TITLE 41

INSURANCE

CHAPTER 49

PETROLEUM CLEAN WATER TRUST FUND ACT

41-4903.  Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter:

(1)  "Aboveground storage tank" means any one (1) or a combination of tanks, including pipes connected thereto, that is used to contain an accumulation of petroleum or petroleum products, and the volume of which, including the volume of pipes connected thereto, is less than ten percent (10%) beneath the surface of the ground. This term does not include a heating tank, farm tank or residential tank or any tank with a capacity of one hundred ten (110) gallons or less.

(2)  "Accidental release" means any sudden or nonsudden release of petroleum from a storage tank that results in a need for corrective action or compensation for bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended by the tank owner or operator.

(3)  "Administrator" means the state insurance fund or any person employed by the board of trustees to replace the state insurance fund, employed by the board to administer the Idaho petroleum clean water trust fund.

(4)  "Application fee" means the amount paid or payable by an owner or operator applying for a contract of insurance with the trust fund to offset the costs of issuing contracts of insurance and other costs of administering this fund.

(5)  "Board" means the board of trustees appointed by the governor.

(6)  "Bodily injury" means any bodily injury, sickness, disease or death sustained by any person and caused by an occurrence defined in subsection (19) of this section.

(7)  "Contamination" means the presence of petroleum or petroleum products in surface or subsurface soil, surface water, or ground water.

(8)  "Commission" means the state tax commission of the state of Idaho.

(9)  "Corrective action" means those actions as are reasonably necessary to satisfy applicable federal and state standards in the event of a release into the environment from a petroleum storage tank. Corrective action includes initial corrective action response or actions consistent with a remedial action to clean up contaminated soil and ground water or address residual effects after initial corrective action is taken, as well as actions necessary to monitor, assess and evaluate a release. Corrective action also includes the cost of removing a tank which is releasing or has been releasing petroleum products and the release cannot be corrected without removing the tank; but corrective action does not include the cost of replacing this tank with another tank.

(10) "Department" means the department of insurance of the state of Idaho.

(11) "Director" means the director of the department of insurance.

(12) "Farm tank" means any tank with a capacity of more than one hundred ten (110) gallons but less than one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons situated above ground or underground which is used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes and which is located on a tract of land devoted to the production of crops or raising animals, including fish, and associated residences and improvements. A farm tank must be located on the farm property. "Farm" includes fish hatcheries, rangeland and nurseries with growing operations.

(13) "Free product" means petroleum or petroleum products in the nonaqueous phase, (e.g., liquid not dissolved in water).

(14) "Fund" or "trust fund" means the Idaho petroleum clean water trust fund.

(15) "Heating tank" means any tank with a capacity of more than one hundred ten (110) gallons situated above ground or underground which is used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored.

(16) "Legal defense costs" means any expense that an owner or operator or the trust fund incurs in defending against claims or actions brought by the federal environmental protection agency or a state agency to require corrective action or to recover the costs of corrective action; or by or on behalf of a third party for bodily injury or property damage caused by a release.

(17) "Licensed distributor" means any distributor who has obtained a license under the provisions of section 63-2427A, Idaho Code. If a person subject to the fee imposed by section 41-4909(7), Idaho Code, is not required to obtain a distributor’s license under paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) of section 63-2427A, Idaho Code, such person shall apply to the commission for a limited license for the purpose of complying with the requirements of this chapter. Such a limited license shall not be valid for any other purpose. No bond shall be required for a limited license. A holder of a limited license is a "licensed distributor" for the purposes of filing reports, paying fees and other actions necessary to the proper administration and enforcement of this chapter.

(18) "Noncommercial purposes" means not for resale, with respect to motor fuels.

(19) "Occurrence" means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which resulted in a release into the environment of petroleum products from a petroleum storage tank.

(20) "Operator" means any person in control, or having responsibility for, the daily operations of a petroleum storage tank.

(21) "Owner" means the owner of a petroleum storage tank, except that "owner" does not include any person who, without participation in the management of a petroleum storage tank, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect the owner’s security interest in the tank.

