A. The department shall administer the Tank Trust Account and shall make disbursements from the account for all necessary and appropriate expenditures. Pursuant to the authorization in La. Rev. Stat. 30:2195, the secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality shall use the Tank Trust Account as follows:

            (1) Whenever in the secretary’s determination incidence of surface water, groundwater, or soils contamination resulting from the storage of motor fuels may pose a threat to the environment or the public health, safety, and welfare and the owner of the motor fuel underground storage tank has been found to be an eligible participant, the department shall obligate monies available in the Tank Trust Account to provide for the following response actions:

            (a) Investigation and assessment of sites shown to be contaminated by a release into the surface water, groundwater, or soils from a motor fuel underground storage tank.

            (b) Interim replacement and permanent restoration of potable water supply where it has been demonstrated that the supply was contaminated by a leak from a motor fuel underground storage tank.

            (c)(i) To remediate sites contaminated by a leak from a motor fuel underground storage tank to the extent necessary to return the site to the use and occupancy in effect at the time the release occurred. Remediation may consist of cleanup of affected soil, groundwater, and inland surface waters, using cost-effective methods that are technologically feasible and reliable, while ensuring adequate protection of the public health, safety, and welfare and minimizing environmental damage, in accordance with the site selection and cleanup criteria established by the department. Notwithstanding any provision of La. Rev. Stat. 30:2194 through 2195.11 to the contrary, any remediation work contracted for on or after August 1, 1995, shall be paid by the department to the response action contractor who performed the department-approved assessment or remediation work upon the presentation of proper invoices for the work.

            (ii) The monies expended from the Tank Trust Account for any of the above approved costs shall be spent only up to such sums as that which is necessary to satisfy federal petroleum underground storage tank financial responsibility requirements, 40 C.F.R. § 280.93, or one million five hundred thousand dollars, whichever is greater. This amount shall include any third-party claim arising from the release of motor fuels from a motor fuel underground storage tank.

            (2) Whenever costs have been incurred by the department for taking response actions with respect to the release of motor fuels from an underground storage tank or the department has expended funds from the Tank Trust Account for response costs or third-party liability claims, the owner of the motor fuel underground storage tank shall be liable to the department for such costs only if the owner was not an eligible participant on the date of discharge of the motor fuels which necessitates the cleanup; otherwise liability is limited to the provisions contained in La. Rev. Stat. 30:2195.9 and 2195.10. The expenditure of funds to reimburse any party for costs otherwise authorized by this Subsection shall be expressly prohibited if the costs were incurred as the result of a release of motor fuels, excluding new and used motor oil, which occurred prior to July 15, 1988. For new and used motor oil releases, the expenditure of funds to reimburse any party for costs otherwise authorized by this Subsection shall be expressly prohibited for any costs relating to a release which occurred prior to September 6, 1991, unless such release is determined by the secretary to have been from an abandoned motor fuel underground storage tank. Nothing contained herein shall be construed so as to authorize the expenditure from the Tank Trust Account on behalf of any owner of an underground storage tank who is not an eligible participant at the time of the release for any third-party liability.

            (3) In the event funds have been expended by the secretary on behalf of an owner who was not an eligible participant, and the Tank Trust Account is entitled to reimbursement of those funds so expended, the secretary shall use any and all administrative and judicial remedies, including the filing of a lien with the same ranking as that provided in La. Rev. Stat. 30:2195(F)(2), which may be necessary for recovery of the expended funds plus legal interest from the date of payment by the secretary and all costs associated with the recovery of the funds. The secretary may expend the recovered funds for any use authorized under this Section.

            (4) The Environmental Trust Dedicated Fund Account may be used to reimburse or pay for any costs associated with the review of applications for reimbursement from the trust, legal fees associated with the collection of costs from parties who are not eligible participants, audits of the Tank Trust Account and bulk operators, and accounting and reporting of the uses of the trust. The Environmental Trust Dedicated Fund Account will also reimburse the Department of Environmental Quality for costs associated with administering the underground storage tank program in accordance with La. Rev. Stat. 30:2195(C) up to the amount appropriated pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 30:2195(B).

            (5) The Tank Trust Account may be used to make payments to a third party who brings a third-party claim against the secretary of the department and any owner of a motor fuel underground storage tank because of damages sustained by a release into the groundwater, surface waters, or soils and who obtains a final judgment in said action enforceable in this state against the owner and the secretary if and only if it has been satisfactorily demonstrated that the owner was an eligible participant at the time that the release occurred as defined in La. Rev. Stat. 30:2194(B)(3). The indemnification limit of the trust with respect to satisfaction of third-party claims shall be that which is necessary to satisfy federal petroleum underground storage tank financial responsibility requirements.

            (6) The secretary shall authorize the use of any monies obtained in cost recovery actions or from interest on the Tank Trust Account to provide grants or loans to private persons or entities for upgrading or improving underground storage tanks to a standard dictated or recommended by federal or state environmental laws, regulations, or directives.

            (a) A grant or loan may only be made pursuant to this Paragraph if all of the following apply:

            (i) The applicant is domiciled in Louisiana.

            (ii) The site is registered with the department as a single wall underground storage tank system.

            (iii) The applicant is in compliance with and has paid all fees assessed by applicable state law.

            (b) Grants provided pursuant to this Paragraph shall only be made in the form of reimbursement for completed upgrades and improvements after inspection and approval by the department.

            (c) No grant or loan shall exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars, and the total amount of grants per year shall not exceed three million dollars.

            (d) Eligible applicants may only apply for one grant or loan each year.

            (e) The secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement this Paragraph, including the application process, procedures the applicant shall follow prior to making upgrades or improvements to the site, inspection and approval of upgrades or improvements by the department, and procedures the applicant shall follow after completing the work to either claim reimbursement or begin making repayments.

            B.(1) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize the expenditure from the Tank Trust Account for response actions and third-party claims for the following facilities:

            (a) Motor fuel underground storage tanks owned by state and federal governmental entities whose debts and liabilities are the debts and liabilities of a state or the United States.

            (b) Any motor fuel underground storage tank excluded or deferred from regulation under 40 C.F.R. § 280.10, with the exception of an underground storage tank that stores fuel solely for use by emergency power generators.

            (c) Repealed by Acts 2001, No. 550, §2.

            (2) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize or require the department to obligate funds for payment of costs which may be associated with but are not integral to site rehabilitation, such as the cost of retrofitting, replacing leaking motor fuel underground storage tanks and attendant piping, or unapproved purchases of equipment needed in assisting cleanup operations.

            Acts 1988, No. 767, §2, eff. July 15, 1988; Acts 1989, No. 513, §1; Acts 1990, No. 1014, §1, eff. Sept. 1, 1990; Acts 1991, No. 890, §1; Acts 1995, No. 336, §1, eff. June 16, 1995; Acts 1997, No. 27, §1; Acts 1999, No. 303, §1, eff. June 14, 1999; Acts 2001, No. 550, §§1 and 2; Acts 2004, No. 692, §1, eff. July 6, 2004; Acts 2006, No. 447, §1; Acts 2015, No. 277, §1; Acts 2016, No. 521, §1; Acts 2018, No. 612, §9, eff. July 1, 2020; Acts 2019, No. 404, §1, eff. July 1, 2020; Acts 2021, No. 114, §18, eff. July 1, 2022; Acts 2022, No. 277, §1.