(a)        Planning. – The State Emergency Response Commission shall be responsible for developing a program, including training, for the waters of the State, including offshore marine waters, to enable the State to respond to an emergency oil or other hazardous substances spillage. In carrying out its duties under this section, designated representatives of the State Emergency Response Commission, the Board of Transportation, the Wildlife Resources Commission, the Environmental Management Commission, the Division of Marine Fisheries, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Office of the Department of Administration, and any other agency or agencies of the State which the State Emergency Response Commission shall deem necessary and appropriate, shall confer and establish plans and procedures for the assignment and utilization of personnel, equipment and material to be used in carrying out the purposes of this Part. Every State agency involved is authorized to adopt such rules as shall be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section.

(b)        Cooperative Effort. – The Board of Transportation, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the Division of Marine Fisheries, and any other agency of this State and any local agency designated by the State shall cooperate with and lend assistance to the Commission by assigning to the Commission upon its request personnel, equipment, and material to be utilized in any project or activity related to the containment, collection, dispersal, or removal of oil or other hazardous substances discharged upon the land or discharged into waters affecting this State.

(c)        Trucks. – The Secretary of Transportation may, after consultation with the Secretary of Environmental Quality, purchase and equip a sufficient number of trucks designed to carry out the provisions of subsection (b) of this section. These trucks shall be maintained by the Department of Transportation and shall be strategically located at various locations throughout the State so as to furnish a ready response when word of an oil or other hazardous substances discharge has been received. The Secretary of Environmental Quality or his designee will, after consultation, decide where the trucks are to be located.

(d)       Rules. – The Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Environmental Quality or their designees shall adopt rules for the placement of these trucks and shall determine the manner and way in which they are to be used. The Secretary of Environmental Quality shall reimburse the Department of Transportation for expenses incurred by the Department of Transportation during cleanups as provided in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-215.88

(e)        Accounts. – Every State agency or other State-designated local agency participating in the containment, collection, dispersal, or removal of an oil or other hazardous substances discharge or in restoration necessitated by such discharge, shall keep a record of all expenses incurred in carrying out any such project or activity including the actual services performed by the agency’s personnel and the use of the agency’s personnel and the use of the agency’s equipment and material. A copy of all records shall be delivered to the Commission upon completion of the project or activity. ?(1973, c. 507, s. 5; c. 534, s. 1; c. 1262, s. 23; 1979, c. 535, ss. 18, 19; 1987, c. 827, ss. 154, 195; 1989, c. 656, s. 3; c. 727, ss. 164, 165; 1997-443, s. 11A.119(a); 2015-241, s. 14.30(v).)

Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.86

  • Commission: means the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
  • Department: shall mean the Department of Environmental Quality. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
  • Discharge: shall mean , but shall not be limited to, any emission, spillage, leakage, pumping, pouring, emptying, or dumping of oil or other hazardous substances into waters of the State or into waters outside the territorial limits of the State which affect lands, waters or uses related thereto within the territorial limits of the State, or upon land in such proximity to waters that oil or other hazardous substances is reasonably likely to reach the waters, but shall not include amounts less than quantities which may be harmful to the public health or welfare as determined pursuant to N. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
  • Oil: shall mean oil of any kind and in any form, including, but specifically not limited to, petroleum, crude oil, diesel oil, fuel oil, gasoline, lubrication oil, oil refuse, oil mixed with other waste, oil sludge, petroleum related products or by-products, and all other liquid hydrocarbons, regardless of specific gravity, whether singly or in combination with other substances. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
  • Secretary: shall mean the North Carolina Secretary of Environmental Quality. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
  • Waters: shall mean any stream, river, creek, brook, run, canal, swamp, lake, sound, tidal estuary, bay, reservoir, waterway, wetlands, or any other body or accumulation of water, surface or underground, public or private, natural or artificial, which is contained within, flows through, or borders upon this State, or any portion thereof, including those portions of the Atlantic Ocean over which this State has jurisdiction. See North Carolina General Statutes 143-215.77
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