[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
This article is enacted pursuant to N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11 et seq. as amended, N.J.S.A. 13:1K-6 et seq. as amended and other Federal and State laws relating to public health, local emergency management, clean air and water.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
The following definitions shall apply to this article.
(a)
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS — Any materials, solid, liquid or gas, listed as such under the N.F.P.A. Guide of Hazardous Materials, the Department of Transportation Guide Book, the list of hazardous substances adopted by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to Section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendment of 1972, as amended by the Clean Water Act of 1977 (33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.), the list of toxic pollutants designated by Congress or the EPA, pursuant to Section 307 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, any hazardous waste as defined or listed under the New Jersey Hazardous Waste Regulations at N.J.A.C. 7:26-1, 4, 7-13A, 16, 16A, 17, and any hospital or medical waste, including but not limited to, syringes, bandages and discarded pharmaceutical products.
(b)
VEHICLE — Any motorized equipment, registered or unregistered, including, but not limited to, a passenger car, motorcycle, truck, tractor trailer, construction equipment, farm machinery, watercraft, aircraft or trains.
(c)
VESSEL — Any container, drum, box, cylinder or tank used to hold, contain, carry or store any hazardous materials, whether or not said container was manufactured for the containment of a hazardous materials.
(d)
DISCHARGE — Any intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping of hazardous materials into the air, onto the ground, or into any body of water or water resource, including groundwaters, within the Town of Westfield.
(e)
EXPENDABLE ITEMS — Any items used to extinguish or prevent any hazardous material fire, or stop or contain any leak, release or spill involving any hazardous materials, which cannot be reused or cannot be replenished without cost after that particular incident. These expendable items include, but are not limited to fire fighting foam, chemical extinguishing agents, sampling equipment, or supplies, absorbent and adsorbent materials, sand, recovery drums, and any protective equipment and clothing to include, but not restricted to chemical protective suits, chemical protective gloves, goggles, and any other item owned or controlled by the Town of Westfield, its agents and/or officials.
(f)
COLLECTING AGENCY — The Town of Westfield or its designated agent.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
This article provides for the reimbursement for, or the replacement of, any and all equipment utilized by the Town of Westfield, for costs expended, without regard to ownership, for the purpose of investigating, analyzing, mitigating, controlling, or containing any incident in which a hazardous material is involved in a fire, leak, release or spill, or where the potential thereof exists, or for the prevention of same.
This article also provides for the reimbursement for the expenses incurred by the Town of Westfield, its agents and participating member municipalities, for the wages (regular or overtime) paid to its employees, agents, officials or servants as a result of incidents involving a hazardous material, fire, leak, release, or spill of a hazardous material and for the costs of medical and hospital treatment for injuries incurred by agents, servants and employees.
This article mandates reimbursement to the Town of Westfield for any equipment or expendable items used by any of its employees, agents, servants, officers or officials, in extinguishing any hazardous material fire, stopping or containing or controlling or mitigating any spill, release or leak of any hazardous material.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
(a)
The discharge of hazardous substances is prohibited. This section shall not apply to discharge of hazardous substances pursuant to and in compliance with the conditions of a county, Federal or State permit.
(b)
Any person who may be subject to liability for a discharge, or becomes aware of a discharge which occurred prior to or after the effective date of this article shall immediately notify the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Environmental Hotline at (609) 292-7172.
(c)
Whenever any hazardous substance is discharged, the Town of Westfield, may in its discretion act to remove or arrange for the removal of the discharge.
(d)
Any person who has discharged a hazardous substance or in any way is responsible for any discharge of a hazardous material which has been or shall be removed by the Town of Westfield or its agent, shall be strictly liable, jointly and severally, without regard to fault, for any and all expenses incurred in conducting the investigation, cleanup and removal and disposal costs and shall be liable for the wages (regular and overtime) paid and the costs of medical and hospital treatment for injuries incurred by the agents, servants and employees of the Town of Westfield.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
Reimbursement of the Town of Westfield for expendable items used shall be made by the owner or operator of the vehicle responsible for the hazardous material fire, leak or spill of hazardous material; the owner or person responsible for the vessel containing the hazardous material involved in such a fire, leak or spill on public or private property, whether stationary or in transit and whether accidental or through negligence; the owner or person responsible for any property from which any leak or spill of hazardous material emanates, whether accidental or through negligence and the person responsible for the hazardous material fire, leak, spill or release or hazardous material on public or private property, whether accidental or through negligence.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
Any person causing any hazardous material fire, leak, spill or release involving a hazardous material must provide reimbursement for services rendered by any recovery company, towing company or any other technical assistance called for by the Town of Westfield to handle such incident. In the event of a vehicle having been responsible for an incident, such vehicle shall be impounded until such a time as it has been deemed safe to proceed by the incident commander and until such time as arrangements have been made to reimburse the Town of Westfield, its agents, and/or the towing company for their expenditures under the terms of this article.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
The person or entity responsible for any fire, leak or spill of hazardous materials shall reimburse the Town of Westfield the full price of expendable items and costs to extinguish such fire, or to stop or investigate and contain such leak, or to control such spill, within 45 days after receipt of a bill therefor. The collecting agency shall utilize its best efforts to collect costs hereunder and shall reimburse its agents of amounts collected. The collecting agency shall be entitled to interest costs and responsible attorney's fees from the responsible party if legal action is required to obtain reimbursement. Interest shall be at the rate provided for judgments and shall commence as of the time the bill is rendered. In the event that the release of hazardous materials occurs on private property and notwithstanding that a portion of or all of the costs as aforesaid are expended on public property or other private property, the collecting agency shall have a lien against the real property from which the release of the hazardous materials occurred for payment of the costs referred to herein. Such lien shall be established in accordance with the procedures set forth in Sections 33-13 and 33-14 of this chapter. In the event that the collecting agency is not able to collect said costs or only a portion thereof, the collecting agency shall not be responsible to its agents for the full amount of same.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
The person or entity responsible for any fire, leak or spill of hazardous materials who fails to reimburse the Town of Westfield within the time required, shall be subject to a fine of not less than $50 or more than $500 per day.
The violation of any section or subsection of this article shall constitute a separate and distinct offense independent of the violation of any other section or subsection, or any order issued pursuant to this article.
[G.O. No. 1574, § II]
This article is to be liberally construed to effectuate the purposes herein described. Nothing herein is to be construed as repealing or abridging the emergency powers of any agency or government except to the extent expressly set forth herein.
Nothing in this article shall prohibit the Town of Westfield from obtaining reimbursement under any county, State or Federal program, rule or statute.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Town of Westfield has the right to levy penalties as set forth in Section 33-47, the Town of Westfield reserves to itself all rights and remedies entitled to it under statutory and common law to take whatever steps are necessary to obtain reimbursement.