(a) Procedure for spill notification.--Upon the occurrence of a release at the aboveground storage tank, the owner or operator of a storage tank shall immediately notify the county emergency management agency, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the department. All downstream water companies, downstream municipalities and downstream industrial users within 20 miles of the aboveground storage tank located adjacent to surface waters shall be notified on a priority basis based on the proximity of the release by the owner or operator of the agent of the owner or operator of the aboveground storage tank within two hours of any release which enters a water supply or which threatens the water supply of downstream users. Where the owner or operator or his agent failed to notify or is incapable of notifying downstream water users, the county emergency management agency shall make the required notifications.

(b) Notification list.--The owner of the aboveground storage tank or tank facility located adjacent to surface waters shall annually obtain and annually update a list from the local emergency management agency of all downstream municipal water users, water companies and industrial users within 20 miles of the tank facility.

(c) State agency.--Notwithstanding any Federal law to the contrary, the department is hereby designated as the State agency empowered to direct emergency cleanup efforts onsite at a release site upon the occurrence of a release.

(d) Other emergency response plans.--Notwithstanding this chapter to the contrary, the aboveground storage tank spill prevention response plan shall be developed by the owner of the aboveground storage tank in consultation with the local and county emergency management agency, consistent with the emergency management procedures developed by local emergency management agencies under Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613).

(e) Releases from storage tanks.--Upon the occurrence of a release from a storage tank, the owner or operator of the storage tank shall immediately notify the appropriate regional office of the department. The owner or operator shall notify the department as soon as practicable but no later than 24 hours after the confirmation of a reportable release. Within 15 days of the notice required under this subsection, the owner or operator shall provide written notification to the department and to each municipality in which the reportable release has occurred and each municipality where that release has impacted environmental media or water supplies, buildings or sewer or other utility lines. The written notification shall describe, to the extent the information is available, the regulated substance involved in the release, the quantity of the substance released, when the release occurred, where the release occurred, the affected environmental media and relevant information concerning the effect of the release on public health, impacts to water supplies, buildings or to sewer or other utility lines. The notice shall also include information on remedial actions that are planned, initiated or completed. The owner or operator shall also provide written notification to the department and each impacted municipality of new impacts to environmental media or water supplies, buildings or sewer or other utility lines discovered after the initial written notification required under this subsection. This written notification shall be made within 15 days of the discovery of the new impact. If the department determines at any time that the release poses an immediate threat to public health and safety, the department and any impacted municipalities may evaluate and implement reasonable procedures to provide the public with appropriate information about the situation, which may, at a minimum, include a summary of the details surrounding the release and its impacts in a newspaper of general circulation serving the area in which the impacts are occurring.