75-10-749. Allocator selection — payment of fees. (1) If the preallocation negotiations pursuant to 75-10-748 fail to produce a stipulated agreement within the timeframe provided in 75-10-748, the participating persons shall select an allocator within 30 days after the preallocation negotiations end. All participating persons shall agree on the selected allocator.

Terms Used In Montana Code 75-10-749

  • Fund: means the environmental quality protection fund established in 75-10-704. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Orphan share: means the percentage share of remedial action costs for a facility that is attributable, under the procedures in 75-10-742 through 75-10-751, to identified but bankrupt or defunct persons who are not an affiliate of any viable person, unless affiliated by stock ownership. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Person: means an individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company, joint venture, consortium, commercial entity, partnership, association, corporation, commission, state or state agency, political subdivision of the state, interstate body, or the federal government, including a federal agency. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
  • Release: means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of a hazardous or deleterious substance directly into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous or deleterious substance), but excludes releases confined to the indoor workplace environment, the use of pesticides as defined in 80-8-102 when they are applied in accordance with approved federal and state labels, and the use of commercial fertilizers, as defined in 80-10-101, when applied as part of accepted agricultural practice. See Montana Code 75-10-701

(2)Before selection or appointment as an allocator, a person shall disclose all conflicts of interest, including whether the allocator is or has been a relative, attorney, agent, employee, creditor, or contractor of, or in any manner is or has been interested financially or personally with, any person involved in the allocation.

(3)If the participating persons are unable to agree on an allocator within the required 30 days, one or more of the participating persons shall apply for judicial resolution, within 10 days, to the district court in the county where the release occurred or where any potentially liable person under 75-10-715 resides or has a principal place of business or in the district court of the first judicial district. If an application to the district court is not made within 10 days, all persons remain subject to liability as provided in 75-10-715 and the allocation process ends.

(4)Upon selection or appointment of the allocator, the lead person shall advance, if required by the allocator, up to $5,000 toward the allocator’s expenses. Any expenses accrued by the allocator for legal or technical expertise must be approved in advance by all the participating persons. The allocator’s fees and reasonable expenses must be divided among the participating liable persons, except the orphan share, in proportion to their allocated shares. The orphan share fund established in 75-10-743 is not responsible for any portion of the allocator’s fees and expenses.