(1) This Part applies to a storage facility which has one or more of the following:

(2) Any facility having a tank system identified in subparagraph (1)(i) or (ii) of this subdivision which has not been permanently closed is subject to the provisions of this Part.

(3) When reference is made to both owner and operator of a tank system, and the owner and operator are separate persons, only one person is required to comply with the applicable provision; however, both parties are liable in the event of non-compliance.

(4) This Part does not apply to:

(1) Aboveground piping means piping that rests on or is above the surface of the ground. Depending on the circumstances, aboveground piping may be part of an aboveground tank system or an underground tank system. This term includes piping located in a subterranean area accessible for visual inspection.

(2) Aboveground tank system means any tank system that is not an underground tank system.

(3) Ancillary equipment means any device including, but not limited to, hoses, piping, fittings, fixtures, gages, alarms, rupture disks, pressure release valves, flanges, or valves and pumps that are used to distribute, meter, or control the flow of a hazardous substance to and from a tank.

(4) Assembly line tanks are tanks used for the production of a manufactured product. Examples of such tanks include dispensing vats, weigh tanks or volumetric measuring devices, metal cleaning dip tanks, electroplating tanks and cutting fluid reservoirs.

(5) Best management practice plans, or BMP plans are plans designed to prevent or minimize the release of hazardous substances into the environment. BMPs can include, but are not limited to, spill reporting procedures, risk identification and assessment, employee training, inspections and records, preventive maintenance, good housekeeping, materials compatibility, structural measures and security.

(6) Carrier means a person who transports and transfers hazardous substances from one pipe or tank to another.

(7) Cathodic protection means a technique to prevent corrosion of a metal surface by making that surface the cathode of an electrochemical cell. For example, a tank system can be cathodically protected through the application of either galvanic anodes or impressed current.

(8) Change-in-service means the material stored within a tank is switched from a hazardous substance to a non-hazardous substance, a non-hazardous substance to a hazardous substance or from one hazardous substance to another.

(9) Class A operator means the individual who has primary responsibility to operate and maintain the underground tank system at a facility in accordance with applicable requirements of this Part and Parts 598 and 599 of this Title. The class A operator typically manages resources and personnel to achieve and maintain compliance with the requirements of this Part and Parts 598 and 599 of this Title.

(10) Class B operator means the individual who has day-to-day responsibility for implementing applicable requirements of this Part and Parts 598 and 599 of this Title. The class B operator typically implements field aspects of operation, maintenance, and associated recordkeeping for the underground tank system.

(11) Class C operator means the individual who has primary responsibility for initially addressing emergencies presented by a spill or release from an underground tank system.

(12) Compatible means the ability of two or more materials to maintain their respective physical and chemical properties upon contact with one another under conditions likely to be encountered for the design life of the tank system.

(13) Container means any portable device in which a hazardous substance is stored, transported, treated, disposed of, or otherwise handled.

(14) Corrective action plan means a plan for activities to be undertaken to mitigate or remedy environmental damage attributable to a release.

(15) Department means the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

(16) Dielectric material means a material that is a nonconductor of direct electrical current.

(17) Design capacity means the amount of a hazardous substance that a tank is designed to hold. If a certain portion of a tank is unable to store a hazardous substance because of its integral design (for example, electrical equipment or other interior components take up space), the design capacity of the tank is thereby reduced. Actions taken to physically alter the design capacity of a tank (such as drilling a hole in the side of the tank so that it cannot hold a hazardous substance above that point) will not change the design capacity of the tank.

(18) Environment means any water, water vapor, land including land surface or subsurface, air, fish, wildlife, biota and all other natural resources.

(19) Existing tank system means a tank system whose tank was installed before August 11, 1994.

(20) Facility means a single property, or contiguous or adjacent properties that are used for a common purpose and are owned or operated by the same person or persons, on or in which are located one or more tank systems or containers.

(21) Farm means a tract of land devoted to the production of crops or raising animals, including fish. Farm includes fish hatcheries, rangeland, and nurseries with growing operations.

(22) Flammable means a substance having a flash point below 100°F (37.8°C) and having a vapor pressure not exceeding 40 pounds per square inch (absolute) (2,068 mm Hg) at 100° F (37.8°C).

(23) Flash point means the temperature at which a liquid or volatile solid gives off vapor sufficient to form an ignitable mixture with air near the surface of the liquid or solid.

(24) Hazardous substance has the same meaning as that term is given in section 597.1(b) of this Title.

(25) Incompatible substances means those substances which if allowed to come in contact, may pose an adverse environmental impact such as releasing a toxic gas or vapor, causing or intensifying a fire, creating an explosion, or causing any other adverse reaction which may threaten human health, safety, welfare or the environment.

(26) Install or installation means the emplacement of a tank system, or any part thereof, in, on, or above the ground. The movement of a tank system from one location for use in a different location constitutes the installation of the tank system.

(27) Lining means a coating of a non-corrodible material resistant to the product stored and bonded firmly to the interior surface of the tank.

(28) Liquid means a fluid which is in a state of matter intermediate between gaseous and solid. Such fluids flow immediately when stressed, the rate of flow being directly proportional to the stress.

(29) Manifolded tanks means tanks in a tank system which are connected so that a hazardous substance stored in one tank can be transferred to another tank within the tank system.

(30) New tank system means a tank system that is not an existing tank system.

(31) On-ground piping means aboveground piping that is in contact with the surface of the ground.

(32) On-ground tank means the tank of an aboveground tank system where the bottom of the tank is in contact with the surface of the ground.

(33) Operating pressure means the pressure at which the tank system is normally operated.

