[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of
Doylestown 10-5-2005 by Ord. No. 324.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "Release Notification Ordinance."
The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the
following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The definitions
contained in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act, as amended; the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act; the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended, and/or the Pennsylvania
Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act, and their associated regulations are
incorporated by reference, subject to the foregoing incorporation limitations
in the third "Whereas" clause.[1]
Any tank located on property used primarily for nonresidential purposes,
including any tank that is otherwise exempt from release reporting under Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended; the Emergency
Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act; the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act, as amended; or the Pennsylvania Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act.
With regard to products containing regulated substances, the term
applies when the regulated substance is of insufficient concentration to be
required to appear on a material safety data sheet (MSDS).
A pipeline, equipment, facility or building used in the transportation
of oil or gas during oil or gas production or gathering operations.
Petroleum that is No. 1, No. 2, No. 4-light, No. 4-heavy, No. 5-light,
No. 5-heavy and No. 6 technical grades of fuel oil; other residual fuel oils
(including Navy Special Fuel Oil and Bunker C); and other fuels when used
as substitutes for one of these fuel oils. Heating oil is typically used in
the operation of heating equipment, boilers or furnaces.
A tank holding hydraulic fluid for a closed loop mechanical system
that uses compressed air or hydraulic fluid to operate lifts, elevators and
other similar devices.
A common piping system serving more than one storage tank system
within a storage tank facility.
Sumps, well cellars and other traps used in association with oil
and gas production, gathering and extraction operations (including gas production
plants), for the purpose of collecting oil, water and other liquids. The liquid
traps may temporarily collect liquids for subsequent disposition or reinjection
into a production or pipeline stream or may collect and separate liquids from
a gas stream.
Petroleum or a petroleum-based substance that is motor gasoline,
aviation gasoline, No. 1 or No. 2 diesel fuel or any grade of gasohol, and
is typically used in the operation of an internal combustion engine.
A petroleum product used to lubricate the internal parts of an engine.
The term includes lubricating and operational fluids for the mechanical components
associated with the engine, including any hydraulic, transmission, gear or
braking systems.
A hollow cylinder or tubular conduit that is constructed of nonearthen
materials. The terms include the associated fittings such as unions, elbows,
tees and flexible joints.
New and existing pipe rights-of-way and associated equipment, facilities
or buildings.
An element, compound, mixture, solution or substance that, when released
into the environment, may present substantial danger to the public health,
welfare or the environment, which is one of the following:
A substance which is defined as a hazardous substance in the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended;
A substance which is defined as a hazardous substance in the Emergency
Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act;
A substance which is defined as a hazardous waste in the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act, as amended;
A substance which is defined as a hazardous substance in the Pennsylvania
Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act;
Petroleum, including crude oil or a fraction thereof which are liquids
at standard conditions of temperature and pressure (60° F. and 14.7 psia),
including but not limited to oil, petroleum, diesel fuel, gasoline, heating
oil, kerosene, oil sludge, oil refuse and waste oils;
A substance which is defined as a hazardous air pollutant in the Clean
Air Act, as amended;
Other substances determined by the Pennsylvania Department of the Environmental
Protection by regulation, whose containment, storage, use or dispensing may
present a hazard to the public health and safety or the environment.
The term does not include the storage or use of animal waste in normal
agricultural practices.
Any tank located on property used primarily for dwelling purposes.
A person who is responsible or liable for corrective action under
the Pennsylvania Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act, 35 P.S. §§ 6021.101
- 6021.2104. The term includes: the owner or operator of a storage tank; the
landowner or occupier; and a person who, on or after August 5, 1990, knowingly
sold, distributed, deposited or filled an unregistered storage tank regulated
by the Act with a regulated substance prior to the discovery of the release.
A quantity or an unknown quantity of regulated substance released
within any 24 hours to or posing an immediate threat to the air, surface water,
groundwater, bedrock, soil or sediment. The term does not include the following:
A release to the interstitial space of a double-walled aboveground or
underground storage tank.
