Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:15: Oil discharge contingency plans
A. No operator shall cause or permit the operation of a facility in the Commonwealth unless an oil discharge contingency plan applicable to the facility has been filed with and approved by the Board. No operator shall cause or permit a tank vessel to transport or transfer oil in state waters unless an oil discharge contingency plan applicable to the tank vessel has been filed with and approved by the Board or a vessel response plan applicable to the tank vessel and approved by the U.S. Coast Guard, pursuant to § 4202 of the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:15
- Board: means the State Water Control Board. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- Discharge: means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:14
- Facility: means any development or installation within the Commonwealth that deals in, stores or handles oil, and includes a pipeline. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:14
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Oil: means oil of any kind and in any form, including, but not limited to, petroleum and petroleum by-products, fuel oil, lubricating oils, sludge, oil refuse, oil mixed with other wastes, crude oils and all other liquid hydrocarbons regardless of specific gravity. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:14
- Operator: means any person who owns, operates, charters, rents or otherwise exercises control over or responsibility for a facility or a vehicle or vessel. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:14
- Pollution: means such alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties of any state waters as will or is likely to create a nuisance or render such waters (a) harmful or detrimental or injurious to the public health, safety, or welfare or to the health of animals, fish, or aquatic life; (b) unsuitable with reasonable treatment for use as present or possible future sources of public water supply; or (c) unsuitable for recreational, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or other reasonable uses, provided that (i) an alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological property of state waters or a discharge or deposit of sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes to state waters by any owner which by itself is not sufficient to cause pollution but which, in combination with such alteration of or discharge or deposit to state waters by other owners, is sufficient to cause pollution; (ii) the discharge of untreated sewage by any owner into state waters; and (iii) contributing to the contravention of standards of water quality duly established by the Board, are "pollution" for the terms and purposes of this chapter. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- Standards: means standards established under subdivisions (3a) and (3b) of § 62. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- State waters: means all water, on the surface and under the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction, including wetlands. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
- Tank: means a device designed to contain an accumulation of oil and constructed of nonearthen materials, such as concrete, steel or plastic, which provide structural support. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:14
- Tank vessel: means any vessel used in the transportation of oil as cargo. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:14
- Vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other contrivance used as a means of transporting on water, whether self-propelled or otherwise, and shall include barges and tugs. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.34:14
B. Application for approval of an oil discharge contingency plan shall be made to the Board and shall be accompanied by plans, specifications, maps and such other relevant information as may be required, in scope and detail satisfactory to the Board. An oil discharge contingency plan must conform to the requirements and standards determined by the Board to be necessary to ensure that the applicant can take such steps as are necessary to protect environmentally sensitive areas, to respond to the threat of an oil discharge, and to contain, clean up and mitigate an oil discharge within the shortest feasible time. Each such plan shall provide for the use of the best available technology at the time the plan is submitted for approval. The applicant shall notify the Board immediately of any significant change in the operation or capacity of or the type of product dealt in, stored, handled, transported or transferred in or by any facility or vessel covered by the plan that will necessitate a change in the plan and shall update the plan periodically as required by the Board, but in no event more frequently than once every 36 months. The Board, on a finding of need, may require an oil discharge exercise designed to demonstrate the facility’s or vessel’s ability to implement its oil discharge contingency plan either before or after the plan is approved.
C. The Board, after notice and opportunity for a conference pursuant to § 2.2-4019, may modify its approval of an oil discharge contingency plan if it determines that:
1. A change has occurred in the operation of any facility or vessel covered by the plan that necessitates an amended or supplemented plan;
2. The facility’s or vessel’s discharge experience or its inability to implement its plan in an oil discharge exercise demonstrates a necessity for modification; or
3. There has been a significant change in the best available technology since the plan was approved.
D. The Board, after notice and opportunity for hearing, may revoke its approval of an oil discharge contingency plan if it determines that:
1. Approval was obtained by fraud or misrepresentation;
2. The plan cannot be implemented as approved; or
3. A term or condition of approval has been violated.
1990, c. 917; 2004, c. 276.