Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 44 > Chapter 56 - South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Act

• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Board: means the South Carolina Board of Occupational Therapy. See South Carolina Code 40-36-20
• Board: means the South Carolina Board of Health and Environmental Control which is charged with responsibility for implementation of the Hazardous Waste Management Act. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Boat: means a vessel. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• CERCLA: means the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and its amendments, 42 U. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contaminant: includes , but is not limited to, any element, substance, compound, or mixture, including disease-causing agents, which after release into the environment and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will or may reasonably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physiological malfunctions, including malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformations, in organisms or their offspring; "contaminant" does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction of crude oil, which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (14) of CERCLA, Section 101, 42 U. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Contaminated site: means any drycleaning facility or wholesale supply facility and surrounding area where drycleaning solvent has been deposited, stored, disposed of, released, placed, or otherwise come to be located; but does not include any consumer product in consumer use or any container. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Contamination: means impact by a contaminant, petroleum, or petroleum product. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• convicted: means adjudication at trial or civil hearing and includes the entry of a plea of guilty, or nolo contendere, or the forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure a defendant's appearance in court. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Health and Environmental Control, including personnel thereof authorized by the board to act on behalf of the department or board. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Department: means the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources unless otherwise stated. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Department: means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Department: means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Director: means the director of the department or his authorized agent. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Discharge: means leakage, seepage, or other release. See South Carolina Code 44-56-310
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such substance or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwater. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Dry drop-off facility: means a commercial retail business (including routes) that receives clothing and other fabrics, from customers, for drycleaning or laundering at an off-site drycleaning facility. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Drycleaning facility: includes laundry facilities that are using or have used drycleaning solvent as part of their cleaning process but does not include textile mills, uniform rental and linen supply facilities, or drycleaning facilities owned or operated by a local, state, or federal government. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Drycleaning solvent: includes solvent that has been recycled for use at a drycleaning facility and applies only to those solvents used at a drycleaning facility or handled by a wholesale supply facility. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Employee: means a natural person employed and paid by the owner of a drycleaning facility for thirty-five or more hours a week for forty-five or more weeks a year and on whose behalf the owner contributes payments to the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce or Department of Revenue as required by law. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Existing drycleaning facility: means a drycleaning facility that started operation before November 24, 2004. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Former drycleaning facility: means a drycleaning facility that ceased to be operated as a drycleaning facility before July 1, 1995. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means Drycleaning Facility Restoration Trust Fund. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Generation: means the act or process of producing waste materials. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Halogenated drycleaning fluid: means any nonaqueous solvent formulated, in whole or in part, with ten percent or more by volume of any of the halogenated compounds including, but not limited to, chlorine, bromine, fluorine, or iodine. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Hazardous materials: means all materials and substances defined as hazardous by any state or federal law or regulation. See South Carolina Code 44-56-310
• Hazardous waste: means any waste, or combination of wastes, of a solid, liquid, contained gaseous, or semisolid form which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may in the judgment of the department:
  
  a. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Hazardous waste management: means the systematic control of the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, processing, treatment, recovery, and disposal of hazardous wastes. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Manifest: means the form used for identifying the quantity, composition, or origin, routing, and destination of hazardous waste during its transportation from the point of generation to the point of disposal, treatment, or storage. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• New drycleaning facility: means a drycleaning facility that started operation on or after November 24, 2004. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Nonaqueous solvent: means any cleaning formulation designed to minimize swelling of fabric fibers and containing less than fifty-one percent of water by volume. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Nonhalogenated drycleaning fluid: means any nonaqueous solvent used in a drycleaning facility that contains less than ten percent by volume of any halogenated drycleaning fluid. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Nonresponsible party: means any party which is neither:
  
  (i) a responsible party at the time the voluntary cleanup contract is signed, including lenders, economic development agencies, fiduciaries, trustees, executors, administrators, custodians, subsequent holders of a security interest; nor
  