(22) "Person" means any corporation, association, partnership, one (1) or more individuals, or any governmental unit, or agency thereof, other than federal or state agencies.

(23) "Petroleum" and/or "petroleum products" mean crude oil, or any fraction thereof, which is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure (i.e., at sixty (60) degrees fahrenheit and fourteen and seven-tenths (14.7) pounds per square inch absolute). The term includes motor gasoline, gasohol, other alcohol blended fuels, diesel fuel, heating oil and aviation fuel. Biodiesel and biodiesel blends, as those terms are defined in section 63-2401, Idaho Code, ethanol, and natural gasoline are also petroleum or petroleum products.

(24) "Property damage" means injury or destruction to tangible property caused by an occurrence.

(25) "Release" means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching, or disposing from a petroleum storage tank into ground water, surface water, or surface or subsurface soils.

(26) "Residential tank" means any tank with a capacity of more than one hundred ten (110) gallons but less than one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons situated above ground or underground which is used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes and which is located on property used primarily for dwelling purposes.

(27) "Site" means a single parcel of property where petroleum or petroleum products are stored in a petroleum storage tank and includes all contiguous land, structures, other appurtenances, surface water, ground water, surface and subsurface soil, and subsurface strata within and beneath the property boundary.

(28) "State" means the state of Idaho or any office, department, agency, authority, commission, board, institution, hospital, college, university or other instrumentality thereof.

(29) "Tank" means a stationary device designed to contain an accumulation of petroleum or petroleum products and constructed of nonearthen materials (e.g., concrete, steel, plastic) that provide structural support.

(30) "Trustees" means the trustees of the Idaho petroleum clean water trust fund, who are appointed by the governor pursuant to this chapter.

(31) "Underground storage tank" means any one (1) or combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, that is used to contain an accumulation of petroleum or petroleum products, and the volume of which, including the volume of underground pipes connected thereto, is ten percent (10%) or more beneath the surface of the ground. This term does not include any:

(a)  Farm or residential tank of one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;

(b)  Tank used solely for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises where stored;

(c)  Septic tank;

(d)  Pipeline facility including gathering lines regulated under:

(i)   The natural gas pipeline safety act of 1968 (49 U.S.C. app. 1671, et seq.); or

(ii)  The hazardous liquid pipeline safety act of 1979 (49 U.S.C. app. 2001, et seq.); or

(iii) State laws comparable to the provisions of the law referred to in paragraph (d)(i) or (d)(ii) of this subsection as an intrastate pipeline facility;

(e)  Surface impoundment, pit, pond or lagoon;

(f)  Storm water or wastewater collection system;

(g)  Flow-through process tank;

(h)  Liquid trap or associated gathering lines directly related to oil or gas production and gathering operations;

(i)  Storage tank situated in an underground area (such as a basement, cellar, mineworking, drift, shaft, or tunnel) if the storage tank is situated upon or above the surface of the floor;

(j)  Tanks with a capacity of one hundred ten (110) gallons or less.

The term "underground storage tank" does not include any pipes connected to any tank which is described in paragraphs (a) through (i) of this definition.

(32) "Underground storage tank regulations" means regulations for petroleum storage tanks promulgated by the United States environmental protection agency (EPA) pursuant to subtitle I of the solid waste disposal act, as amended by the resource conservation and recovery act, regulations promulgated by the state of Idaho as part of a state program for underground storage tank regulation under subtitle I, or other regulations affecting underground storage tank operations and management, including the international fire code adopted by the state of Idaho.

History:

[41-4903, added 1990, ch. 119, sec. 1, p. 268; am. 1991, ch. 59, sec. 2, p. 116; am. 1995, ch. 132, sec. 12, p. 576; am. 1998, ch. 428, sec. 6, p. 1350; am. 2002, ch. 86, sec. 9, p. 199; am. 2003, ch. 96, sec. 2, p. 283; am. 2007, ch. 37, sec. 3, p. 92; am. 2009, ch. 21, sec. 1, p. 48; am. 2011, ch. 6, sec. 1, p. 14.]