2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 12 - Conservation
Chapter 14 - Brownsfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act
§ 553. Voluntary Remediation Program

(a) Any person who owns real property that has been contaminated with hazardous substances or petroleum products may submit an application for the approval of a voluntary clean-up plan to the Department under this section. A voluntary clean-up plan must include:

• (1) An environmental assessment of the real property which describes the contamination, if any, on the property and the risk the contamination currently poses to public health and the environment;

• (2) A proposal, if needed, to remediate any contamination or condition which has or could lead to a release which poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment, considering the present and any differing proposed future use of the property and a timetable for implementing the proposal and for monitoring the site after the proposed measures are completed; and

• (3) A description of applicable promulgated territorial standards establishing acceptable concentrations of constituents in soils, surface water, or groundwater and, for constituents present at the site for which such territorial standards do not exist, a description of proposed clean-up levels and any current risk to human health or the environment based upon the current or proposed use of the site.

(b) The Department shall promulgate rules and regulations to allow persons, who own, operate, have a security interest in or enter into a contract for the purchase of contaminated property to clean up releases of hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, solid wastes, or petroleum voluntarily. The regulations apply only if remediation has not been mandated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Department or a court pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq.; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.; the Virgin Islands Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Act, the Virgin Islands Water Pollution Control Act, the Oil Pollution Prevention and Control Act, the Air Pollution Control Act or other applicable statutory or common law or where jurisdiction of those statutes has been waived.

(c) The rules and regulations under subsection (b) must provide for the following:

• (1) The establishment of methodologies to determine site-specific risk-based remediation standards that are no more stringent than applicable or appropriate relevant federal standards for soil, groundwater and sediments, taking into consideration scientific information regarding the following:

  • (A) protection of public health and the environment;

  • (B) the future industrial, commercial, residential, or other use of the property to be remediated and of surrounding properties;

  • (C) reasonably available and effective remediation technology and analytical quantization technology;

  • (D) the availability of institutional or engineering controls that are protective of human health or the environment;

  • (E) natural background levels for hazardous constituents;

  • (F) the establishment of procedures that minimize the delay and expense of the remediation to be followed by a person volunteering to remediate a release and by the Virgin Islands in processing submissions and overseeing remediation;

  • (G) the issuance of certificates of satisfactory completion of remediation, based on then-present conditions and available information, where voluntary cleanup achieves applicable cleanup standards or where the Commissioner determines that no further action is required;

  • (H) procedures to waive or expedite issuance of any permits required to initiate and complete a voluntary cleanup consistent with applicable federal law; and

  • (I) registration fees to be collected from persons conducting voluntary remediation to defray the actual reasonable costs of the voluntary remediation program expended at the site not to exceed the lesser of $5,000 or one percent of the actual costs of remediation; however, no registration fee is required when the person conducting voluntary remediation is an agency, department or authority of the Virgin Islands government.

    • (i) If a program participant unilaterally terminates participation, all fees are forfeited and that termination by the program results in a prorated refund to the program participants.

    • (ii) The Commissioner may waive fees for entities such as nonprofit organizations.

(d) A person conducting voluntary remediation pursuant to an agreement with the Government of the Virgin Islands entered into before the promulgation of regulations may elect to complete the cleanup in accordance with such an agreement, or the regulations.

(e) Time schedules for completion of voluntary remediation pursuant to an agreement with the Government of the Virgin Islands must be negotiated and included in the voluntary remediation agreement.

(f) Certification of satisfactory completion of remediation constitutes immunity to an enforcement action under the Virgin Islands Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Act the Water Pollution Control Act, Chapter 13 of this title, or any other applicable law.

(g) At the request of a person who owns, operates, holds a security interest in or contracts for the purchase of property from which the contamination to be voluntarily cleaned up originates, the Government of the Virgin Islands may seek temporary access to private and public property not owned by the person conducting the voluntary remediation as may be reasonably necessary for the person to conduct the voluntary remediation.

• (1) The request must include a demonstration that the person requesting access has used reasonable efforts to obtain access by agreement with the property owner.

• (2) The access, if granted, must be granted for only the minimum amount of time necessary to complete the remediation and must be exercised in a manner that minimizes the disruption of ongoing activities and compensates for actual damages.

• (3) The person requesting access shall reimburse the Territory for actual and necessary expenses incurred in seeking or obtaining access.

• (4) Denial of access to the Territory by a property owner creates a rebuttable presumption that such owner waives all rights, claims and causes of action against the person volunteering to perform remediation for costs, losses or damages related to the contamination as to claims for costs, losses or damages arising after the date of such access to the Territory.

• (5) A property owner who has denied access to the Territory may rebut the presumption by showing that he had good cause for the denial or that the person requesting that the Territory obtain access acted in bad faith.

(h) The Commissioner may, consistent with programs developed under the federal acts, provide incentives for the voluntary disclosure of Brownsfield sites and related information regarding potential or known contamination at that site. To the extent consistent with federal law, any person making a voluntary disclosure regarding real or potential contamination at a Brownsfield site may not be assessed an administrative or civil penalty under the Virgin Islands Solid and Hazardous Waste Management [Act]; the Virgin Islands Water Pollution Control Act, the Virgin Islands Air Pollution Control Act, or any other applicable law. A disclosure is voluntary if it is not otherwise required by law, regulation, permit or administrative order, and the person making the disclosure adopts a plan to market for redevelopment or otherwise ensure the timely remediation of the sit[e], immunity may not be granted, if it is found that the person making the voluntary disclosure has acted in bad faith.