For the purposes of this article, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
The Oil and Toxic and Flammable Material Spillage Committee.
The release by any means or to relinquish control in a manner
that could result in a release to the surface waters, groundwaters,
surface of the ground or below ground.
Any object, container, tank, appliance, machinery or contrivance,
or any part within or thereon which holds, stores, contains, conveys,
transports or carries oil, toxic or flammable material.
Any material having a flash point below 200° F.
Mineral or synthetic oil, including but not limited to petroleum,
fuel oil, lubricating oil and oil refuse.
Any person owning, operating or leasing a vessel as a facility.
Includes an individual, business, partnership, firm, corporation,
concern, enterprise, trust, company, industry, association or public
utility, except individuals on board a public vessel.
A vessel owned or chartered and operated by the United States
or by a state or political subdivision thereof, except where such
vessel is engaged in commercial activities.
Refers to the taking of reasonable and appropriate measures
to mitigate the damage or impact of the spillage or seepage of oil
or toxic or flammable material to the environment of the Town or to
the health and safety of the public.
A volume of oil or toxic or flammable material that, dependent
upon the nature of the material and the environmental sensitivity
of the area onto or into which it was spilled, would be likely to
cause environmental damage or cause a hazard to public health or safety.
A gallon or more would in most cases be considered a significant quantity.
Any accidental, negligent or willful discharge of oil or
toxic or flammable material into or onto any land or surface waters
within the Town of Huntington.
Town of Huntington.
Any material which because of its quantity, concentration
or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may cause, or
significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase
in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or poses
a substantial present or potential hazard to human health safety,
or the environment.
The movement of a fluid or material from any vessel or container
to another.
Any watercraft or other contrivance, or any part within or
thereon, used as a means to hold, store, contain, convey, transport
or carry oil, toxic or flammable material on or across the water.
A.
Any person owning or operating any vessel, vehicle
or facility within the Town of Huntington from which oil, toxic or
flammable material is spilled in significant quantities onto the land
surface or into surface waters or onto any surface where there is
a potential for contamination of ground or surface waters shall, as
soon as he has knowledge of the spill, notify the Town of Huntington
Department of Maritime Services of such spillage. If contact cannot
be made with the Department of Maritime Services, said person shall
immediately contact the Town's Department of Public Safety.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
B.
Any person owning or operating any vessel, vehicle
or facility within the Town of Huntington from which oil, toxic or
flammable material is spilled in significant quantities and who fails
to notify the Town of Huntington Department of Maritime Services or
the Department of Public Safety of such spillage shall, upon conviction,
be fined not more than $10,000 or be imprisoned for not more than
one year, or shall be subject to both fine and imprisonment.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
C.
Any person owning or operating any vessel, vehicle
or facility within the Town of Huntington from which oil, toxic or
flammable material is spilled shall be fully responsible for the containment,
cleanup and removal, and for all costs incurred resulting from such
spillage.
D.
Any person owning or operating any vessel, vehicle
or facility within the Town of Huntington from which oil, toxic or
flammable material is spilled shall fully compensate the Town for
all expenses incurred by the Town to contain and prevent the spilled
material from contaminating or degrading the environment or from causing
a hazard to public health or safety to clean up and remove the spilled
material.
[Amended 9-14-2021 by L.L. No. 50-2021]
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person or business entity
to spill or discharge any oil, toxic or flammable material of significant
quantity into or onto any land or waters of the Town of Huntington.
B.
Any person or entity convicted of violating this section
shall be guilty of an offense which, upon conviction, is punishable
by a fine of not less than five thousand ($5,000) dollars or more
than nine thousand ($9,000) dollars or imprisonment for a period not
to exceed one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each day's
continued violation of this section shall constitute a separate additional
violation. any person or entity found by the Bureau of Administrative
Adjudication to have violated this section shall likewise be subject
to a monetary penalty within the range of fines authorized herein.
C.
In addition
to the criminal and civil penalties set forth in subdivision (B),
the Town Attorney is authorized to commence an action in the name
of the Town in a court of competent jurisdiction seeking an injunction
to enjoin any violation of and compel compliance with this section,
seeking civil penalties in the amount of up to five thousand ($5000)
dollars per day, or any part thereof, during which the violation has
continued, and seeking any other remedies which the Town Attorney
deems necessary and proper.
