a. The fund shall be strictly liable for all direct and indirect damages, no matter by whom sustained, proximately resulting from the operations or closure of any sanitary landfill. These damages shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) The cost of restoring, repairing or replacing any real or personal property damaged or destroyed;

(2) The cost of restoration and replacement, where possible, of any natural resource damaged or destroyed, including any potable water supply;

(3) The cost of any personal injuries, including medical expenses incurred and income lost as a result thereof; and

(4) The costs of the design, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of any device or action deemed necessary by the department to clean up, remedy, mitigate, monitor or analyze any threat to the public health, safety or welfare of the citizens of this State, including the installation and maintenance of methane gas monitors and vents and leachate monitoring wells and collection systems, and the sampling and analysis of any public or private potable water supply.

b. In the event that the total of claims awarded exceeds the current balance of the fund, the immediate award shall be paid on a pro rata basis, and all claimants paid on a pro rata basis shall be paid, as determined by the department, on a pro rata share of all moneys received by the fund until the total amount of the proven damages is paid to the claimants. The department may also provide, by regulation, priority for the payment of claims based on extreme hardship or extreme existing or imminent hazard.

L.1981, c. 306, s. 7.