TITLE 39

HEALTH AND SAFETY

CHAPTER 71

HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACT

39-7103.  Definitions. As used in this chapter:

(1)  "Emergency" means a release or threat of release that, in the reasonable judgment of the local emergency response authority in consultation with the office, threatens immediate harm to the environment or the health and safety of any individual and that requires immediate action for the containment or control of a hazardous or potentially hazardous substance to prevent, minimize or mitigate harm to the public health, safety or the environment which may result if action is not taken.

(2)  "Hazardous substance incident" means an emergency circumstance requiring a response by the state emergency response team or the local emergency response authority to monitor, assess and evaluate a release or threat of a release of a hazardous or potentially hazardous substance. A hazardous substance incident may require containment or confinement or both, but does not include site cleanup or remediation efforts after the incident commander has determined the emergency has ended.

(3)  "Hazardous substance" means:

(a)  Any "hazardous substance" within the scope of section 101(14) of the federal comprehensive environmental response, compensation and liability act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9601(14);

(b)  Any hazardous substance within the scope of section 104 of the federal hazardous materials transportation act, 49 U.S.C. 1803, and the federal department of transportation regulations promulgated pursuant thereto;

(c)  Any extremely hazardous substance within the scope of section 302 of the federal emergency planning and community right-to-know act, 42 U.S.C. 11002; and

(d)  Any explosive or weapon of mass destruction utilized or threatened to be utilized in an act of terrorism, crime or other threat to public safety.

(4)  "Incident commander" is the person in charge of all responders to a hazardous substance incident and who is identified in the Idaho hazardous materials emergency incident command and response plan or the private emergency response plan.

(5)  "Local emergency response authority" means those persons designated under section 39-7105, Idaho Code, by the city, county, or the military division to be first responders to hazardous substance incidents.

(6)  "Military division" means the military division of the office of the governor.

(7)  "Office" means the Idaho office of emergency management within the military division.

(8)  "Person" means any individual, public or private corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, firm, trust, estate, the United States or any department, institution, or agency thereof, the state or any department, institution, or agency thereof, any municipal corporation, county, city, or other political subdivision of the state, or any other legal entity whatsoever which is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties.

(9)  "Potentially hazardous substance" means any substance which in the reasonable judgment of the local emergency response authority in consultation with the office is likely a hazardous substance.

(10) "Private emergency response plan" means a plan designed to respond to emergency releases of hazardous or potentially hazardous substances at a specific facility or under a specific set of conditions.

(11) "Release" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, escaping, dumping or disposing of a hazardous or potentially hazardous substance, or the threat of the same, into the environment. "Release" does not include any discharge of a hazardous substance into the environment which is authorized by limits and conditions in a federal or state permit relating to the protection of public health or the environment so long as the permitted activity from which the release occurs is in compliance with applicable limits and conditions of the permit.

(12) "State emergency response team" means one (1) of the state emergency response teams authorized by the military division to respond to hazardous substance incidents.

(13) "Threat of release" means the release of a hazardous or potentially hazardous substance is likely.

History:

[39-7103, added 1991, ch. 242, sec. 1, p. 584; am. 1997, ch. 121, sec. 1, p. 357; am. 2004, ch. 58, sec. 1, p. 268; am. 2009, ch. 281, sec. 2, p. 845; am. 2016, ch. 118, sec. 3, p. 331.]