HB0253 - Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Act.
|
2001 |
State of Wyoming |
01LSO-0345 Substitute No. 1 |
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0253
Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Act.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Tipton, Burns and Nicholas
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to
public health and safety; providing for
2 the
response to the release of hazardous materials;
3
requiring the state fire marshal to implement a plan to
4
assist in responding to hazardous materials; determining
5
liability for a released hazardous material; providing for
6
recovery of expenses incurred in responding to hazardous
7
material incidents; providing exceptions; and providing for
8
effective dates.
9
10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
11
12 Section 1. W.S.
35-9-151 through 35-9-157 are created
13 to read:
14
15 Division 5
16 Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Act
17
Page 1
1 35-9-151. Citation.
2
3 This act may be cited as
the "Wyoming Hazardous Materials
4
Emergency Response Act".
5
6 35-9-152. Definitions.
7
8 (a) As used in this act:
9
10 (i) "Emergency
response" means a response to any
11 occurrence which has or may result in a
release of a
12 hazardous material;
13
14 (ii) "Hazardous
material" means any substance,
15 material, waste or mixture designated as
hazardous
16 material, waste, or substance according to
49 C.F.R., part
17 172, as amended, or as designated pursuant
to the federal
18 Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and
19 Liability Act of 1980;
20
21 (iii) "Incident"
means the release, or imminent
22 threat of release, of hazardous material
that requires the
23 emergency action of responders to limit or
prevent damage
24 to the person or property;
Page 2
1
2 (iv) "Incident
commander" means the person in
3
charge of all responders at the site of an emergency
4
response;
5
6 (v) "Local
response authority" means the single
7
point of contact designated for a political subdivision for
8
coordinating responses to incidents;
9
10 (vi) "Political
subdivision" means any county,
11 city, town or fire protection district of
the state;
12
13 (vii) "This
act" means W.S. 35-9-151 through
14 35-9-157.
15
16 35-9-153. Emergency response training,
planning and
17 reporting.
18
19 (a) The state fire marshal shall:
20
21 (i) Coordinate,
develop, implement and make
22 available a comprehensive voluntary training
program
23 designed to assist emergency responders in
hazardous
24 material incidents;
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1
2 (ii) Provide for
ongoing training programs for
3
political subdivisions and state agency employees involving
4
responses to spills or releases of hazardous materials;
5
6 (iii) Promulgate rules and regulations for:
7
8 (A) Hazardous
material emergency response
9
training certification;
10
11 (B) Hazardous
material emergency response
12 teams and criteria for providing aid to
those teams;
13
14 (C) Reporting requirements under this act.
15
16 (iv) Assist with
emergency response planning by
17 appropriate agencies of government at the
local, state and
18 national levels.
19
20 (b) The state
fire marshal may, following the
21 National Fire Protection Association
certification criteria
22 and federal requirements, certify the
training of and issue
23 certificates to local agency personnel who
successfully
24 complete hazardous material training.
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1
2 (c) Every local
response authority in the state shall
3
report all emergency responses occurring within their
4
jurisdiction. The report shall include all information
5
required by the state fire marshal and shall use the forms
6
provided for such reporting purposes.
7
8 35-9-154. Local response authority.
9
10 (a) Every
county and incorporated municipality shall
11 designate a local response authority for
responding to and
12 reporting of hazardous material incidents
that occur within
13 their respective jurisdictions. Designation
shall be in
14 accordance with the following:
15
16 (i) The
governing body of every incorporated
17 municipality shall designate by ordinance or
resolution a
18 local response authority to respond to and
report incidents
19 occurring within their jurisdictions;
20
21 (ii) The board
of county commissioners of every
22 county shall designate by resolution a local
response
23 authority to respond to and report incidents
within the
24 unincorporated area of such county or areas
within the
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1
county in which no municipal response authority has been
2
designated;
3
4 (iii) If a local
fire protection district is
5
designated as the local response authority by a governing
6
body of an incorporated municipality or board of county
7
commissioners, the agreement to assume those
8
responsibilities shall be documented in writing;
9
10 (iv) Any
governing body of an incorporated
11 municipality or board of county
commissioners that
12 designates a local response authority
outside their
13 jurisdiction shall enter into a memorandum
of understanding
14 with the local response authority;
15
16 (v) The
designation of a local response
17 authority and copies of any memorandums of
understanding,
18 mutual aid agreements, ordinances, resolutions
and other
19 pertinent documentation created pursuant to
this section
20 shall be reported to the state fire marshal.
21
22 (b) Every local
response authority shall coordinate
23 the response to an incident occurring within
its
24 jurisdiction in a fashion consistent with
hazardous
Page 6
1
materials incident command and 29 C.F.R. § 1910.120. The
2
local response authority shall also coordinate the response
3 to
an incident which initially occurs within its
4
jurisdiction but which spreads to another jurisdiction. If
5 an
incident occurs on a boundary between two (2)
6
jurisdictions or in an area not readily ascertainable, the
7
first local response authority shall coordinate the initial
8
emergency response.
9
10 (c) The
incident commander shall declare an incident
11 ended when the threat to public health and
safety has ended
12 and the threat to the environment has been
minimized.
13
14 35-9-155. Liability for release of a
hazardous
15 material; right to claim reimbursement.
16
17 (a) Any person
who owns, controls or transports a
18 hazardous material which is involved in a
material incident
19 shall be liable for the cost of any local
response
20 authorities arising out of an incident.
