2020 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 17. Corporation Commission
§17-303. Definitions.

As used in the Oklahoma Petroleum Storage Tank Consolidation Act:

1. "Abandoned system" means a storage tank system which:

• a.has been taken permanently out of service as a storage vessel for any reason or is not intended to be returned to service,
• b.has been out of service for one (1) year or more prior to April 21, 1989, or
• c.has been rendered permanently unfit for use as determined by the Commission after notice and hearing;

2. "Administrator" means the person hired by the Director of the Petroleum Storage Tank Division of the Corporation Commission to administer the Indemnity Fund;

3. "Administrative application" means an application and notice of hearing filed by the Director of the Petroleum Storage Tank Division for a judicial determination of any question regarding the administration of the regulatory, Indemnity Fund or inspection program of the Petroleum Storage Tank Division;

4. "Assignment of benefits" means a written directive from the applicant of record instructing the Commission to pay allowable costs incurred directly to the named assignee including, but not limited to, an environmental consultant;

5. "Assignment of rights" or "limited power of attorney" means a transfer of authority granting the assignee the legal right to act on grantor's behalf regarding specified matters;

6. "Biodiesel" for the purpose of prescribing specifications for the quality of biodiesel shall mean a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated as B100, and meeting the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6751 standards. A biodiesel blend is a blend of biodiesel fuels meeting the ASTM D6751 standards with a petroleum-based diesel fuel, which is designated "Bxx", with "xx" representing the volume percentage of biodiesel fuel in the blend;

7. "Commission" means the Corporation Commission;

8. "Confirmed release" means a level of concentration of chemicals of concern that may be sufficient to cause adverse effects upon human health or the environment or cause a nuisance;

9. "Contaminants" or "contamination" means the presence of Commission-regulated substances in the environment;

10. "Corrective action" means action taken to monitor, investigate, minimize, eliminate or perform remediation of a release from a storage tank system;

11. "Director" means the Director of the Petroleum Storage Tank Division of the Corporation Commission;

12. "Distributor" means:

• a.every person importing or causing to be imported into this state any motor fuel, diesel fuel or blending material for use, distribution, or sale and distribution, or sale and delivery after the same reaches this state. Distributor does not mean persons importing motor fuel only in the supply tank of a vehicle originally provided by the manufacturer of the motor vehicle as a container for motor fuel or diesel fuel to propel such motor vehicle, nor does distributor mean persons only importing motor fuel, diesel fuel or blending material into the state under circumstances requiring that they be licensed as "Motor Fuel/Diesel Fuel Importers for Use" as defined in paragraph 7 of Section 601 of Title 68 of the Oklahoma Statutes and who are actually so licensed,
• b.any person producing, refining, preparing, distilling, blending, manufacturing, or compounding motor fuel or blending material in this state for use, distribution or sale and delivery in this state,
• c.any person within this state producing or collecting what is commonly known as drip, casinghead or natural gasoline,
• d.any person who has in his or her possession or buys for sale or use motor fuel, diesel fuel or blending material from any person other than a licensed distributor, retailer or dealer,
• e.any person other than a retailer or dealer who sells motor fuel, diesel fuel or blending material to anyone except a licensed distributor,
• f.any person who makes bulk sales of motor fuel, diesel fuel or blending material, and
• g.any other person, including a retailer or dealer, who has filed an application for and has procured a distributor's license in the manner provided by the Oklahoma Motor Fuel/Diesel Fuel Importers for Use Tax Code, Section 601 et seq. of Title 68 of the Oklahoma Statutes;

13. "Division" means the Petroleum Storage Tank Division of the Corporation Commission;

14. "Eligible person" means:

