S.C. Code Regs. § § 61-98.I

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

Section 61-98.I - Scope and Definitions

A. Scope. This regulation, promulgated pursuant to the State Underground Petroleum Environmental Response Bank Act (SUPERB), sets forth certain requirements for site rehabilitation for releases from underground storage tanks (USTs) governed under the SUPERB Act and Regulation Regulation 61-92; accessing the SUPERB account; certification of site rehabilitation contractors and suspension and decertification of site rehabilitation contractors by the Department of Health and Environmental Control (the Department).

B. Definitions.

1. Active Remediation. Physical actions taken to reduce the concentrations of chemicals of concern.

2. Affiliate. Persons are affiliates of each other if, directly or indirectly, either one controls or has the power to control the other, or a third person controls or has the power to control both. Indicia of control include, but are not limited, to: interlocking management or ownership, identity of interest among family members, shared facilities and equipment, common use of employees, or a business entity organized following the suspension or debarment of a person which has the same or similar management, ownership or principal employees as the suspended, debarred, or voluntarily excluded person.

3. Attenuation. The reduction in concentrations of chemicals of concern in the environment with distance and time due to processes that include, but are not limited to, diffusion, dispersion, and absorption.

4. Carcinogen. Substances which have been classified for human carcinogenic risk by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

5. Certification. An action taken by the Department in accordance with this regulation to authorize a contractor to perform site rehabilitation under the SUPERB Act.

6. Chemicals of Concern. Specific constituents that are identified for evaluation in the risk assessment process.

7. Civil Judgment. The disposition of a civil action by any court of competent jurisdiction, whether entered by verdict, decision, settlement, stipulation, or otherwise.

8. Corrective Action. A subset of site rehabilitation activities conducted to protect human health, safety, and the environment. These activities include recovery of free-product, evaluating risks, evaluating and implementing intrinsic remediation, making no further action decisions, implementing institutional controls, active remediation, designing and operating cleanup systems and equipment, and monitoring of progress.

9. Corrective Action Plan. A document outlining proposed corrective actions.

10. Direct Exposure Pathway. An exposure pathway where the point of exposure is at the source without a release to any other medium (for example, inhalation of vapors or dermal contact with free-product).

11. Engineering Controls. Modifications to a site, such as capping or water treatment at the point of use, to reduce or eliminate the potential for exposure to chemicals of concern.

12. Engineering Report. A document outlining the proposed technical equipment specifications of a corrective action system.

13. Exposure. Contact of a receptor(s) with chemicals of concern. Exposure is quantified as the amount of the chemical of concern available at the exchange boundaries, such as skin or lungs, and available for absorption by the human body.

14. Exposure Assessment. The determination or estimation, qualitative or quantitative, of the magnitude, frequency, duration, and route of exposure.

15. Exposure Factor. An intake variable value, either established by the Environmental Protection Agency or based on site-specific data, used to estimate an exposure concentration.

16. Exposure Pathway. The course chemicals of concern take from the source area(s) to an exposed organism. An exposure pathway describes a unique mechanism by which a receptor(s) is exposed to chemicals of concern. A complete exposure pathway includes a source or release from a source, an exposure point, and an exposure route. If the exposure point differs from the source, a transport/exposure media (e.g., ground water) is included.

17. Exposure Point. The point at which it is assumed that a receptor, either potential or actual, can come into contact, either now or in the future, with the chemicals of concern. Maximum contaminant levels or other existing water quality standards must be met at the exposure point.

18. Exposure Route. The manner in which chemicals of concern come in contact with an organism (i.e., ingestion, inhalation, dermal contact).

19. Familial Relationship. A connection or association by family or relatives, in which a family member or relative has a material interest. Family or relatives include: father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandparent, great grandparent, grandchild, great grandchild, step grandparent, step great grandparent, step grandchild, step great grandchild, or fiancee.

20. Financial Relationship. A connection or association through a material interest of sources of income which exceed five percent of annual gross income from a business entity.

21. Hazard Index. The sum of two or more hazard quotients for multiple regulated substances and/or multiple exposure pathways which impact the same target organ or act by the same method of toxicity.

22. Hazard Quotient. The ratio of a single substance exposure level over a specific time period to a reference dose for that substance derived from a similar exposure period.

23. Indirect Exposure Pathways. An exposure pathway with at least one intermediate release to any media between the source and the point of exposure (for example, leaching of chemicals of concern from soils to ground water).

24. Institutional Controls. The restriction on use of or access to a site to eliminate or minimize potential exposure to chemicals of concern.

25. Intrinsic Remediation. The verifiable reduction of concentrations of chemicals of concern through naturally occurring microbial activity or attenuation mechanisms.