21
22 (b) Notwithstanding
subsection (a) of this section,
23 no person shall be liable under this act if
the incident
24 was caused by:
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1
2 (i) An act of God;
3
4 (ii) An act of war; or
5
6 (iii) An act or
omission of a third party, who
7 is
not the employee or agent of the potentially liable
8
person, provided, that:
9
10 (A) The
potentially liable person exercised
11 reasonable care with respect to the
hazardous material
12 involved taking into consideration the
characteristics of
13 the hazardous material in light of all
relevant facts and
14 circumstances; and
15
16 (B) The
potentially liable person took
17 reasonable precautions against foreseeable
acts or
18 omissions of any such third party and the
consequences that
19 could foreseeably result from such acts or
omissions.
20
21 (c) Local
response authorities shall be entitled to
22 recover from any persons liable under this
act for their
23 actual costs incurred as a result of their
response to and
24 containment of a hazardous material
incident:
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1
2 (i) Disposable
materials and supplies acquired,
3
consumed and expended specifically for the purpose of the
4
response;
5
6 (ii) Compensation
of employees and equipment for
7 the
time and efforts devoted specifically to the response
8
that are not otherwise provided for in the applicable
9
operating budget;
10
11 (iii) Rental or
leasing of equipment used
12 specifically for the response;
13
14 (iv) Replacement
costs for equipment owned by
15 the person claiming reimbursement that is
contaminated
16 beyond reuse or repair, if the loss occurred
as a result of
17 the response;
18
19 (v) Decontamination
of equipment contaminated
20 during the response;
21
22 (vi) Special
technical services specifically
23 required for the response;
24
Page 9
1 (vii) Medical
monitoring or treatment of
2
response personnel;
3
4 (viii) Laboratory
expenses for analyzing samples
5
taken during the response; and
6
7 (ix) Disposal expenses.
8
9 35-9-156. Expense recovery and civil remedies.
10
11 (a) In the
event that the local response authorities
12 required by this act to respond to an
incident are required
13 to file a civil action to seek reimbursement
under this
14 act, they shall be awarded their cost of
collection
15 including reasonable attorneys fees,
investigation expenses
16 and litigation expenses. Attorneys fees includes those
17 fees incurred by the office of the attorney
general in
18 enforcing this act under subsection (d) of
this section.
19
20 (b) The
decision to commence a civil action to
21 recover expenses, shall be made by the
governing body of
22 the municipal or county government which
shall take into
23 consideration the cause of the incident, the
total amount
24 of cost incurred in responding to the
incident, the
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1
avoidability of the incident and such other factors as the
2
municipal or county government deems appropriate.
3
4 (c) The remedy
for the recovery of those emergency
5
response expenses identified in this act shall be exclusive
6 and
shall not be used in conjunction with or in addition to
7 any
other remedy for recovery of such costs provided by
8
applicable federal laws. Any person who receives
9
compensation for the emergency response expenses pursuant
10 to any other federal or state law shall be
precluded from
11 recovering compensation for such expenses
pursuant to this
12 act. Nothing in this act shall otherwise
affect or modify
13 in any way the obligations or liability of
any person under
14 any other provision of state or federal law,
including
15 common law, for damages, injury or loss
resulting from the
16 release of any hazardous material or for
remedial action or
17 the expenses of remedial action for such
release.
18
19 (d) At the
request of a county, city or other
20 political subdivision of this state which
has responded to
21 or contained a hazardous material incident,
the attorney
22 general may commence a civil action on its
behalf pursuant
23 to this act.
24
Page 11
1 (e) Any
recovery on behalf of the state under this
2
section shall be deposited in the general fund.
3
4 35-9-157. Exceptions to reimbursements.
5
6 (a) No
political subdivision shall be entitled to
7
reimbursement under this act from any mine or their
8
appurtenant facilities, oil field operators, petroleum
9
refinery or liquid petroleum gas facility unless the
10 incident to which the local response
authority was required
11 to respond occurred outside of the
responsible party's site
12 as defined in the permit for the site issued
by the Wyoming
13 department of environmental quality.
14
15 (b) No
political subdivision shall be entitled to
16 reimbursement under this act from any person
for an
17 incident involving less than the following
quantities of
18 hazardous materials:
19
20 Hazard type Quantity
21
22 Class A or B explosive Any quantity
23 Class C explosive 50 pounds
24 Etiological agent Any quantity
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1 Water reactive flammable solid 5 pounds
2 Pyrophoric material 5 pounds
3 Organic/inorganic peroxide 50 pounds
4 Poison A or poison B 100 pounds or 15 gallons
5 Flammable liquid other than 700 pounds or 120 gallons
6 a pyrophoric liquid
7 Compressed flammable gas other than 3,000 cubic feet or more
8 liquefied petroleum gases at one atmosphere at
9 seventy degrees Fahrenheit
10 Liquefied petroleum gases Any installation exceeding
11 18,000 gallon water capacity
12 Oxidizer 200 pounds or 120 gallons
13 Combustible liquid
14 Class I 120 gallons
15 Class II 240 gallons
16 Class III 500 gallons
17 Corrosive material 200 pounds or 120 gallons
18 (unless a lesser amount is
19 specified in 40 C.F.R., part
20 172.101)
21 Irritating material 200 pounds or 120 gallons
22
24
25 (a) Except
as provided in subsection (b) of this
26 section, this act is effective July
1, 2001.
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1
2 (b) W.S. 35-9-155 through 35-9-157
created under
3
section 1 of this act are effective July 1, 2002.
4
5 (END)
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