Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-111
Section 6020.902 - Expenditures from fund(a) Purposes.--The department shall expend money in the fund for purposes including, but not limited to:(1) Preparation by the department or its agents for taking response actions, which include emergency responses, investigations, testing activities, contracting, excavation, administrative costs and enforcement efforts relating to the release or threatened release of hazardous substances or contaminants.(2) Response actions taken or authorized by the department, including related enforcement and compliance efforts and the payment of the State share of the cost of remedial responses which may be carried out under an agreement or contract with the Federal Government pursuant to the Federal Superfund Act. (3) Participation in response activities to the extent the department, in its discretion, finds necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this act. The department may also use the fund to promote voluntary cleanups by participating in mixed funding settlements with potentially responsible persons.(4) Emergency responses, including response to spills and other uncontrolled releases and their cleanup.(5) Reimbursement to a private party for expenditures made from the effective date of this act to provide alternative water supplies deemed necessary by the department to protect the public health from contamination resulting from the release of a hazardous substance or contaminant.(6) Replacement of public or private water supplies deemed necessary by the department to protect the public health from contamination resulting from the release of a hazardous substance or contaminant.(7) Rehabilitation, restoration or acquisition of natural resources to remedy injuries or losses to natural resources resulting from the release of a hazardous substance or contaminant.(8) Grants by the department to demonstrate alternatives to land disposal of hazardous waste, including reduction, separation, pretreatment, minimization, processing and resource recovery, and for education of persons involved in regulating and handling hazardous substances.(9) Intervention and environmental mediation to facilitate cleanup of hazardous sites.(10) State matching funds required under the Federal Superfund Act for the response at a site on the National Priority List established under the Federal Superfund Act.(11) Studies of potential or actual human health effects from the release or potential release of hazardous substances at individual sites, including, but not limited to, studies of potential pathways of human exposure, the size and potential susceptibility of the community within the likely pathways of exposure, the comparison of expected health effects associated with identified hazardous substances and available recommended exposure or tolerance limits for the hazardous substances, the comparison of existing morbidity and mortality data on diseases that may be associated with the observed levels of exposure and epidemiological and clinical studies.(12) Grants provided to municipalities under section 510. (13) Reimbursement of expenses under section 505(f) . (b) Grants for recycling.--The department shall expend $2,000,000, or as much thereof as may be necessary, annually from the fund for the purpose of providing grants to persons who purchase or lease recycling equipment to be used exclusively within this Commonwealth. The amount of each grant shall be 25% of the installed cost of the recycling equipment. Application for a grant must be made to the department by April 15 of each year. The application shall include a description of each item of recycling equipment purchased or leased, the date of purchase or lease, the installed cost of the recycling equipment, a statement of where the recycling equipment is to be used and other information as the department may require. The department shall review all grant applications received to determine whether the expenditures meet the requirements of this subsection and shall advise the grant applicant of the grant amount for which said person is eligible. The grant allowed by this subsection shall apply only to recycling equipment that is installed and in operation prior to April 15, 1993. This subsection shall expire December 31, 1993.(c) Annual report.--Beginning October 1, 1989, and annually thereafter, the secretary shall transmit to the General Assembly a report concerning activities and expenditures made pursuant to this chapter for the preceding State fiscal year. Included in this report shall be information concerning all revenues and receipts deposited into the Hazardous Site Cleanup Fund, all expenditures, including, but not limited to, expenditures for personnel, operating expenses, the purchase of fixed assets, grants and subsidies, other major objects of expenditures where appropriate and information detailing the department's efforts to obtain contributions for response actions from potentially responsible parties and a listing of sites where mixed funding as described in subsection (a)(3) was utilized for cleanup. The secretary shall also supply information on both authorized and filled complement and information concerning program activities, including, but not limited to: (1) The number of response actions initiated and completed, and the costs incurred, in the aggregate and for each action.(2) The number of public or private water supply replacements, and the costs incurred.(3) Expenditures for the rehabilitation, restoration or acquisition of natural resources.(4) Expenditures for intervention and environmental mediation.(5) The number of Federal Superfund sites in which the Commonwealth participates in response activities, and the State matching costs incurred.(6) The number of health effect studies undertaken, and the costs incurred.(7) The number of grants provided to municipalities under section 510, and the amounts granted.(8) The number of reimbursements of expenses under section 505(f), and the amounts reimbursed.(d) Health study report.--Upon completion of health effect studies performed pursuant to subsection (a)(11), copies of the findings and any recommendations of such studies shall be transmitted to the General Assembly and the governing bodies of the affected communities. Except for personal health records of individuals, such studies shall be public information, and the department shall provide copies to any person upon request.(e) Nonliability of other funds.--Whenever the department undertakes to use the fund for a response action, whether on its own initiative or pursuant to a mixed funding settlement, no such undertaking shall constitute a liability of the General Fund or of any other special funds or accounts whether administered by the department or otherwise. 1988 , Oct. 18, P.L. 756, No. 108, § 902, effective in 60 days.