PART I. HAWAII ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE LAW
§128D-1 Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Bona fide prospective purchaser" means a person (or a tenant of a person) who acquires ownership of a facility after October 1, 2009, and establishes each of the following by a preponderance of the evidence:
"CERCLA" means the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, P.L. 96-510 (42 U.S.C. §§9601-9675), as amended.
"Clean Water Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, P.L. 92-500 (33 U.S.C. §§1251-1387), as amended.
"Contractual relationship" means relationships involving land contracts, deeds or other instruments transferring title or possession.
"Department" means the department of health.
"Director" means the director of health.
"Environment" means any waters, including surface water, ground water, or drinking water supply, any land surface or any subsurface strata, or any ambient air within the State of Hawaii or under the jurisdiction of the State.
"Facility" means any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline (including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft, or any site or area where a hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise comes to be located; but does not include any consumer product in consumer use.
"Federal on-scene coordinator" means the federal official predesignated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the United States Coast Guard to coordinate and direct federal responses under subpart D, or the official designated by the lead agency to coordinate and direct removal under subpart E, of the National Contingency Plan.
"Fund" means the environmental response revolving fund.
"Hazardous substance" includes any substance designated pursuant to section 311(b)(2)(A) of the Clean Water Act; any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to section 102 of CERCLA; any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act; any toxic pollutant listed under section 307(a) of the Clean Water Act; any hazardous air pollutant listed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. §§7401-7626); any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture regulated under section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act, as amended (15 U.S.C. §§2601-2671), oil, trichloropropane, and any other substance or pollutant or contaminant designated by rules adopted pursuant to this chapter.
In adopting rules, the director shall consider any substance or mixture of substances, including but not limited to feedstock materials, products, or wastes, which, because of their quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may:
"National contingency plan" means the national contingency plan published under section 311(d) of the Clean Water Act or revised pursuant to section 105 of CERCLA.
"Natural resources" means land, fish, wildlife, biota, air, water, ground water, drinking water supplies, and other such resources belonging to, managed by, held in trust by, appertaining to, or otherwise controlled by the State of Hawaii, any county, or by the United States to the extent that the latter are subject to state law.
"Oil" means oil of any kind or in any form, including, but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, oil mixed with wastes, crude oil or any fraction or residue.
"Owner" or "operator" means:
"Owner" or "operator" does not include a person who, without participating in the management of the vessel or facility, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect its security interest in the vessel or facility. Until such time as the department adopts rules pertaining to lenders, the provisions of the Asset Conservation, Lender Liability and Deposit Insurance Protection Act of 1996 shall apply to the actions of lenders after July 1, 1997.
"Person" means any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, consortium, joint venture, commercial entity, state, county, commission, political subdivision of the State, or, to the extent they are subject to this chapter, the United States or any interstate body.
"Pollutant or contaminant" means any element, substance, compound, or mixture, 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 such organisms or their offspring.
"Release" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant into the environment, (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant); but excludes:
"Remedy" or "remedial action" means those actions consistent with permanent correction taken instead of or in addition to removal actions in the event of a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant into the environment, to prevent or minimize the release of hazardous substances so that they do not migrate to cause substantial danger to present or future public health or welfare or the environment.
"Remove" or "removal action" means the cleanup of released hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants from the environment, such actions as may be necessary to take in the event of the threat of release of hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants into the environment, such actions as may be necessary to monitor, assess, and evaluate the release or threat of release of hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants, the disposal of removed material, or the taking of such other actions as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare or to the environment, which may otherwise result from a release or threat of release. The term includes, in addition, without being limited to, security fencing or other measures to limit access, provision of alternative water supplies, temporary evacuation and housing of threatened individuals not otherwise provided for, and any emergency assistance.
"Respond" or "response" means remove, removal, remedy, or remedial action; and all such terms include government enforcement activities related thereto.
"SARA" means the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, P.L. 99-499.
"State on-scene coordinator" means the state official designated by the department of health to coordinate and direct responses under this chapter.
"Vessel" means every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. [L 1988, c 148, pt of §2; am L 1990, c 298, pt of §18; am L 1991, c 280, §2; am L 1993, c 324, §1; am L 1997, c 377, §4; am L 2009, c 125, §2; am L 2012, c 34, §5]