65-3454a. Environmental response fund created; receipts and expenditures; subaccounts.
65-3454a
65-3454a. Environmental response fund created; receipts andexpenditures; subaccounts.(a) (1) There is hereby created the environmentalresponse fund. All moneys received by the secretary asgrants, gifts, bequests or state or federal appropriations to carry outremedial action at sites polluted by hazardous substances shall bedeposited in such fund. Allexpenditures from the environmental response fund shall bemade in accordance with appropriations acts and upon warrants of thedirector of accounts and reports issued pursuant to vouchers approved by the secretary.
(2) The secretary is authorized to receive from the federal governmentor any of its agencies or from any private or governmental source any fundsmade available under laws, rules and regulations for sitecleanup or other remedial action where environmental pollution is orthreatens to create a health or environmental hazard.
(b) The environmental response fund shall be maintained asindividual subaccounts, as follows:
(1) State appropriations or funds from other sources designated forremedial activities at specific state-lead sites shall bemaintained in a separate account. Disbursement of funds from this accountshall be made only for activities related to the sites at which theappropriating or donating person has designated.
(2) State appropriations or funds from other sources designated as statematch for remedial activities at federal national priority list sites shallbe maintained in a separate account. Disbursement of funds from thisaccount shall be made only for remedial design and remedial action at thenational priority list sites for which the appropriating or donating personhas designated.
(3) State appropriations or funds from other sources designated foremergency response activities or environmental response at nonspecificsites shall be maintained in a separate account. Disbursement of fundsfrom this account shall be made for activities at any sitespolluted by hazardous substances where remedial action is necessary toprotect public health or the environment.
(4) State appropriations of funds from other sources designated as statematch for federal leaking underground storage tank trust fund resourcesused to conduct remedial action to reduce or eliminate environmentalpollution from leaking underground storage tanks of petroleum orhazardous substances shall be maintained in a separate account. Disbursements of funds from this account shall be made only for remedialaction to reduce or eliminate environmental pollution from leakingunderground petroleum or hazardous substance storage tanks.Moneys recovered from any responsible person for remediation to reduce oreliminate environmental pollution shall be deposited to the credit ofthe environmental response fund except that a proportionalshare may be returned to the federal source from which it came.
(c) Subject to the limitations in subsection (b), the secretary isauthorized to use funds from the environmental response fundto pay the cost of:
(1) The design and review of remedial action plans;
(2) contracting for services needed to supplement the department's staffexpertise in site investigations;
(3) consultation needed concerning remedial action;
(4) mitigation of adverse environmental impacts;
(5) emergency or long-term remedial activities;
(6) legal costs, including expert witnesses, incurred in recovery of fund expenditures;
(7) state matching costs for remedial action funded with the federalhazardous substance superfund established by section 9507 of the InternalRevenue Code of 1986; and
(8) state matching costs for remedial action funded with the federalleaking underground storage tank trust fund established by section 9508 ofthe Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(d) On the effective date of this act, the director of accounts andreports shall transfer all moneys in the pollutant discharge cleanup fundand the hazardous waste cleanup fund to the environmentalresponse fund, and the pollutant discharge cleanup fund and the hazardouswaste cleanup fund are hereby abolished.
History: L. 1988, ch. 256, § 2; July 1.