• a.any owner or operator of a storage tank system who has incurred liability as a result of an eligible release, and who meets the requirements specified in Section 327.3 of this title,
• b.any person who on or after November 8, 1984, purchases or acquires property by any means on which a storage tank system is located if:
• (1)the storage tank system was located on the property on November 8, 1984,
• (2)such person could not have known that such storage tank system existed. The burden shall be upon such purchaser to show that such purchaser did not know or should not have known of the existence of such storage tank system,
• (3)the owner or operator of the storage tank system responsible for the system cannot be determined by the Corporation Commission or the Indemnity Fund Administrator, or the owner or operator of the storage tank system responsible for the system is incapable, in the judgment of the Corporation Commission, of properly carrying out any necessary corrective action taken pursuant to Section 309 of this title, and
• (4)either funds are unavailable from the Oklahoma Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust (LUST Trust) Fund or the storage tank system is not eligible for corrective action taken pursuant to Section 328 of this title,
• c.any person who acquired ownership of a tank system through inheritance or other means or is responsible for a release by reason of owning the real property within which a tank or a release is or was located if:
• (1)the storage tank system of the release was located on the real property on November 8, 1984,
• (2)the operator of the storage tank system responsible for the system or responsible for a release cannot be determined or found by the Corporation Commission, or the operator of the storage tank system responsible for the system or responsible for the release is incapable, in the judgment of the Corporation Commission, of properly carrying out any necessary corrective action,
• (3)either funds are unavailable from the LUST Trust Fund or the storage tank system or release is not eligible for corrective action taken pursuant to Section 328 of this title,
• (4)the person did not participate or was not responsible in any manner, directly or indirectly, in the management of the storage tank system or for the release and otherwise is not engaged in petroleum production, refining or marketing, and
• (5)the person meets the requirements specified in Section 327.3 of this title, or
• (d)any person who is an impacted party, adjacent owner or town, city or political subdivision as determined by the Commission and who willingly submits to the regulations of the Commission governing petroleum storage tank system owners, operators or agents;

15. "Eligible release" means a release of regulated substances for which allowable costs, as determined by the Indemnity Fund Administrator, are reimbursable to or on behalf of an eligible person;

16. "Environment" means any water, water vapor, any land including land surface or subsurface, atmosphere, fish, wildlife, biota, domestic animals and all other natural resources;

17. "Environmental consultant" means an individual licensed by the Commission or an environmental consulting company retaining or employing a Commission-licensed environmental consultant;

18. "Facility" means any location or part thereof containing one or more storage tanks or systems;

19. "Impacted party" means an owner whose property has been impacted by a release from an on-site or off-site petroleum storage tank system which the impacted person did not own or operate and for which the impacted person has had no responsibility under Commission rules. An impacted party may apply for an eligibility determination for reimbursement from the Indemnity Fund. An impacted party is not subject to the Indemnity Fund co-pay;

20. "Indemnity Fund" means the Petroleum Storage Tank Indemnity Fund;

21. "Investigation" means activities taken to identify, confirm, monitor or delineate the physical extent of a release;

22. "Maintenance level" means the minimum balance of the Indemnity Fund to be maintained and below which the Indemnity Fund balance will fall when the balance of the Indemnity Fund is below the dollar amount of disbursements from the Indemnity Fund for the payment of claims during the preceding six (6) months plus Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000.00);

23. "Measuring device" shall mean any and all measuring devices through or by the use of which regulated substances are sold, dispensed or delivered to the public or to any person buying any such substance for any purpose other than resale;

24. "Motor fuel" has the same meaning as the term is defined by Section 500.3 of Title 68 of the Oklahoma Statutes;

25. "New system" means a storage tank system for which the installation or upgrade of the system began on or after December 22, 1998. Storage tank systems installed after July 1, 2008, must be secondarily contained and use interstitial monitoring;

26. "Operator" means any person in control of or having responsibility for the daily operation of the storage tank system, whether by lease, contract, or other form of agreement. The term "operator" also includes a past operator at the time of a release, tank closure, or a violation of the Oklahoma Petroleum Storage Tank Consolidation Act or of a rule promulgated thereunder;

27. "Owner" means:

• a.in the case of a storage tank system in use on November 8, 1984, or brought into use after that date, any person who holds title to real estate, controls, or possesses an interest in a storage tank system or property where a storage tank system is located used for the storage, use, or dispensing of regulated substances, or
• b.in the case of a storage tank system in use before November 8, 1984, but no longer in service on that date, any person who held title to, controlled, or possessed an interest in a storage tank system immediately before the discontinuation of its use.

The term "owner" does not include a person who holds an interest in a tank system solely for financial security, unless through foreclosure or other related actions the holder of a security interest has taken possession of the tank system;

28. "Pay-for-performance" means a process by which an environmental consultant guarantees, by executing a contract pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph, that a release of a regulated substance will be remediated to levels agreed to by the Commission, the eligible person and the consultant. Such levels must be protective of human health, safety and the environment. The performance-based process encompasses several steps including, but not limited to, the development of a contract signed by an officer/owner of the environmental consultant, the eligible person and the Indemnity Fund Administrator. The contract shall contain any agreed-upon reasonable price for the work to be performed. Scheduled payments shall be distributed only as performance-based goals are attained;

29. "Permit" means any registration, permit, license or other authorization issued by the Commission to operate a storage tank system;

