SB1676 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 10730 JDS 20914 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
SB1676

Introduced 2/19/2009, by Sen. Matt Murphy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

415 ILCS 5/57.7

Amends a Section of the Environmental Protection Act involving Petroleum Underground Storage Tanks. Provides that site investigation completion reports must be made available, upon request, to any person with an ownership interest in a remediation site or the property on which the remediation site is located. Makes changes to the remediation process, including requiring public hearings, when remediation objectives have not been achieved within the specified time period. Provides that if all applicable remediation objectives have not been achieved at a site within 10 years after completion of the site investigation, the Agency, in collaboration with the Board, must hold a public hearing to determine whether the responsible owner or operator will either (i) pay the Agency to conduct the proper corrective action or (ii) purchase the site from the current site owner for the site's fair market value. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by changing Section 57.7 as follows:

(415 ILCS 5/57.7)

Sec. 57.7. Leaking underground storage tanks; site investigation and corrective action.

(a) Site investigation.

(1) For any site investigation activities required by statute or rule, the owner or operator shall submit to the Agency for approval a site investigation plan designed to determine the nature, concentration, direction of movement, rate of movement, and extent of the contamination as well as the significant physical features of the site and surrounding area that may affect contaminant transport and risk to human health and safety and the environment.

(2) Any owner or operator intending to seek payment from the Fund shall submit to the Agency for approval a site investigation budget that includes, but is not limited to, an accounting of all costs associated with the implementation and completion of the site investigation plan.

(3) Remediation objectives for the applicable indicator contaminants shall be determined using the tiered approach to corrective action objectives rules adopted by the Board pursuant to this Title and Title XVII of this Act. For the purposes of this Title, "Contaminant of Concern" or "Regulated Substance of Concern" in the rules means the applicable indicator contaminants set forth in subsection (d) of this Section and the rules adopted thereunder.

(4) Upon the Agency's approval of a site investigation plan, or as otherwise directed by the Agency, the owner or operator shall conduct a site investigation in accordance with the plan.

(5) Within 30 days after completing the site investigation, the owner or operator shall submit to the Agency for approval a site investigation completion report. At a minimum the report shall include all of the following:

(A) Executive summary.

(B) Site history.

(C) Site-specific sampling methods and results.

(D) Documentation of all field activities, including quality assurance.

(E) Documentation regarding the development of proposed remediation objectives.

(F) Interpretation of results.

(G) Conclusions.

(6) Any report submitted to the Agency under this Section must be made available, upon request, to any person with an ownership interest in the site or the property on which the site is located. For the purpose of this subsection (a), "ownership interest" has the same meaning as provided in Section 21-285 of the Property Tax Code.

(b) Corrective action.

(1) If the site investigation confirms none of the applicable indicator contaminants exceed the proposed remediation objectives, within 30 days after completing the site investigation the owner or operator shall submit to the Agency for approval a corrective action completion report in accordance with this Section.

(2) If any of the applicable indicator contaminants exceed the remediation objectives approved for the site, within 30 days after the Agency approves the site investigation completion report the owner or operator shall submit to the Agency for approval a corrective action plan designed to mitigate any threat to human health, human safety, or the environment resulting from the underground storage tank release. The plan shall describe the selected remedy and evaluate its ability and effectiveness to achieve the remediation objectives approved for the site. At a minimum, the report shall include all of the following:

(A) Executive summary.

(B) Statement of remediation objectives.

(C) Remedial technologies selected.

(D) Confirmation sampling plan.

(E) Current and projected future use of the property.

(F) Applicable preventive, engineering, and institutional controls including long-term reliability, operating, and maintenance plans, and monitoring procedures.

(G) A schedule for implementation and completion of the plan.

(3) Any owner or operator intending to seek payment from the Fund shall submit to the Agency for approval a corrective action budget that includes, but is not limited to, an accounting of all costs associated with the implementation and completion of the corrective action plan.

(4) Upon the Agency's approval of a corrective action plan, or as otherwise directed by the Agency, the owner or operator shall proceed with corrective action in accordance with the plan.

(5) Within 30 days after the completion of a corrective action plan that achieves applicable remediation objectives the owner or operator shall submit to the Agency for approval a corrective action completion report. The report shall demonstrate whether corrective action was completed in accordance with the approved corrective action plan and whether the remediation objectives approved for the site, as well as any other requirements of the plan, have been achieved.

(6) If within 4 years after the approval of any corrective action plan the applicable remediation objectives have not been achieved and the owner or operator has not submitted a corrective action completion report, the owner or operator must submit a status report for Agency review. The status report must include, but is not limited to, a description of the remediation activities taken to date, the effectiveness of the method of remediation being used, the likelihood of meeting the applicable remediation objectives using the current method of remediation, and the date the applicable remediation objectives are expected to be achieved. The status report must be evaluated by the Agency and made available to the public on the Agency's Internet website no less than 30 days before a public hearing is held to determine whether the owner or operator may continue remediation efforts under the current corrective action plan for the site. Any public hearing conducted under this item (6) must be held in the municipality nearest the remediation site.

