§ 46-12.9-5 - Purpose of fund.
SECTION 46-12.9-5
§ 46-12.9-5 Purpose of fund. – (a) The purpose of the fund shall be to facilitate the clean-up of releasesfrom leaking underground storage tanks, underground storage tank systems,including those located on sites or government sites in order to protect theenvironment including drinking water supplies and public health and to takenecessary action to proactively prevent such releases.
(b) The fund shall provide reimbursement to responsibleparties for the eligible costs incurred by them as a result of releases ofcertain petroleum from underground storage tanks or underground storage tanksystems as provided herein. Monies in the fund shall be dispensed only upon theorder of the review board or its designee for the following purposes.
(1) The fund shall pay not more than one million dollars($1,000,000) per incident and up to two million dollars ($2,000,000) in theaggregate for damages of eligible costs, as defined in regulations promulgatedhereunder and, as further defined in § 46-12.9-3 excluding legal costs andexpenses, incurred by a responsible party as a result of a release of petroleumfrom an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system; provided,however, that a responsible party shall be responsible for the first twentythousand dollars ($20,000) of said eligible costs;
(2) Reimbursement for any third party claim including, butnot limited to, claims for bodily injury, property damage and damage to naturalresources which are asserted against a responsible party and which have arisenas a result of a release of petroleum from an underground storage tank orunderground storage tank system in an amount not to exceed one million dollars($1,000,000) for each release as set forth in subsection (b)(1) of thissection; provided, that such claims are found by the review board to bejustified, reasonable, related to the release of petroleum and not excessive orspurious in nature; and
(3) Eligible costs incurred by the department in carrying outthe investigative, remedial and corrective action activities at sites of apetroleum release associated with an underground storage tank or undergroundstorage tank system where the responsible party fails to comply with an orderof the department to take such corrective action. In the event of such failure,the department may access the fund to perform the ordered work and shallproceed to recover from the responsible party on behalf of the fund any amountexpended from the fund by the department.
(4) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed toprevent subrogation by the state of Rhode Island against any responsible partyother than the owner and/or operator for all sums of money which the fund shallbe obligated to pay hereunder plus reasonable attorneys' fees and costs oflitigation and such right of subrogation is hereby created.
(5) Eligible costs incurred by the department to support thefund, including, but not limited to, all personnel support to process andreview of claims in order to formulate recommendations for reimbursement forconsideration by the review board, and providing meeting space for boardmeetings; provided, however, that no more than five hundred and fifty thousanddollars ($550,000) shall be dispensed from the fund for administrative purposesduring any fiscal year. The department shall directly access the fund, pursuantto the limits set forth in subdivision 46-12.9-5(b)(1), to pay for suchexpenses.
(6) Grants to any third party for purposes of removal ofunderground storage tanks and/or replacement of underground storage tanks withother fuel storage and distribution systems, including aboveground storagetanks, when such removal and/or replacement will minimize the potential futureexposure of the fund to major expenses related to reimbursement of costsincurred in response or remediation should a future release occur. Grants underthis section shall be limited to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) per site andshall be in addition to any eligible reimbursement for clean up expenses atthat site.