A.
The Spillage Committee shall consist of the Director
of the Department of Environmental Waste Management, the Director
of the Department of Public Safety, the Director of the Department
of Engineering Services, the Director of the Department of Maritime
Services, the Coordinator for Emergency Preparedness, the Town Attorney,
the Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention, the President of the Town
of Huntington Fire Chief's Council or any designated representative(s)
of a Committee member.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
B.
The Director of the Department of Environmental Waste
Management shall call and chair meetings of the Committee. Meetings
may also be called at the request of any two Committee members and
may be held as often as necessary.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
C.
The Committee shall collect data, conduct investigations
and prepare reports or cause to have the same accomplished as deemed
necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.
D.
The Committee shall report its actions taken under
this article and of its recommendations to the Town Board.
E.
The Committee may from time to time, subject to and
with the prior approval of the Town Board, enter into agreements with
federal, state or county agencies or other municipalities, offloading
or transfer facilities, groups or other persons for the purpose of
coordinating and jointly using such equipment and material and personnel
necessary to carry out the letter, spirit and intent of this article.
F.
The Committee shall have such other and further powers
necessary to implement and carry out the purpose of this article.
A.
The Committee shall prepare a spill alert standard
operating procedure and update it yearly or as otherwise deemed necessary.
Such procedure shall:
(1)
Contain names and telephone numbers of persons or
agencies who must be notified in the event of a spill.
(2)
Contain the actions to be taken by Town employees
and departments when reporting, receiving notification of or responding
to a spill.
(3)
Contain a report form to be filled out by the ranking
Town official at the scene of the spill and to be forwarded to the
Committee. The report form shall contain, but not be limited to, the
date and time of the spill, spill location, volume of material spilled,
if known, names of agencies and official present, cause of spill,
assessment of impact and action taken by Town or other agencies present.
(4)
Be distributed to all Town departments and made available
to outside agencies or persons upon request.
B.
The Committee shall prepare a response program (Standard
Operating Procedure - Emergency Action Plan) and develop such techniques
as can be used for containment or cleanup of spilled oil, toxic or
flammable materials.
C.
The Department of Maritime Services shall be the Town
agency designated to provide quick response to spills so as to prevent
or mitigate impacts to the environment.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
D.
The Committee shall recommend the purchase of equipment
and have available at all times the necessary materials for the purpose
of absorbing and containing any oil, toxic or flammable materials
as a result of a spill or seepage into or upon Town lands or surface
waters.
E.
The Director of the Town of Huntington Department
of Environmental Waste Management shall be authorized to purchase
such materials as the Committee recommends from funds established
by the Town Board for such purpose. The Director of Environmental
Waste Management will also submit operating or capital budget requests
for the Committee to the Supervisor.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
F.
The Committee shall institute any other programs necessary
to carry forward, enforce and implement the intent of this article.
A.
Any person that causes to have oil, toxic or flammable
material in excess of two thousand five hundred (2,500) gallons transferred
over or under the surface of the navigable waters of the Town of Huntington,
or over which the Town of Huntington has jurisdiction, from a barge
or vessel into an onshore or offshore structure shall first obtain
a permit from the Town of Huntington Department of Maritime Services,
or such other person as may be designated by the Committee, for each
transfer, and shall give not less than four hours' notice to the Department
of Maritime Services prior to each transfer.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
(1)
Application for a transfer permit shall be made to
the Department of Maritime Services upon an application form as designated
by the Department of Environmental Waste Management. Upon the approval
of said application and the payment of a fee for each permit, the
Town Department of Maritime Services shall issue a permit for each
approved transfer. The fees for each permit shall be one thousand
five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) for on-shore facilities and two thousand
dollars ($2,000.00) for off-shore facilities. For the convenience
of an applicant, multiple permits may be applied for and approved
to meet the annual transfer needs of said applicant, subject to the
right of the Department of Maritime Services to revoke said permits
upon twenty-four (24) hours' notice to the applicant.