(7) If the Agency determines any approved corrective action plan will not achieve applicable remediation objectives within a reasonable time, based upon the method of remediation and site specific circumstances, the Agency may require the owner or operator to submit to the Agency for approval a revised corrective action plan. If the owner or operator intends to seek payment from the Fund, the owner or operator must also submit a revised budget.

(8) If all applicable remediation objectives have not been achieved at a site within 10 years after completion of the site investigation, the Agency, in collaboration with the Board, must hold a public hearing to determine whether the responsible owner or operator will either (i) pay the Agency to conduct the proper corrective action or (ii) purchase the site from the current site owner for the site's fair market value. If the Agency proceeds under item (i), the Agency must complete the proper corrective action within 2 years after the public hearing under this paragraph.

(c) Agency review and approval.

(1) Agency approval of any plan and associated budget, as described in this subsection (c), shall be considered final approval for purposes of seeking and obtaining payment from the Underground Storage Tank Fund if the costs associated with the completion of any such plan are less than or equal to the amounts approved in such budget.

(2) In the event the Agency fails to approve, disapprove, or modify any plan or report submitted pursuant to this Title in writing within 120 days of the receipt by the Agency, the plan or report shall be considered to be rejected by operation of law for purposes of this Title and rejected for purposes of payment from the Underground Storage Tank Fund.

(A) For purposes of those plans as identified in paragraph (5) of this subsection (c), the Agency's review may be an audit procedure. Such review or audit shall be consistent with the procedure for such review or audit as promulgated by the Board under Section 57.14. The Agency has the authority to establish an auditing program to verify compliance of such plans with the provisions of this Title.

(B) For purposes of corrective action plans submitted pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section for which payment from the Fund is not being sought, the Agency need not take action on such plan until 120 days after it receives the corrective action completion report required under subsection (b) of this Section. In the event the Agency approved the plan, it shall proceed under the provisions of this subsection (c).

(3) In approving any plan submitted pursuant to subsection (a) or (b) of this Section, the Agency shall determine, by a procedure promulgated by the Board under Section 57.14, that the costs associated with the plan are reasonable, will be incurred in the performance of site investigation or corrective action, and will not be used for site investigation or corrective action activities in excess of those required to meet the minimum requirements of this Title.

(4) For any plan or report received after June 24, 2002, any action by the Agency to disapprove or modify a plan submitted pursuant to this Title shall be provided to the owner or operator in writing within 120 days of the receipt by the Agency or, in the case of a site investigation plan or corrective action plan for which payment is not being sought, within 120 days of receipt of the site investigation completion report or corrective action completion report, respectively, and shall be accompanied by:

(A) an explanation of the Sections of this Act which may be violated if the plans were approved;

(B) an explanation of the provisions of the regulations, promulgated under this Act, which may be violated if the plan were approved;

(C) an explanation of the specific type of information, if any, which the Agency deems the applicant did not provide the Agency; and

(D) a statement of specific reasons why the Act and the regulations might not be met if the plan were approved.

Any action by the Agency to disapprove or modify a plan or report or the rejection of any plan or report by operation of law shall be subject to appeal to the Board in accordance with the procedures of Section 40. If the owner or operator elects to incorporate modifications required by the Agency rather than appeal, an amended plan shall be submitted to the Agency within 35 days of receipt of the Agency's written notification.

(5) For purposes of this Title, the term "plan" shall include:

(A) Any site investigation plan submitted pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section;

(B) Any site investigation budget submitted pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section;

(C) Any corrective action plan submitted pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section; or

(D) Any corrective action plan budget submitted pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section.

(d) For purposes of this Title, the term "indicator contaminant" shall mean, unless and until the Board promulgates regulations to the contrary, the following: (i) if an underground storage tank contains gasoline, the indicator parameter shall be BTEX and Benzene; (ii) if the tank contained petroleum products consisting of middle distillate or heavy ends, then the indicator parameter shall be determined by a scan of PNA's taken from the location where contamination is most likely to be present; and (iii) if the tank contained used oil, then the indicator contaminant shall be those chemical constituents which indicate the type of petroleum stored in an underground storage tank. All references in this Title to groundwater objectives shall mean Class I groundwater standards or objectives as applicable.

(e) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section, an owner or operator may proceed to conduct site investigation or corrective action prior to the submittal or approval of an otherwise required plan. If the owner or operator elects to so proceed, an applicable plan shall be filed with the Agency at any time. Such plan shall detail the steps taken to determine the type of site investigation or corrective action which was necessary at the site along with the site investigation or corrective action taken or to be taken, in addition to costs associated with activities to date and anticipated costs.

(2) Upon receipt of a plan submitted after activities have commenced at a site, the Agency shall proceed to review in the same manner as required under this Title. In the event the Agency disapproves all or part of the costs, the owner or operator may appeal such decision to the Board. The owner or operator shall not be eligible to be reimbursed for such disapproved costs unless and until the Board determines that such costs were eligible for payment.

(f) All investigations, plans, and reports conducted or prepared under this Section shall be conducted or prepared under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer and in accordance with the requirements of this Title.

(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.