the ownership, prospective ownership, or possessory or contractual interest of a responsible party or a nonresponsible party. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Response action: means any assessment, cleanup, inspection, or closure of a site as necessary to remedy actual or potential damage to public health, public welfare, or the environment. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Responsible party: means :
  
  (a) the owner and operator of a vessel or a facility, as these terms are defined in CERCLA;
  
  (b) any person who at the time of disposal of any hazardous substance owned or operated any facility at which such hazardous substances were disposed of, as these terms are defined in CERCLA;
  
  (c) any person who by contract, settlement, or otherwise arranged for disposal or treatment or arranged with a transporter for transport for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances owned or possessed by such person, by any other party or entity, at any facility or incineration vessel owned or operated by another party or entity and containing such hazardous substances, as these terms are defined in CERCLA; and
  
  (d) any person who accepts or accepted any hazardous substances for transport to disposal or treatment facilities, incineration vessels, or sites selected by such person, from which there is a release or a threatened release which causes the incurrence of response costs of a hazardous substance, as such terms are defined in CERCLA; and
  
  (e) any person who owns or operates or who owned or operated an above ground or underground storage tank from which petroleum or petroleum products have been released or who owns and operates or who owned or operated a property on which a petroleum release has occurred; however, the exemptions of § 44-2-80(B) and (C) apply. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Site: means all areas where a contaminant, petroleum, or petroleum product has been released, deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed or otherwise comes to be located; "site" does not include any consumer product in consumer use or any vessel. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Storage: means the actual or intended containment of wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such manner as not to constitute disposal of such hazardous wastes. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Transport: means the movement of hazardous wastes from the point of generation to any intermediate points and finally to the point of ultimate treatment, storage or disposal. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Treatment: means any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste, so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, reduced in volume, or suitable for final disposal. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Voluntary cleanup: means a response action taken under and in compliance with this article. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Voluntary cleanup contract: means a contract entered into between the department and a responsible or nonresponsible party to conduct a voluntary cleanup. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720