North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.94HH. Oil spill contingency plan
(a) The State Emergency Response Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of Administration or his designee in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Office, shall develop a State oil spill contingency plan relating solely to the undersea exploration, extraction, production and transport of oil or natural gas in the marine environment off the North Carolina coast, including any such development on the Outer Continental Shelf seaward of the State’s jurisdiction over its territorial waters.
(b) The Secretary of Public Safety or his designee shall establish, pursuant to such a plan, an emergency oil spill control network which shall be comprised of available equipment from appropriate State, county and municipal governmental agencies. Such network shall be employed to provide an immediate response to an oil discharge into the offshore marine environment which is reasonably likely to affect the State’s coastal waters. Furthermore, such network shall be employed in conjunction with the cleanup operations under this Article or any applicable federal law, required of the owner or operator of the discharging operation, vessel, or facility, the Department of Environmental Quality, and any federal agency.
(1) The Secretary of Public Safety or his designee shall make an inventory, including its location and condition, of all equipment owned by the State, its counties and municipalities, and private equipment that is available to the State for leasing in the case of an oil spill including costs of leasing, that would be capable of participating in discharge cleanup operations.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.94HH
- Commission: means the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Department: shall mean the Department of Environmental Quality. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Discharge: shall mean , but shall not be limited to, any emission, spillage, leakage, pumping, pouring, emptying, or dumping of oil or other hazardous substances into waters of the State or into waters outside the territorial limits of the State which affect lands, waters or uses related thereto within the territorial limits of the State, or upon land in such proximity to waters that oil or other hazardous substances is reasonably likely to reach the waters, but shall not include amounts less than quantities which may be harmful to the public health or welfare as determined pursuant to N. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Oil: shall mean oil of any kind and in any form, including, but specifically not limited to, petroleum, crude oil, diesel oil, fuel oil, gasoline, lubrication oil, oil refuse, oil mixed with other waste, oil sludge, petroleum related products or by-products, and all other liquid hydrocarbons, regardless of specific gravity, whether singly or in combination with other substances. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Operator: shall mean any person owning or operating an oil terminal facility or pipeline, whether by lease, contract, or any other form of agreement. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Secretary: shall mean the North Carolina Secretary of Environmental Quality. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Vessel: shall include every description of watercraft or other contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water, whether self-propelled or otherwise, and shall include, but shall not be limited to, barges and tugs; provided that the term "vessel" as used herein shall not apply to any pleasure, sport or commercial fishing vessel which has a fuel capacity of less than 500 gallons and is not used to transport petroleum, petroleum products, or general cargo. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
- Waters: shall mean any stream, river, creek, brook, run, canal, swamp, lake, sound, tidal estuary, bay, reservoir, waterway, wetlands, or any other body or accumulation of water, surface or underground, public or private, natural or artificial, which is contained within, flows through, or borders upon this State, or any portion thereof, including those portions of the Atlantic Ocean over which this State has jurisdiction. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
(2) The Secretary of Public Safety shall at his discretion have the power to deploy such equipment in participating in a discharge cleanup operation.
(3) The Secretary of Environmental Quality shall be authorized to reimburse such State agencies, counties, and municipalities for use of such equipment with such funds as may be available from the “Oil or Other Hazardous Substances Pollution Protection Fund” created pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-215.87 or any other sources.
(4) The oil spill contingency plan and oil spill response network developed pursuant to this section shall be reviewed and evaluated for adequacy and continued feasibility every three years, or more often if deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Public Safety. (1989, c. 656, s. 5; c. 727, s. 218(111a); c. 770, s. 75.5; 1997-443, s. 11A.119(a); 2011-145, s. 19.1(g); 2015-241, ss. 14.30(u), (v).)