2023 CODE OF GEORGIA
Title 12 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES (§§ 12-1-1 — 12-17-6)
Chapter 13 - UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (§§ 12-13-1 — 12-13-22)
Section 12-13-3 - Definitions

As used in this chapter, the term:

• (1) "Board" means the Board of Natural Resources of the State of Georgia.

• (2) "Corrective action" means those activities required for response to and cleanup of releases of regulated substances from underground storage tanks, including, but not limited to, initial response, initial abatement measures and site check, initial site characterization, free product removal, investigations for soil and ground-water cleanup, and preparation and implementation of a corrective action plan.

• (3) "Department" means the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Georgia.

• (4) "Director" means the director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.

• (5) "Division" means the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Georgia.

• (6) "Federal act" means the Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 3152, et seq., as amended, particularly by the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984, Public Law 98-616, 42 U.S.C. Section 6991, et seq., as amended by Public Law 99-499, 1986.

• (7) "Guarantor" means any person, other than the owner or operator, who provides evidence of financial responsibility for an owner or operator.

• (8) "Nonoperational storage tank" means any underground storage tank in which regulated substances will not be deposited or from which regulated substances will not be dispensed after November 8, 1984.

• (9) "Operator" means any person in control of or having daily responsibility for the operation of the underground storage tank.

• (10) "Owner" means, in the case of an underground storage tank in use on November 8, 1984, or brought into use or capable of being used after that date, any person who owns an underground storage tank used for or capable of being used for the storage or dispensing of regulated substances and, in the case of any underground storage tank in use before November 8, 1984, but no longer in use or capable of being used on November 8, 1984, any person who owned such tank immediately before the discontinuation of its use; provided, however, that such term shall not include any person who, without participating in the management of an underground storage tank and otherwise not engaged in petroleum production, refining, and marketing, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect that person's security interest in the underground storage tank.

• (11) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company, corporation, including a government corporation, partnership, association, municipality, commission, political subdivision, or any agency, board, department, or bureau of this state or of any other state or of the federal government.

• (12) "Petroleum" means petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure (60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute).

• (13) "Petroleum product" means petroleum, including gasoline, gasohol, diesel fuel, fuel oils including #2 fuel oil, and kerosene, including jet turbine fuel.

• (14) "Regulated substance" means any substance defined in Section 101 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. Section 9601, as amended by P.L. 99-499, 1986, et seq., and petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is liquid at the standard conditions of temperature and pressure of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute, but not including any substance regulated as a hazardous waste under Part 1 of Article 3 of Chapter 8 of this title, the "Georgia Hazardous Waste Management Act," as amended.

• (15) "Release" means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching, or disposing from an underground storage tank into ground water, surface water, or subsurface soils.

• (16) "Terminal" means a bulk storage facility for storing petroleum products supplied by pipeline or marine vessel.

• (17) "Third-party liability" means:
  • (A) As to bodily injury, specific physical bodily injury proximately resulting from exposure, explosion, or fire caused by the presence of a release from a regulated underground storage tank and which is incurred by a person other than the owner or operator, the landlord of the owner or operator, employees or agents of an owner or operator, or employees or agents of the landlord of an owner or operator; and
  • (B) As to property damage, actual physical damage or damage due to specific loss of normal use of property owned by a person other than either the owner or operator of an underground storage tank from which a release has occurred or the landlord of an owner or operator of the underground storage tank from which a release has occurred.

• (18) "Underground storage tank" means any one or combination of tanks, including underground pipes connected thereto, which is used to contain an accumulation of regulated substances and the volume of which, including the volume of the underground pipes connected thereto, is 10 percent or more beneath the surface of the ground.

Amended by 2019 Ga. Laws 321,§ 12, eff. 5/12/2019.

Amended by 2013 Ga. Laws 33,§ 12, eff. 4/24/2013.