[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Herman
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 5-4-1982]
Every person, firm or corporation using, storing, handling or
transporting flammable or combustible liquids, chemicals, gases or
other hazardous materials shall comply with the requirements of Ch.
ATCP 93, Wis. Adm. Code, as the same is now in force and may hereafter
from time to time be amended.
Every person, firm or corporation using, storing, handling or
transporting (whether by rail or on the highways) flammable or combustible
liquids, chemicals, gases or other hazardous materials shall be liable
to the Town for the actual cost of labor and materials associated
with the use of any specialized extinguishing agent, chemical, neutralizer
or similar material or equipment employed to extinguish, confine,
neutralize, contain or clean up any such hazardous material which
is involved in any fire or accidental spill or in the threat of any
fire or accidental spill.
[Adopted at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
A.
Purpose; authority.
(1)
The Town of Herman provides fire, public safety, and other response
services for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare,
the costs of which are funded from the general tax revenue of the
Town. Such services may involve property which is not owned by a taxpayer
of the Town, such as utility transmission and telephone lines, gas
lines, cable television equipment, or hazardous materials, or may
involve property owned by a taxpayer of the Town but which requires
extraordinary response services, such as an open burning site or a
hazardous substances or hazardous waste handling or storage site.
Such response services benefit the owner or person in charge of such
property and the public health, safety and welfare.
(2)
The Town, pursuant to its police powers, may collect the costs of
such response services from the owner or person in charge of the property
if it is deemed proper and in the best interest of the public health,
safety and welfare.
B.
Prohibited discharges. No person, firm or corporation shall discharge
or cause to be discharged, leaked, leached or spilled upon any public
or private street or alley, public or private property, or onto the
ground, surface waters, subsurface waters, or aquifers within the
Town of Herman, except those areas specifically licensed for waste
disposal or landfill activities and to receive such materials, any
explosive, flammable or combustible solid, liquid or gas, any radioactive
material at or above nuclear regulatory restriction levels, etiologic
agents, or any solid, liquid or gas creating a hazard, potential hazard,
or public nuisance or any solid, liquid or gas having a deleterious
effect on the environment.
C.
Emergency services response. Emergency services response includes,
but is not limited to, fire service, emergency medical service, and
law enforcement. A person, firm, or corporation who or which possesses
or controls a hazardous substance which is discharged or who causes
the discharge of a hazardous substance shall be responsible for reimbursement
to the responding agencies for actual and necessary expenses incurred
in carrying out their duties under this section. Actual and necessary
expenses may include but not be limited to replacement of equipment
damaged by the hazardous material; cleaning, decontamination and maintenance
of the equipment specific to the incident; specific laboratory expenses
incurred in the recognition and identification of hazardous substances
in the evaluation of response; decontamination; costs incurred in
the procurement and use of specialized equipment specific to the incident;
cleanup; and medical surveillance and incurred costs in future medical
surveillance of response personnel as required by the responding agency's
medical advisor.
D.
Site access. Access to any site, public or private, where a prohibited
discharge is indicated or suspected shall be provided to emergency
management officers and staff and to Fire Department personnel for
the purpose of evaluating the threat to the public and monitoring
containment, cleanup and restoration activities.
E.
Civil liability. Any person, firm or corporation in violation of
this section shall be liable to the Town for any expenses incurred
by the Town or loss or damage sustained by the Town of Herman by reason
of such violation.
A.
Cleanup required. All persons, firms, or corporations delivering,
hauling, disposing, storing, discharging or otherwise handling potentially
polluting substances, solid or liquid, such as, but not limited to,
the following, shall immediately clean up any such spilled material
to prevent its becoming a hazard to health or safety or directly or
indirectly causing pollution to the lakes and streams under the jurisdiction
of the Town of Herman: fuel oil, gasoline, solvents, industrial liquids
or fluids, milk, grease trap and septic tank wastes, sewage sludge,
sanitary sewer wastes, storm sewer catch basin wastes, oil or petroleum
wastes.
B.
Notification. Spills or accidental release of hazardous materials
or pollutants at a site or of a quantity or nature that cannot adequately
be cleaned up by the responsible party or parties shall be immediately
reported to the Fire Department so that assistance can be given by
the proper agency.
C.
Financial liability. The party or parties responsible for the release,
escape or discharge of wastes shall be held financially liable for
the cost of any cleanup or attempted cleanup deemed necessary or desirable
and undertaken by the Town, or its designated agent, in an effort
to minimize the pollutional effects of the discharged waste.
D.
Reimbursement for hazardous material emergency action.
(1)
Any person who possessed or controlled a hazardous substance that
was discharged or who caused the discharge of a hazardous substance
shall reimburse the Town of Herman for actual, reasonable and necessary
expenses incurred by the Town of Herman for any emergency action taken
under, and consistent with, § 323.71, Wis. Stats., whether
such action is taken by the Town of Herman or another entity on its
behalf or direction.
(2)
Reimbursement as provided under Subsection D(1) above will be accomplished as provided by § 323.71, Wis. Stats., by the Dodge County Board of Supervisors or by local emergency management officials.
(3)
Terms not defined above shall have the meaning referred to in § 323.70(1),
Wis. Stats.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to
store any potentially polluting substances unless such substances
are stored in such manner as to securely prevent them from escaping
onto the ground surface and/or into any street, sewer, ditch or drainageway,
lake or stream within the jurisdiction of the Town of Herman.