  (ii) a parent, subsidiary of, or successor to a responsible party. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Occupational therapy: means the functional evaluation and treatment of individuals whose ability to cope with the tasks of living are threatened or impaired by developmental deficits, the aging process, poverty and cultural differences, physical injury or illness, or psychological or social disability. See South Carolina Code 40-36-20
• Operate: means to navigate, steer, drive, or be in control. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Operator: means the person who operates or has charge or command of the navigation or use of a vessel or watercraft. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Oversight costs: means those costs, both direct and indirect, incurred by the department in implementing the voluntary cleanup program. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Owner: means a person, other than a lienholder, who claims lawful possession of a vessel or outboard motor by virtue of legal title or equitable interest in it which entitled him to possession. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Permit: means the process by which the department can ensure cognizance of, as well as control over the management of hazardous wastes. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Person: means an individual, a partnership, a firm, a corporation, an association, or other legal entity. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other entity. See South Carolina Code 44-56-310
• Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, trust, estate, receiver, company, limited liability company, or another entity or group. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal watercraft: means a vessel, usually less than sixteen feet in length, that uses an inboard motor powering a water jet pump as its primary source of propulsion and that is intended to be operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling on the vessel, rather than within the confines of the hull. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• petroleum product: means crude oil or any fraction of crude oil which is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure (60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Property: means that portion of the site which is subject to the ownership, prospective ownership, or possessory or contractual interest of a responsible party or a nonresponsible party. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Property owner: means a person who is vested with ownership, dominion, or legal or rightful title to the real property or who has a ground lease interest in the real property on which a drycleaning or wholesale supply facility is or has ever been located. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Release: means the accidental or intentional spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment of drycleaning solvent. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Response action: is a ny cleanup, containment, inspection, or closure of a site ordered by the director as necessary to remedy actual or potential damages to public health, the public welfare, or the environment. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Response action: means any assessment, cleanup, inspection, or closure of a site as necessary to remedy actual or potential damage to public health, public welfare, or the environment. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Responsible party: means :
  
  (a) the owner and operator of a vessel or a facility, as these terms are defined in CERCLA;
  
  (b) any person who at the time of disposal of any hazardous substance owned or operated any facility at which such hazardous substances were disposed of, as these terms are defined in CERCLA;
  
  (c) any person who by contract, settlement, or otherwise arranged for disposal or treatment or arranged with a transporter for transport for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances owned or possessed by such person, by any other party or entity, at any facility or incineration vessel owned or operated by another party or entity and containing such hazardous substances, as these terms are defined in CERCLA; and
  
  (d) any person who accepts or accepted any hazardous substances for transport to disposal or treatment facilities, incineration vessels, or sites selected by such person, from which there is a release or a threatened release which causes the incurrence of response costs of a hazardous substance, as such terms are defined in CERCLA; and
  
  (e) any person who owns or operates or who owned or operated an above ground or underground storage tank from which petroleum or petroleum products have been released or who owns and operates or who owned or operated a property on which a petroleum release has occurred; however, the exemptions of § 44-2-80(B) and (C) apply. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Shoreline: means the line of mean high water along that portion of a land mass which is in direct contact with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Site: means all areas where a contaminant, petroleum, or petroleum product has been released, deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed or otherwise comes to be located; "site" does not include any consumer product in consumer use or any vessel. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Storage: means the actual or intended containment of wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such manner as not to constitute disposal of such hazardous wastes. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Take: means to harass intentionally, hunt, capture, gather, harvest, remove, catch, wound, or kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, gather, harvest, remove, catch, wound, or kill. See South Carolina Code 50-5-15
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transport: means the movement of hazardous wastes from the point of generation to any intermediate points and finally to the point of ultimate treatment, storage or disposal. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Treatment: means any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste, so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, reduced in volume, or suitable for final disposal. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Use: means operate, navigate, or employ. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Vessel: means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane regulated by the federal government, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Voluntary cleanup: means a response action taken under and in compliance with this article. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Voluntary cleanup contract: means a contract entered into between the department and a responsible or nonresponsible party to conduct a voluntary cleanup. See South Carolina Code 44-56-720
• Water device: means a motorboat, boat, personal watercraft or vessel, water skis, an aquaplane, surfboard, or other similar device. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Watercraft: means anything used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on the water but does not include: a seaplane regulated by the federal government, water skis, aquaplanes, surfboards, windsurfers, tubes, rafts, and similar devices or anything that does not meet construction or operational requirements of the state or federal government for watercraft. See South Carolina Code 50-21-10
• Wholesale supply facility: means a commercial establishment that supplies drycleaning solvent to drycleaning facilities. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410