26. Legal Proceedings. Any criminal proceedings or any civil judicial proceedings to which the Federal, State, or Local government or quasi-governmental authority is a party. The term includes appeals from such proceedings.

27. Maximum Contaminant Level. A standard for drinking water established by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Safe Drinking Water Act which is the maximum permissible level of chemicals of concern in water which is used as a drinking water supply.

28. Non-Carcinogen. Substances shown either through epidemiological studies or through laboratory studies to cause adverse health effects other than cancer.

29. Notice. A written communication served in person or sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or its equivalent, to the last known address of a party, its identified counsel, its agent for service of process, or any partner, officer, director, owner, or joint venturer of the party. Notice, if undeliverable, shall be considered in effect five days after being properly sent to the last address known by the Department.

30. Person. An individual, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity organized or united for a business purpose, or a governmental agency.

31. Point(s) of Compliance. A location(s) selected between the source area and the exposure point(s) where chemicals of concern must be at or below the determined target levels in specific media (e.g., soil, ground water, air).

32. Proposal. A plan, request, invitation to consider or similar communication outlining cost, labor, or equipment estimates by or on behalf of a person seeking to directly or indirectly participate or to receive a benefit, directly or indirectly, from site rehabilitation.

33. Reasonably Anticipated Future Use. Future land use which can be predicted given current use, local government planning, and zoning.

34. Reasonable Maximum Exposure. Combination of upper-bound and mid-range exposure factors to be used in dose estimation equations to provide a result which represents an exposure scenario that is both protective and reasonable; not the worst case.

35. Receptors. Persons, structures, utilities, surface water, sensitive habitats, water supply wells, or other living organisms that are, or may be, affected by a release.

36. Related Interest. Affiliated companies, principal owners of the client company, or any other party with which the client deals where one of the parties can influence the management or operation policies of the other.

37. Release. Means any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching or disposing from an underground storage tank into subsurface soils, ground water, or surface water.

38. Risk. The probability that a chemical of concern, when released into the environment, will cause an adverse effect in exposed humans or other living organisms.

39. Risk Assessment. An analysis of the potential for adverse health effects caused by chemicals of concern to determine the need for corrective action. Also used to develop target levels where remedial action is required.

40. Risk Reduction. The lowering or elimination of the level of risk posed to human health or the environment through initial response action, corrective action, or institutional or engineering controls.

41. Risk-Based Screening Levels. Risk based, non site-specific, corrective action target levels for chemicals of concern.

42. Sensitive Habitat. Fresh and salt water fisheries, fish habitats including shellfish areas, coastal and inland wetlands, and habitats of threatened or endangered species.

43. Site. Includes all land, regardless of ownership considerations or property boundaries, which is directly affected by the chemicals of concern.

44. Site Classification. A qualitative evaluation of a site based on known or readily available information.

45. Site Conceptual Exposure Model. An analysis of the current and reasonably potential future pathways based on reasonably anticipated receptors and current and reasonably anticipated future use to identify complete exposure pathways. The analysis should be documented in a flow chart or diagram, or other appropriate format, to depict the complete exposure pathways. The site conceptual exposure model should be updated as additional information is obtained for the site.

46. Site Rehabilitation. Cleanup actions taken in response to a release from a UST which includes, but is not limited to, assessment, investigation, evaluation, planning, design, engineering, construction, or other services put forth to investigate or cleanup affected subsurface soils, ground water or surface water.

47. Site Rehabilitation Contractor. An individual or corporation, other than the owner/operator, who performs site rehabilitation under the SUPERB Act and this regulation.

48. Site-Specific Target Level. Risk-based corrective action target levels for chemicals of concern developed for a particular site under the Tier 2 and Tier 3 evaluations.

49. Source Area. Either the location of free-phase hydrocarbons or the location of highest soil and ground-water concentration of the chemicals of concern.

50. Tier 1 Evaluation. A risk-based analysis where non-site-specific values based on conservative exposure factors (i.e., risk-based screening levels), potential exposure pathways, and land use are evaluated to determine appropriate actions.

51. Tier 2 Evaluation. A risk-based analysis applying the risk-based screening levels at the exposure point, development of site-specific target levels for potential indirect exposure pathways based on site-specific conditions, and establishment of points of compliance.

52. Tier 3 Evaluation. A risk-based analysis to develop values for potential direct and indirect exposure pathways at the exposure point based on site-specific conditions.

53. UST. Underground Storage Tank, as defined in Regulation 61-92.280.12.

54. Wellhead Protection Area. A Department approved area surrounding public water supply wells that is designed to protect the wells from threats by: 1) direct introduction of chemicals of concern in the immediate well area, 2) microbial contaminant, and 3) chemicals of concern.

S.C. Code Regs. § 61-98.I