Township of Athens, PA Hazardous Materials

Any incident which creates a dangerous condition requiring immediate and emergency action in order to prevent injury to persons or damage to property and necessitates either or both of the following responses:

The intervention of the Township of Athens Police Department or any of the emergency agencies or services which may service the Township of Athens, including but not limited to fire companies or rescue squads operating in the Township of Athens; or

The need for cleanup or abatement measures to be performed by Township employees, or the need for any responsive action resulting in expense to the Township.

ENTITY

Any person, corporation, partnership or other entity engaged in the buying, selling, storing, transferring, transporting or manufacturing or processing of properties, merchandise, chemicals, fuels, waste products or any other goods or services for compensation.

HAZARDOUS ACCIDENT

Any incident that occurs from the storage, transportation, use or manufacturing, processing or discharging of any substance potentially dangerous to the public health and welfare at large which necessitates either or both of the following responses:

The intervention of the Township of Athens Police Department or any of the emergency agencies or services which may assist the Township of Athens, including but not limited to fire companies or rescue squads operating in the Township of Athens; or

The need for cleanup or abatement measures to be performed by Township employees, or the need for any responsive action resulting in expense to the Township.

PUBLIC THOROUGHFARE

Bridges, state highways, county roads, Township streets, any navigable waterways or other roadways or watercourses owned by a governmental unit, or a privately owned street, parking lot or accessway to which the public has access.

§ 94-2 Cost of abatement of hazardous accidents.

The business which owns or leases the premises on which a hazardous accident occurs shall be responsible for all costs that occur as a direct or consequential result of a hazardous accident. In the event that a hazardous accident occurs during transportation of a public thoroughfare, or a delivery to any entity other than a business as defined in § 94-1, "entity" hereinabove; the entity who owns or has custody or control of the vehicle or substance involved in the hazardous accident shall be responsible for all costs that occur as a direct or consequential result of such accident. Nothing contained herein shall prevent such business or entity from recovering any costs from a third party whose negligence may have caused such a hazardous accident.

In the event that any person undertakes, either voluntarily or upon order of an official of the Township of Athens, to clean up or abate the effects of any hazardous accident, the Township may take such action as deemed necessary to supervise or verify the adequacy of the cleanup or abatement. The business or entity described in Subsection A hereinabove shall be liable to the Township for all costs incurred as a result of such supervision or verification.

For the purpose of this article, costs of a hazardous accident shall include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1)

Expenses incurred by police, fire or emergency medical services;

(2)

Actual labor costs of the Township personnel, including benefits and administrative overhead;

(3)

Costs of consultants or others preparing reports concerning the hazardous accident;

(4)

Costs of equipment operations;

(5)

Cost of materials obtained directly by the Township;

(6)

Costs of any contractual labor and materials for cleanup or abatement;

(7)

Costs of the Township Solicitor and Township Engineer connected with the hazardous accident;

(8)

Costs to replace or repair any damage caused to equipment utilized by the Township or any other service agency which responded to the accident.

The costs resulting from the hazardous accident shall be paid directly to the Township within 30 days from the date on which the Township issues an invoice or other appropriate demand for such costs. Interest shall accrue on any unpaid invoice at the rate of 1% per month commencing after the expiration of the thirty-day grace period.

§ 94-3 Cost of emergency response to dangerous incidents.

Any entity which owns or has custody or has control of any motor vehicle or other instrumentality that creates a dangerous incident which takes place shall be responsible for all costs of any emergency response that arises as a direct or consequential result of such incident. Nothing contained herein shall prevent such entity from recovering any costs from a third party whose negligence may have caused such dangerous incident.

In the event that any person undertakes, either voluntarily or upon order of any official of the Township of Athens, to clean up or abate the effects of any dangerous incident, the Township may take such action as deemed necessary to supervise or verify the adequacy of the cleanup or abatement. The entity described in Subsection A hereinabove shall be liable to the Township for all costs incurred as a result of such supervision or verification.

For the purpose of this article, costs of a dangerous incident shall include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1)