A release of less than 25 gallons of petroleum to a containment area,
structure or facility around an aboveground storage tank.
A release of less than five gallons to a synthetic surface, such as
asphalt or concrete, which prevents migration of the regulated substance to
the air, surface water, groundwater, bedrock, soil or sediment.
Any sanitary sewer waste contained within a transmission line maintained
as part of a public sanitary sewer system.
[1]
Editor's Note: The said "Whereas" clause provides as follows:
"WHEREAS, any incorporation by reference, of findings, definitions, obligations,
regulations, or incorporation of any other matter, shall be effective only
to the extent that such incorporation works to require greater, rather than
lesser, reporting to the Township of such releases and explicitly does not
incorporate any limitations, exclusions or exceptions of entities, facilities,
substances, or activities that would otherwise result in a release being reported
under this chapter if such limitation, exclusion or exception had not been
incorporated."
Upon the occurrence of a release subject to this chapter in the Township:
A.Â
Individuals who are required to report a release pursuant
to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act,
as amended; the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act; the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended; or the Pennsylvania Storage Tank
and Spill Prevention Act shall notify the Township as soon as practical, but
within 24 hours after notification to either the USEPA, the U.S. Coast Guard
National Response Center, or the PA Department of the Environment of a reportable
release.
B.Â
Individuals who are not required to report a release
pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act, as amended; the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act; the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended; or the Pennsylvania Storage
Tank and Spill Prevention Act shall notify the Township within 24 hours after
discovery of a reportable release.
C.Â
The owner or operator of a commercial tank or residential
tank shall notify the Township as soon as practical, but within 24 hours,
after discovery of a reportable release.
The notice required by § 152-3 of this chapter shall be by telephone and shall describe, to the extent of information available: a) the regulated substance involved; b) the quantity of the regulated substance involved; c) when the release occurred; d) where the release occurred; e) the affected environmental media; f) the number and names of human fatalities as a result of the release; g) the number and extent of any injuries to individuals as a result of the release; h) the relevant and available information concerning the contamination of or impacts to surface water, groundwater, and other water supplies, as well as buildings, sewer and other facilities; and i) interim remedial actions planned, initiated or completed.
Within five days of the notice required by § 152-3 of this chapter, the owner or operator shall provide written notification to the Township, which said written notification shall contain the same information as required for the initial notice under § 152-4. In the event additional impacts to environmental media or water supplies, buildings, or sewer or other utility lines are discovered after the initial written notification, an owner or operator must provide additional written notification to the Township regarding each such new impact within 15 days of the discovery of such new impact. The written notice(s) of new impacts shall contain the same information required for the initial notification, as set forth in § 152-4 of this chapter.
Upon the occurrence of a nonreportable release, the owner or operator
shall take necessary EPA- and/or DEP-approved corrective actions to completely
recover or remove the regulated substance that was released.
The owner or operator of a sanitary sewer transmission line shall notify
the Bucks County Board of Health of any spill and/or leakage from a sanitary
sewer transmission line as soon as possible following discovery of the release
and in accordance with the requirements imposed by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection, and the owner or operator of the sanitary sewer
transmission line shall also notify the Township of a leakage from a sanitary
sewer transmission line within 24 hours of discovery of same.
The owner or operator of facility, business or residence shall immediately
notify the local fire authority where fire, explosion or safety hazards exist
or may exist at the site due to a reportable release.
Any person who shall violate, fail, neglect, or refuse to comply with
any provision of this chapter shall pay a fine of not more than $1,000 and
costs, including reasonable attorney's fees and other costs incurred
by the Township. Each day that a violation of this chapter continues shall
be considered a separate violation.
Compliance with the provisions of this chapter shall be in addition
to any other obligations imposed by law upon the owner or operator of a facility,
business or residence to report any releases to any governmental agencies,
including but not limited to the obligations imposed by the regulations promulgated
by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, as codified at
Chapter 245 of Title 25 of the Pennsylvania Code, 25 Pa. §§ 45.301
et seq., as those regulations may from time to time be amended.
