S.C. Code Regs. § § 61-92.280.H.92

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 10, October 25, 2024

Section 61-92.280.H.92 - DEFINITION OF TERMS

When used in this subpart, the following terms shall have the meanings given below:

(a) "Accidental release" means any sudden or nonsudden release of petroleum from an UST that results in a need for corrective action and/or compensation for bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended by the UST owner or operator.

(b) "Bodily injury" shall have the meaning given to this term by applicable South Carolina law; however, this term shall not include those liabilities which, consistent with standard insurance industry practices, are excluded from coverage in liability insurance policies for bodily injury.

(c) "Chief Financial Officer", in the case of local government owners and operators, means the individual with the overall authority and responsibility for the collection, disbursement, and use of funds by the local government. In the case of non-government owners and operators, the corporate officer officially designated as the Chief Financial Officer or functionally equivalent most senior financial officer. The Chief Financial Officer is the person who signs United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") submissions or the equivalent.

(d) "Controlling interest" means direct ownership of at least 50 percent of the voting stock of another entity.

(e) "Department" refers to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

(f) "Financial reporting year" means the latest consecutive twelve-month period for which any of the following reports used to support a financial test is prepared:

(1) a 10-K report submitted to the SEC;

(2) an annual report of tangible net worth submitted to Dun and Bradstreet; or

(3) annual reports submitted to the Energy Information Administration or the Rural Utilities Service.

[Note to the definition of "financial reporting year." "Financial reporting year" may thus comprise a fiscal or a calendar year period.]

(g) "Legal defense cost" is any expense that an owner or operator or provider of financial assurance incurs in defending against claims or actions brought:

(1) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the state of South Carolina to require corrective action or to recover the costs of corrective action;

(2) by or on behalf of a third party for bodily injury or property damage caused by an accidental release; or

(3) by any person to enforce the terms of a financial assurance mechanism.

(h) "Local government" shall have the meaning given this term by applicable state law and includes Indian tribes. The term is generally intended to include:

(1) counties, municipalities, townships, separately chartered and operated special districts (including local government public transit systems and redevelopment authorities), and independent school districts authorized as governmental bodies by state charter or constitution; and

(2) special districts and independent school districts established by counties, municipalities, townships, and other general purpose governments to provide essential services.

(i) "Occurrence" means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in a release from an UST.

[Note to the definition of "Occurrence." This definition is intended to assist in the understanding of these regulations and is not intended either to limit the meaning of "occurrence" in a way that conflicts with standard insurance usage or to prevent the use of other standard insurance terms in place of "occurrence."]

(j) "Owner or operator," when the owner or operator are separate parties, refers to the party that is obtaining or has obtained financial assurances.

(k) "Petroleum marketing facilities" include all facilities at which petroleum is produced or refined and all facilities from which petroleum is sold or transferred to other petroleum marketers or to the public.

(l) "Petroleum marketing firms" are all firms owning petroleum marketing facilities. Firms owning other types of facilities with USTs as well as petroleum marketing facilities are considered to be petroleum marketing firms.

(m) "Property damage" shall have the meaning given this term by applicable South Carolina law. This term shall not include those liabilities which, consistent with standard insurance industry practices, are excluded from coverage in liability insurance policies for property damage. However, such exclusions for property damage shall not include corrective action associated with releases from tanks which are covered by the policy.

(n) "Provider of financial assurance" means an entity that provides financial assurance to an owner or operator of an underground storage tank through one of the mechanisms listed in Sections 280.95 through 280.107, including a guarantor, insurer, risk retention group, surety, issuer of a letter of credit, issuer of a state-required mechanism, or a state.

(o) "SCUSTCR" refers to the South Carolina Underground Storage Tank Control Regulations, promulgated pursuant to Section 44-2-50 of the 1976 South Carolina Code of Laws and enacted in March, 1990.

(p) "Substantial business relationship" means the extent of a business relationship necessary under applicable South Carolina law to make a guarantee contract issued incident to that relationship valid and enforceable. A guarantee contract is issued "incident to that relationship" if it arises from and depends on existing economic transactions between the guarantor and the owner or operator.

(q) "Substantial compliance" as stated in Section 44-2-20(14) of the 1976 Code of Laws, as amended, means that an UST owner or operator has demonstrated a good faith effort to comply with regulations necessary and essential in preventing releases, in facilitating their early detection, and in mitigating their impact on public health and the environment.

(r) "Substantial governmental relationship" means the extent of a governmental relationship necessary under applicable South Carolina law to make an added guarantee contract issued incident to that relationship valid and enforceable. A guarantee contract is issued "incident to that relationship" if it arises from a clear commonality of interest in the event of an UST release such as coterminous boundaries, overlapping constituencies, common groundwater aquifer, or other relationship other than monetary compensation that provides a motivation for the guarantor to provide a guarantee.

(s) "Tangible net worth" means the tangible assets that remain after deducting liabilities; such assets do not include intangibles such as goodwill and rights to patents or royalties. For purposes of this definition, "assets" means all existing and all probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions.

(t)"Termination" under Section 280.97(b)(1) and (2) means only those changes that could result in a gap in coverage as where the insured has not obtained substitute coverage or has obtained substitute coverage with a different retroactive date than the retroactive date of the original policy.

S.C. Code Regs. § 61-92.280.H.92

Added by State Register Volume 19, Issue No. 9, eff September 22, 1995; State Register Volume 41, Issue No. 05, eff. 5/26/2017.