(1) The department may undertake remedial actions in response to a release first reported after July 17, 1983, and on or before June 30, 2024, with money available in the fund if:

Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 66-1529.02

  • Action: shall include any proceeding in any court of this state. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Attorney: shall mean attorney at law. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Department: shall mean the Department of Environment and Energy. See Nebraska Statutes 66-1504
  • Fund: shall mean the Petroleum Release Remedial Action Cash Fund created in section 66-1519. See Nebraska Statutes 66-1506
  • Person: shall include bodies politic and corporate, societies, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and associations. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Release: shall mean any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching, or disposing of petroleum from a tank or any overfilling of a tank into ground water, surface water, surface soils, or subsurface soils whether occurring before, on, or after May 27, 1989. See Nebraska Statutes 66-1512
  • Remedial action: shall mean any immediate or long-term response to a release or suspected release in accordance with rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the department or the State Fire Marshal, including tank testing only in conjunction with a release or suspected release, site investigation, site assessment, cleanup, restoration, mitigation, and any other action ordered by the department or the State Fire Marshal which is reasonable and necessary. See Nebraska Statutes 66-1513
  • Responsible person: shall mean a person who is an owner or operator of a tank. See Nebraska Statutes 66-1514
  • Third-party claim: shall mean a final judgment against a responsible person obtained by a third party for compensation for bodily injury and property damage caused by a release first reported after January 1, 1990. See Nebraska Statutes 66-1515.01

(a) The responsible person cannot be identified or located;

(b) An identified responsible person cannot or will not comply with the remedial action requirements; or

(c) Immediate remedial action is necessary, as determined by the Director of Environment and Energy, to protect human health or the environment.

(2) The department may pay the costs of a third-party claim meeting the requirements of subdivision (2)(f) of section 66-1525 with money available in the fund if the responsible person cannot or will not pay the third-party claim.

(3) Reimbursement for any damages caused by the department or a person acting at the department’s direction while investigating or inspecting or during remedial action on property other than property on which a release or suspected release has occurred shall be considered as part of the cost of remedial action involving the site where the release or suspected release occurred. The costs shall be reimbursed from money available in the fund. If such reimbursement is deemed inadequate by the party claiming the damages, the party’s claim for damages caused by the department shall be filed as provided in section 76-705.

(4) All expenses paid from the fund under this section, court costs, and attorney’s fees may be recovered in a civil action in the district court of Lancaster County. The action may be brought by the county attorney or Attorney General at the request of the director against the responsible person. All recovered expenses shall be deposited into the fund.

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