The following terms as used in this Subtitle, unless the context otherwise requires or unless redefined by a particular Chapter of this Subtitle, shall have the following meanings:

            (1) “Abandoned site fund” shall mean the Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup Fund as created by La. Rev. Stat. 30:2205 and formerly known as the Abandoned Hazardous Waste Site Fund.

            (2) “Adjudication” means formal or informal proceedings for the formulation of a decision or order.

            (3) “Aggrieved person” means a natural or juridical person who has a real and actual interest that is or may be adversely affected by a final action under this Subtitle.

            (4) “Assistant secretary” means the assistant secretary to whom a given function or responsibility has been allocated by this Subtitle or delegated by the secretary.

            (5) “Compliance order” means an order issued by the secretary or an assistant secretary requiring a respondent to comply with specified provisions of this Subtitle, a rule, or a permit within a specified period of time.

            (6) “Department” means the Department of Environmental Quality.

            (7) “Discharge” means the placing, releasing, spilling, percolating, draining, pumping, leaking, seeping, emitting, or other escaping of pollutants into the air, waters, subsurface water, or ground as the result of a prior act or omission; or the placing of pollutants into pits, drums, barrels, or similar containers under conditions and circumstances that leaking, seeping, draining, or escaping of the pollutants can be reasonably anticipated.

             (8) “Facility” means a pollution source or any public or private property or facility where an activity is conducted which is required to be regulated under this Subtitle and which does or has the potential to do any of the following:

            (a) Emit air contaminants into the atmosphere.

            (b) Discharge pollutants into waters of the state.

            (c) Use or control radioactive materials and waste.

            (d) Transport, process, or dispose of solid wastes.

            (e) Generate, transport, treat, store, or dispose of hazardous wastes.

            (9) “Implementation plan” means any pollution control or other environmental regulatory plan prepared by a state agency in compliance with the terms of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act(42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.), or other federal environmental legislation.

            (10) “Natural resources committees” means the Natural Resources and Environment Committee of the House of Representatives and the Environmental Quality Committee of the Senate of the Louisiana Legislature.

             (11) “Person” means any individual, municipality, public or private corporation, partnership, firm, the United States Government, and any agent or subdivision thereof or any other juridical person, which shall include, but not be limited to, trusts, joint stock companies, associations, the state of Louisiana, political subdivisions of the state of Louisiana, commissions, and interstate bodies.

            (12) “Pollutant” means those elements or compounds defined or identified as hazardous, toxic, or noxious, or as hazardous, solid, or radioactive wastes under this Subtitle and regulations, or by the secretary, consistent with applicable laws and regulations. For the purposes of the Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, as defined in La. Rev. Stat. 30:2073, “pollutant” means dredged spoil; solid waste; incinerator residue; filter backwash; sewage; garbage; sewage sludge; munitions; chemical wastes; biological materials; radioactive materials, except those regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. § 2011 et seq., as amended; heat; wrecked or discarded equipment; rock; sand; cellar dirt; and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. For the purposes of the Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, as defined in La. Rev. Stat. 30:2073, “pollutant” does not mean:

            (a) Water, gas, waste, or other material which is injected into a well for disposal in accordance with a permit approved by the Department of Energy and Natural Resources or the Department of Environmental Quality.

            (b) Water, gas, or other material which is injected into a well to facilitate production of oil or gas, or water derived in association with oil and gas production and disposed of in a well, if the well used either to facilitate production or for disposal purposes is approved by authority of the state in which the well is located, and if the state determines that the injection or disposal will not result in the degradation of ground or surface water resources.

            (13) “Pollution source” means the immediate site or location of a discharge or potential discharge, including such surrounding property necessary to secure or quarantine the area from access by the general public.

            (14) “Respondent” means the person against whom an enforcement action is directed.

            (15) “Response account” means the Environmental Trust Dedicated Fund Account created in La. Rev. Stat. 30:2015.

            (16) “Secretary” means the secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality.

            (17) “Small refinery” means a refinery for which the average aggregate daily crude oil throughput for a calendar year, as determined by dividing the aggregate throughput for the calendar year by the number of days in the calendar year, does not exceed seventy-five thousand barrels.

            (18) “Variance” means a special authorization granted to a person for a limited period of time which allows that person a specified date for compliance with a requirement pursuant to the provisions of this Subtitle.

             (19) “Violation” means a failure to comply with the requirements of this Subtitle, the rules issued under this Subtitle, and conditions of permits under this Subtitle.

            Acts 1979, No. 449, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1980. Amended by Acts 1980, No. 194, §1; Acts 1981, No. 198, §1; Acts 1982, No. 655, §1; Acts 1983, No. 97, §1, eff. Feb. 1, 1984; Acts 1983, No. 467, §1, eff. July 6, 1983; Acts 1984, No. 116, §1, eff. June 22, 1984; Acts 1989, No. 392, §1, eff. June 30, 1989; Acts 1991, No. 21, §1, eff. June 14, 1991; Acts 1995, No. 708, §1; Acts 1995, No. 947, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1996; Acts 1997, No. 26, §1; Acts 2008, No. 580, §2; Acts 2018, No. 612, §9, eff. July 1, 2020; Acts 2019, No. 404, §1, eff. July 1, 2020; Acts 2022, No. 72, §1; Acts 2023, No. 150, §5, eff. Jan. 10, 2024.