N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 6 §§ 598-1.3

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 50, December 11, 2024

Section 598-1.3 - Definitions

The following is a list of terms and definitions which will be used in this Part:

(a) '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 an accessible area.

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

(c) 'Accessible area' means an area - such as a room, basement cellar, shaft or vault - that allows for the physical inspection of the entire exterior of the tank.

(d) 'Ancillary equipment means fittings, flanges, valves, pumps, and other devices that are used to distribute, meter, or control the flow of hazardous substance to and from a tank. This term does not include a dispenser system.

(e) 'Assembly line tanks' are tanks used in a manufacturing process. Examples of such tanks include dispensing vats, weigh tanks or volumetric measuring devices, metal cleaning dip tanks, electroplating tanks and cutting fluid reservoirs.

(f) '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.

(g) 'Carrier' means a person who transports a hazardous substance to or from a tank system. Transporting a hazardous substance does not include dispensing a hazardous substance from a tank system.

(h) 'Category 1' means any tank system component (e.g., tank, piping, ancillary equipment, fill port catch basins, containment sumps, secondary containment, etc.) installed before August 11, 1994.

(i) 'Category 2' means any tank system component (e.g., tank, piping, ancillary equipment, fill port catch basins, containment sumps, secondary containment, etc.) installed on or after August 11, 1994.

(j) 'Cathodic protection' means the prevention of electrolytic corrosion of a metallic structure by causing it to act as the cathode rather than as the anode of an electrochemical cell.

(k) 'Change-in-service' means switching the material stored within a tank system from a hazardous substance to a non-hazardous substance.

(l) '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. The class A operator typically manages resources and personnel to achieve and maintain compliance with the requirements of this Part.

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

(n) '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.

(o) 'Compatible' means, in the case of two or more substances, able to maintain their respective physical and chemical properties upon contact with one another for the design life of the tank system or container under conditions likely to be encountered in the tank system or container.

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

(q) 'Corrective action plan' means a plan to mitigate or remedy environmental damage attributable to a release.

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

(s) '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 that 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.

(t) 'Dielectric material' means a material that does not conduct direct electrical current. For example, dielectric coatings are used to electrically isolate tank systems from the surrounding soils and dielectric bushings are used to electrically isolate portions of the tank system (e.g., tank from piping).'

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

(v) 'Facility' means a single property or contiguous or adjacent properties used for a common purpose owned or operated by the same person on or in which are located one or more tanks which are used for the storage or containment of hazardous substances.

(w) 'Farm' means a tract of land devoted to the production of crops or raising animals, including fish, and associated residences and improvements. This term includes fish hatcheries, rangeland, and nurseries with growing operations.

(x) '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).

(y) '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.

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

(aa) ' In contact with the ground means':

(1) for cathodic protection, on, partially, or fully beneath the surface of the ground, or covered by materials (which induce galvanic corrosion in tank system components); or

(2) for installation and leak detection, on, partially, or fully beneath the surface of the ground, or covered by materials. This definition does not apply to tank system components the exterior of which can be fully physically inspected, or to secondarily contained piping that are located completely aboveground.

(ab) 'Inaccessible area' means an area - such as a room, basement, cellar, shaft, or vault - that does not allow for the physical inspection of the exterior of the tank. This term does not include any room, basement, cellar, shaft, vault, etc. that is backfilled following tank installation.

(ac) 'Incompatible substances' means those substances which if 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 impact or reaction which may threaten human health, safety, welfare or the environment.

(ad) 'Install or 'installation' means the emplacement of a tank system, or any part thereof, beneath, on, or above the ground. The movement of a tank from one location for use in a different location constitutes the installation of a tank system. Tank retrofits that create a new primary and/or secondary wall constitute a new tank installation.

(ae) Lining' means a coating of noncorrodible epoxy-based resins (or an equivalent coating) that is bonded firmly to the interior surface of a tank and which is compatible with the hazardous substance stored, for the primary purpose of isolating the tank wall from the stored hazardous substance to prevent internal corrosion.

(af) 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.

(ag) '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.

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

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

(aj) 'Overfill' means filling a tank beyond its design capacity.

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

(al) 'Person' means any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, municipality, co-partnership, association, firm, consortium, joint venture, interstate body, trust, estate, or any other legal entity whatsoever.

(am) 'Pipe' or 'Piping' means a hollow cylinder or tubular conduit constructed of non-earthen materials that is used for the conveyance of hazardous substance.

(an) '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.

(ao) '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.

(ap) 'PSIG' means a pounds per square inch gage.

(aq) '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.

(ar) 'Release' means any intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the releasing, discharging, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping of hazardous substance into the waters of the State or onto lands from which it might flow or drain into said waters, or into waters outside the jurisdiction of the State when damage may result to lands, waters, or natural resources within the jurisdiction of the State. A leak or spill of hazardous substance into secondary containment that does not reach the environment, does not constitute a release.

(as) 'Repair' means to restore to working order a tank, pipe, fill port catch basin, overfill prevention equipment, corrosion protection equipment, leak detection equipment, or other tank system component that has either caused a leak or a suspected leak of hazardous substance from the tank system, or failed to function properly.

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

(au) 'Secondary containment' means containment that prevents any spilled or leaked hazardous substances from reaching the land or water outside the containment before cleanup occurs.

(av) 'Spill', 'spillage', or 'leak' means any escape of hazardous substance from the ordinary containment employed in the normal course of storage, transfer, processing, or use. Any escape of hazardous substance that enters containment equipment (e.g., catch basin, containment sump) is a spill.

(aw) '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.

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

(ay) 'Tank' means a stationary device designed to store hazardous substance that is constructed of non-earthen materials that provide structural support. Each compartment of a compartmented tank is treated as an individual tank that is part of the same tank system.

(az) 'Tank system' means the tank, all associated piping, ancillary equipment, fill port catch basins, containment sumps, secondary containment, and any other containment equipment. This term includes all tank compartments as well as interconnected tanks where hazardous substance can flow between the tanks. This term does not include:

(1) process tank systems;

(2) assembly line tanks and accessory equipment which are parts of an aboveground tank system;

(3) septic tanks, stormwater or wastewater collection systems;

(4) capacitors or transformers containing polychlorinated biphenyls;

(5) aboveground tank systems on an operating farm where the hazardous substances will be used for agricultural purposes on such farm;

(6) tank systems which have been permanently closed; or

(7) containers.

(ba) '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.

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

(bc) '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 may be 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.

(bd) 'Underground storage tank system' or 'UST system' means a tank system that has ten percent or more of its volume beneath the surface of the ground or covered by materials (e.g., backfill, concrete encasement). This term does not include a tank system situated in an accessible area. A tank system that is covered by materials does not include a tank system where the tank is completely above the surface of the ground or in an accessible area, and is:

(1) fully enclosed within prefabricated secondary containment; or

(2) insulated in order to store heated hazardous substance.

(be) '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, changes in temperature, or when exposed to other substances (e.g., air or water).

(bf) '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.

(bg) '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.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 6 §§ 598-1.3

Adopted New York State Register July 19, 2023/Volume XLV, Issue 29, eff. 10/17/2023