2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 12 - Conservation
Chapter 14 - Brownsfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act
§ 555. Limitations on liability
(a) The Commissioner may, consistent with programs developed under the federal acts, make a determination to limit the liability of lenders, innocent purchasers or landowners, de minimis contributors or others who have grounds to claim limited responsibility for a containment or cleanup that may be required pursuant to the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Act, the Virgin Islands Water Pollution Control Act, the Virgin Islands Air Pollution Control Act, the Underground Storage Tank Act or any other applicable law.
(b)
(1) A bona fide prospective purchaser may not be held liable for a containment or cleanup that may be required at a Brownsfield site pursuant to the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management [Act], the Virgin Islands Water Pollution Control Act, the Virgin Islands Air Pollution Control Act, or the Underground Storage tank Act, if:
(A) The person did not cause, contribute, or consent to the release or threatened release;
(B) The person is not liable or potentially liable through any direct or indirect familial relationship or any contractual, corporate, or financial relationship or is not the result of a reorganization of a business entity that was potentially liable;
(C) The person exercises appropriate care with respect to hazardous substances found at the facility by taking reasonable steps to stop any continuing release, prevent any threatened future release, and prevent or limit human, environmental, or natural resource exposure to any previously released hazardous substances; and
(D) The person does not impede the performance of any response action.
(2) This subsection does not apply to sites subject to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
(c)
(1) An innocent landowner who holds title, security interest or any other interest in a Brownsfield site may not be held liable for a containment or cleanup that may be required at a Brownsfield site pursuant to the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Act, the Virgin Islands Water Pollution Control Act, the Virgin Islands Air Pollution Control [Act] and the Underground Storage Tank Act if:
(A) The person did not cause, contribute, or consent to the release or threatened release;
(B) The person is not liable or potentially liable through any direct or indirect familial relationship or any contractual, corporate, or financial relationship or is not the result of a reorganization of a business entity that was potentially liable;
(C) The person made all appropriate inquiries into the previous uses of the facility in accordance with generally accepted good commercial and customary standards and practices, including those established by federal law; and
(D) The person exercises appropriate care with respect to hazardous substances found at the facility by taking reasonable steps to stop any continuing release, prevent any threatened future release, and prevent or limit human, environmental, or natural resource exposure to any previously released hazardous substances, and the person does not impede the performance of any response action and if either.
(i) at the time the person acquired the interest, the person did not know and had no reason to know that any hazardous substances had been or were likely to have been disposed of on, in, or at the site, or
(ii) the person is a government entity that acquired the site by escheat or through other involuntary transfer or acquisition.
(2) This subsection does not apply to sites subject to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
(d) A person that owns real property that is contiguous to or otherwise similarly situated with respect to, and that is, or may be contaminated by a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance from real property that is not owned by that person, is not liable for a containment or cleanup that may be required pursuant to the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management [Act,] the Virgin Islands Water Pollution Control Act, the Virgin Islands Air Pollution Control Act or the Underground Storage Tank Act, if the person did not cause, contribute, or consent to the release or threatened release, the person is not liable or potentially liable through any direct or indirect familial relationship or any contractual, corporate, or financial relationship or is not the result of a reorganization of a business entity that was potentially liable, and if such person provides full cooperation, assistance and access to persons that are authorized to conduct response actions at the facility from which there has been a release.
(e) The provisions of this section does [sic] not otherwise limit the authority of the Territory or the Department to require any person responsible for the contamination or pollution to contain or cleanup sites where solid or hazardous waste or other substances have been improperly managed.