30. "Person" means any individual, trust, firm, joint stock company or corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, any representative appointed by order of a court, the state, any municipality, county, school district or other political subdivision or agency of the state, or any interstate body. The term also includes a consortium, a joint venture, a commercial entity, the United States Government, a federal agency, including a government corporation, or any other legal entity;

31. "Petroleum" means antifreeze, new or used motor oil, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, aviation fuel or blended fuel including, but not limited to, gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel that is blended with biodiesel, ethanol, Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) or other additive for purposes of fueling a combustion engine;

32. "Pollution" means contamination or other alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of any natural waters of the state, land surfaces or subsurfaces, or atmosphere when such contamination or alteration will or is likely to create a nuisance or render the waters, land or atmosphere harmful or detrimental or injurious to the public health, safety or welfare or the environment;

33. "Purchase order" means a performance-based agreement negotiated between an environmental consultant and the Petroleum Storage Tank Division stipulating a scope of work to be performed by a target date, for which the Petroleum Storage Tank Indemnity Fund will reimburse a specified amount;

34. "Regulated substance" means petroleum which is regulated pursuant to the Oklahoma Petroleum Storage Tank Consolidation Act;

35. "Reimbursement" means either:

• a.repayment of an approved claim to an eligible person for allowable costs resulting from an eligible release, or
• b.payment of an approved claim submitted on behalf of an eligible person for incurred allowable costs resulting from an eligible release;

36. "Release" means any spilling, overfilling, leaching, emitting, discharging, escaping, unintentional disposing or leaking from a storage tank system that goes beyond the excavation zone, tankpit, or secondary containment into the environment. The term release includes but is not limited to a suspected or confirmed release of a regulated substance from a storage tank system identified as a result of sampling, testing or monitoring results, or identified in any similarly reliable manner;

37. "Remediation" means a process or technique used to reduce concentration levels of chemicals of concern in the soil and groundwater, and/or to reduce the presence of free product in the environment to levels that are protective of human health, safety and the environment;

38. "Responsible person" means any person that is seeking corrective action of real property, and submits to the jurisdiction of the Commission;

39. "Sale" means every gallon of motor fuel, diesel fuel, or blending materials sold, or stored and distributed, or withdrawn from storage, within the state, for sale or use. No gallon of motor fuel, diesel fuel, or blending materials shall be the basis more than once of the assessment imposed by Section 327.1 of this title;

40. "Storage tank" is a permanent trade fixture and means a stationary vessel designed to contain an accumulation of regulated substances. It includes the individual compartments within a compartmentalized tank, any aboveground or underground connected piping, and is a trade fixture. A storage tank that has ten percent (10%) or more of its volume beneath the surface of the ground is considered an underground storage tank;

41. "Storage tank system" means a closed-plumbed system including, but not limited to, the storage tank(s), the individual storage tank compartments, the lines, the dispenser for a given product, containment sump, if any, ancillary equipment or a delivery truck that is connected to the storage tank system;

42. "Synthetic diesel" for the purpose of prescribing specifications for the quality of synthetic diesel shall mean a hydrocarbon made up of hydrocarbons that are primarily aliphatic in character with the number of carbon atoms ranging from C-10 to C-20. The hydrocarbons are produced from carbon monoxide and hydrogen, synthesis gas, by passing the synthesis gas over a catalyst under temperature and pressure, commonly known as the Fischer-Tropsch process. Synthetic diesel shall meet all ASTM D975 specifications with or without the use of lubrication additives. A synthetic diesel blend is a blend of synthetic diesel fuel with a petroleum-based diesel fuel, which is designated "Sxx", with "xx" representing the volume percentage of synthetic diesel fuel in the blend;

43. "Tax Commission" means the Oklahoma Tax Commission;

44. "Transporter" means any person who transports, delivers or distributes any quantity of regulated substance from one point to another for the purpose of wholesale or retail gain; and

45. "Waters of the state" means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the State of Oklahoma or any portion thereof.

Added by Laws 1989, c. 90, § 3, emerg. eff. April 21, 1989. Amended by Laws 1992, c. 403, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1992; Laws 1993, c. 344, § 2, emerg. eff. June 9, 1993; Laws 1994, c. 352, § 1, emerg. eff. June 9, 1994; Laws 1998, c. 375, § 9, emerg. eff. June 9, 1998; Laws 2004, c. 430, § 1, emerg. eff. June 4, 2004; Laws 2005, c. 435, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws 2006, c. 28, § 1, emerg. eff. April 11, 2006; Laws 2008, c. 307, § 1, eff. July 1, 2008; Laws 2016, c. 155, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2016; Laws 2018, c. 27, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2018; Laws 2019, c. 82, § 3, eff. July 1, 2019.