Wash. Rev. Code § 88.46.010

Current through 2024

Section 88.46.010 - Definitions

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Best achievable protection" means the highest level of protection that can be achieved through the use of the best achievable technology and those staffing levels, training procedures, and operational methods that provide the greatest degree of protection achievable. The director's determination of best achievable protection shall be guided by the critical need to protect the state's natural resources and waters, while considering:

(a) The additional protection provided by the measures;

(b) The technological achievability of the measures; and

(c) The cost of the measures.

(2)

(a) "Best achievable technology" means the technology that provides the greatest degree of protection taking into consideration:

(i) Processes that are being developed, or could feasibly be developed, given overall reasonable expenditures on research and development; and

(ii) Processes that are currently in use.

(b) In determining what is best achievable technology, the director shall consider the effectiveness, engineering feasibility, and commercial availability of the technology.

(3) "Bulk" means material that is stored or transported in a loose, unpackaged liquid, powder, or granular form capable of being conveyed by a pipe, bucket, chute, or belt system.

(4) "Cargo vessel" means a self-propelled ship in commerce, other than a tank vessel or a passenger vessel, of three hundred or more gross tons, including but not limited to, commercial fish processing vessels and freighters.

(5) "Covered vessel" means a tank vessel, cargo vessel, or passenger vessel.

(6) "Department" means the department of ecology.

(7) "Director" means the director of the department of ecology.

(8) "Discharge" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping.

(9)

(a) "Facility" means any structure, group of structures, equipment, pipeline, or device, other than a vessel, located on or near the navigable waters of the state that transfers oil in bulk to or from a tank vessel or pipeline, that is used for producing, storing, handling, transferring, processing, or transporting oil in bulk.

(b) For the purposes of oil spill contingency planning in RCW 90.56.210, facility also means a railroad that is not owned by the state that transports oil as bulk cargo.

(c) Except as provided under (b) of this subsection, a facility does not include any:

(i) Railroad car, motor vehicle, or other rolling stock while transporting oil over the highways or rail lines of this state;

(ii) retail motor vehicle motor fuel outlet;

(iii) facility that is operated as part of an exempt agricultural activity as provided in RCW 82.04.330;

(iv) underground storage tank regulated by the department or a local government under chapter 70A.355 RCW; or

(v) marine fuel outlet that does not dispense more than three thousand gallons of fuel to a ship that is not a covered vessel, in a single transaction.

(10) "Marine facility" means any facility used for tank vessel wharfage or anchorage, including any equipment used for the purpose of handling or transferring oil in bulk to or from a tank vessel.

(11) "Navigable waters of the state" means those waters of the state, and their adjoining shorelines, that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide and/or are presently used, have been used in the past, or may be susceptible for use to transport intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce.

(12) "Offshore facility" means any facility located in, on, or under any of the navigable waters of the state, but does not include a facility any part of which is located in, on, or under any land of the state, other than submerged land. "Offshore facility" does not include a marine facility.

(13) "Oil" or "oils" means oil of any kind that is liquid at twenty-five degrees Celsius and one atmosphere of pressure and any fractionation thereof, including, but not limited to, crude oil, bitumen, synthetic crude oil, natural gas well condensate, petroleum, gasoline, fuel oil, diesel oil, biological oils and blends, oil sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil. Oil does not include any substance listed in Table 302.4 of 40 C.F.R. Part 302 adopted August 14, 1989, under section 102(a) of the federal comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act of 1980, as amended by P.L. 99-499.

(14) "Onshore facility" means any facility any part of which is located in, on, or under any land of the state, other than submerged land, that because of its location, could reasonably be expected to cause substantial harm to the environment by discharging oil into or on the navigable waters of the state or the adjoining shorelines.

(15)

(a) "Owner or operator" means

(i) in the case of a vessel, any person owning, operating, or chartering by demise, the vessel;

(ii) in the case of an onshore or offshore facility, any person owning or operating the facility; and

(iii) in the case of an abandoned vessel or onshore or offshore facility, the person who owned or operated the vessel or facility immediately before its abandonment.

(b) "Operator" does not include any person who owns the land underlying a facility if the person is not involved in the operations of the facility.

(16) "Passenger vessel" means a ship of three hundred or more gross tons with a fuel capacity of at least six thousand gallons carrying passengers for compensation.

(17) "Person" means any political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, public or private corporation, copartnership, association, firm, individual, or any other entity whatsoever.

(18) "Race Rocks light" means the nautical landmark located southwest of the city of Victoria, British Columbia.

(19) "Regional vessels of opportunity response group" means a group of nondedicated vessels participating in a vessels of opportunity response system to respond when needed and available to spills in a defined geographic area.

(20) "Severe weather conditions" means observed nautical conditions with sustained winds measured at forty knots and wave heights measured between twelve and eighteen feet.

(21) "Ship" means any boat, ship, vessel, barge, or other floating craft of any kind.

(22) "Spill" means an unauthorized discharge of oil into the waters of the state.

(23) "Strait of Juan de Fuca" means waters off the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula seaward of a line drawn from New Dungeness light in Clallam county to Discovery Island light on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

(24) "Tank vessel" means a ship that is constructed or adapted to carry, or that carries, oil in bulk as cargo or cargo residue, and that:

(a) Operates on the waters of the state; or

(b) Transfers oil in a port or place subject to the jurisdiction of this state.

(25) "Umbrella plan holder" means a nonprofit corporation established consistent with this chapter for the purposes of providing oil spill response and contingency plan coverage.

(26) "Vessel emergency" means a substantial threat of pollution originating from a covered vessel, including loss or serious degradation of propulsion, steering, means of navigation, primary electrical generating capability, and seakeeping capability.

(27) "Vessels of opportunity response system" means nondedicated boats and operators, including fishing and other vessels, that are under contract with and equipped by contingency plan holders to assist with oil spill response activities, including on-water oil recovery in the nearshore environment and the placement of oil spill containment booms to protect sensitive habitats.

(28) "Volunteer coordination system" means an oil spill response system that, before a spill occurs, prepares for the coordination of volunteers to assist with appropriate oil spill response activities, which may include shoreline protection and cleanup, wildlife recovery, field observation, light construction, facility maintenance, donations management, clerical support, and other aspects of a spill response.

(29) "Waters of the state" includes lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, inland waters, underground water, salt waters, estuaries, tidal flats, beaches and lands adjoining the seacoast of the state, sewers, and all other surface waters and watercourses within the jurisdiction of the state of Washington.

(30) "Worst case spill" means:

(a) In the case of a vessel, a spill of the entire cargo and fuel of the vessel complicated by adverse weather conditions; and

(b) in the case of an onshore or offshore facility, the largest foreseeable spill in adverse weather conditions.

RCW 88.46.010

Amended by 2020 c 20,§ 1490, eff. 6/11/2020.

Amended by 2015 c 274,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2015.

Amended by 2011 c 122,§ 1, eff. 7/22/2011.

2009 c 11 § 7; 2007 c 347 § 5; 2000 c 69 § 1; 1992 c 73 § 18; 1991 c 200 § 414.

Effective date- 2015 c 274 : See note following RCW 90.56.005.

Findings-Intent- 2009 c 11 : See note following RCW 88.46.130.

Effective dates-1992 c 73: See RCW 82.23B.902.