[Amended 11-2-2023 by L.L. No. 25-2023]
(2)
Upon notification, a representative from the Department
of Maritime Services or any representative or agency that the Committee
may designate as an inspection officer shall inspect any unloading/transferring
operation or facility. Each operations inspection shall be performed
during the time of a transfer and may, at the discretion of the inspector,
continue through the entire unloading or transferring of oil, toxic
or flammable material. Failure of the inspector to arrive at the appointed
hour shall not restrain the permittee from unloading or transferring.
(3)
In the event that no oil, toxic or flammable material
is unloaded or transferred at a facility within any one-month period,
an inspection officer shall nevertheless make no less than one (1)
inspection per month.
B.
No transfer of oil, toxic or flammable material of
any quantity shall be made from a shoreside vehicle at any time across
or under navigable waters of the Town of Huntington to any vessel
or barge without securing a transfer permit from the Committee.
C.
It shall be the obligation and duty of the person
or persons unloading or transferring oil, toxic or flammable material
to provide at its own cost and expense the necessary transportation
to have an inspection officer brought to the vessel that is unloading
or transferring such material.
D.
It shall be the obligation and duty of the person
or persons unloading or transferring oil, toxic or flammable material
to immediately return the inspection officer to the place of embarkation
when the inspection officer is completely satisfied the safe unloading
or transfer of material has been completed.
E.
The inspecting officer shall have free access to move
about the vessel and its immediate area in such a manner as to conduct
his surveillance in an unhindered manner.
F.
The presence of the inspecting officer shall in no
manner relieve the permittee of any violation that may be incurred
during the unloading or transferring operation.
G.
The inspecting officer shall have the discretionary
authority to prevent the transfer in the event that he finds unsatisfactory
conditions for the safe transfer of oil, toxic or flammable material
as specified in this article. The inspecting officer shall have the
right to order the unloading or transfer to be stopped in the event
that during the unloading or transfer he finds that a condition has
arisen that will prevent the safe transfer of oil, toxic or flammable
material as specified in this article.
H.
The inspecting officer shall forward a written report
to the Committee of all inspections. The report shall contain the
following information or any additional information that may be required
by the Committee:
(1)
Name of tanker and port of registry.
(2)
Type of oil, toxic or flammable material and quantity,
in gallons, unloaded or transferred.
(3)
Name of operations supervisor.
(4)
Condition of the facility, platform, dock and vessel
at the time of unloading or transfer.
(5)
Detailed log of all events that occur.
A.
All facilities requiring inspection pursuant to § 120-32 of this article shall have the following safety devices in place and in good working order:
(1)
Storage tank level indicators.
(2)
Storage tank high alarm switches.
(3)
Storage tank high level alarm switches designed to
shut down any pump that is transferring oil, toxic or flammable material
into any tank which reaches the high level tank, or appropriate administrative
control as approved by the Director of Environmental Waste Management.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
(4)
Storage tank vapor and liquid relief valves and vacuum
breakers and/or vents which comply with industry standards.
(5)
Check valves in lines between ship and tanks must
be provided to prevent drainage of the tanks in the event that the
lines or connecting hoses are broken to come loose from the ship.
(6)
Sufficient diked area volumes must be provided around
each storage tank to safely contain the entire tank volume plus ten
percent (10%), inclusive of standing surface water.
(7)
Pumps must be provided to remove water from the diked
area, which will be regularly inspected to make sure no water is inside
the diked area. In addition, the dikes shall be regularly inspected
for leakage or deterioration.
[Amended 11-6-2019 by L.L. No. 56-2019; 9-14-2021 by L.L. No. 50-2021]
In addition to any other penalties hereinabove provided for,
any person convicted of an offense for violating any provision of
this article may be fined not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.)
and not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.) or may be imprisoned
for a period not to exceed fifteen (15) days, or may be punished by
both fine and imprisonment. Each day or part thereof the violation
continues shall constitute a separate offense punishable in like manner.
Any person by the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication to have violated
a provision of this article shall likewise be subject to a monetary
penalty in an amount within the range of fines authorized herein.
[Amended 7-13-2021 by L.L. No. 35-2021]
This article shall be enforced by the Department
of Maritime Services and any other agency the Town Board of Huntington
may designate, in their discretion.
This article shall be construed to be ancillary to and supplementing any other laws now in force affecting or tending to affect the purposes set forth in § 120-28, Report of spillage required; penalties; cleanup requirements, of this article.