(34) Operator means any person who leases, operates, controls, or supervises a facility.

(35) Out-of-service means a tank system which was used for the storage of hazardous substances but is no longer used for that purpose. Tank systems which are used for seasonal storage, for surcharge storage, or for standby storage are not considered out-of-service.

(36) Overfill means a spill that occurs when a tank is filled beyond its storage capacity.

(37) Owner, for the purposes of registration in this Part, means any person who has legal title to a facility. For all other purposes, owner means any person who owns a tank system.

(38) Permanently closed means an out-of-service tank system which has been emptied of all product and residual materials, cleaned, rendered free of any hazardous or flammable vapors, disconnected from any process or dispensing units, and closed or converted to another purpose consistent with department standards for closure as set forth in section 598.10 of this Title.

(39) Person means any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, copartnership, association, firm, trust, estate, or any other legal entity.

(40) Piping means one or more fixed or permanent pipes including attached equipment and components used to covey, distribute, mix, separate, discharge, meter, control, or stop the flow of a hazardous substance to or from a tank.

(41) Pressure relief valve means a device which is designed to prevent excessive internal pressure or vacuum, and is characterized by rapid opening (pop action) or by opening in proportion to the increase in pressure over the opening pressure, depending on application.

(42) PSIG means a pounds per square inch gage.

(43) Process tank is a vessel or other equipment used to mix or physically, chemically or biologically change a hazardous substance. The term process tank does not include tanks used to store hazardous substances prior to their introduction into the process, or tanks used to store substances as intermediates, by-products or finished products of the process. Examples of process tanks include, but are not limited to, flow-through chemical reactor tanks, batch tanks and mixing hoppers. Feed tanks upstream of the process are considered tanks for the purposes of these regulations.

(44) Qualified person, qualified engineer, qualified technician or qualified inspector means a person who has knowledge of the physical sciences, technology or the principles of engineering and mathematics acquired by education and/or related practical experience, and is competent to engage in the practice so required. Engineers engaged in the practice of engineering must be licensed or otherwise permitted to practice engineering pursuant to article 145 of the State Education Law.

(45) Release means any unauthorized pumping, pouring, spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, emptying, leaching or disposing, directly or indirectly, of a hazardous substance so that the substance or any related constituent thereof, or any degradation product of such a substance or of a related constituent thereof, may enter the environment.

(46) Repair means to restore to working order a tank, pipe, spill prevention equipment, overfill prevention equipment, corrosion protection equipment, leak detection equipment or other tank system component.

(47) Reportable quantity has the same meaning as that term is given in section 597.1(b) of this Title.

(48) Secondary containment means a dike, remote impoundment, or any other containment area which protects a tank, pipe or transfer station from damage due to vehicle traffic, fire exposure, spills from nearby tank systems and which prevents any material spilled or released from reaching the land or water outside the containment area before clean-up occurs.

(49) Spill or spillage means any escape of a substance from the containers employed in the normal course of storage, transfer, processing or use.

(50) Stationary device means a device that is not mobile. Examples of stationary devices include tank systems that are fixed or permanently in place on foundations, racks, cradles, or stilts.

(51) Storage capacity means the total volume capacity of a tank system.

(52) Tank means the portion of a tank system that contains the majority of the hazardous substance in the tank system. Each section of a compartmented tank will be treated as an individual tank.

(53) Tank system means a stationary device constructed of non-earthen materials that provide structural support that is designed to store a hazardous substance. This term includes all associated piping and ancillary equipment. This term does not include:

(54) Temporary tank system means a tank system that is installed for use at a location for no more than 90 days during any 12-month period.

(55) Transfer means the movement of a hazardous substance between a tank and another tank or container, as contrasted to feeding to a use or application device.

(56) Transfer station refers to an area where pipes or hoses are connected and disconnected for the purpose of emptying and filling a tank system. This includes, but is not limited to, railways, roads, containment basins, curbs, collection sumps, and impervious pads, where a vehicle or container is located to off-load or receive a hazardous substance, where a coupling to a transfer line is made for the purpose of hazardous substance transfer, or where a system to collect and contain spills resulting from transfer operations is located.

(57) Underground piping means piping that is completely beneath the surface of the ground. Depending on the circumstances, underground piping may be part of an aboveground tank system or an underground tank system.

(58) Underground tank system means a tank system that has 10 percent or more of its volume beneath the surface of the ground or covered by materials. This term does not include a tank system located in a subterranean area accessible for visual inspection; such a tank is considered an aboveground tank. A tank system that is covered by materials does not mean a tank system where the tank is completely above the surface of the ground and is fully enclosed within pre-fabricated secondary containment.

(59) Unstable hazardous liquid means a hazardous substance in liquid form which will vigorously polymerize, decompose, undergo a condensation reaction, or become self-reactive under conditions of shock, changes in pressure, or changes in temperature.

(60) Waters or waters of the State shall include lakes, bays, sounds, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Atlantic Ocean within the territorial limits of the State of New York, and all other bodies of surface or underground waters, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, public or private (except those private waters which do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters), which are wholly or partially within or bordering the State or within its jurisdiction.

(61) Working capacity means the portion of the design capacity of a tank that may be filled before engaging the overfill prevention device, reduced by an allowance for freeboard and expansion.

(1) Any designated officer or employee of the department may:

(2) Any person storing a hazardous substance may be required to furnish the department with information on the facility, repairs or replacements, hazardous substances stored, storage and handling practices, results of tests, monitoring and inspections, and the nature and extent of research concerning the effects of such substance on human health and the environment.