§ 172 — Definitions

§ 172. Definitions. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise,\nthe following terms shall have the following meanings:\n 1. "Administrator" means the chief executive, within the department of\naudit and control, of the New York environmental protection and spill\ncompensation fund;\n 2. "Barrel" means forty-two United States gallons, or 159.9 liters, at\nsixty degrees fahrenheit;\n 2-a. "Biological additives" means microbiological cultures, enzymes,\nor nutrient additives that are deliberately introduced into a petroleum\ndischarge for the specific purpose of encouraging biodegradation to\nmitigate the effects of the discharge.\n 3. "Claim" means, for purposes of part three of this article, any\nclaim of the fund or any claim by an injured person, who is not\nresponsible for the discharge, seeking compensation for cleanup and\nremoval costs incurred or damages sustained as a result of a petroleum\ndischarge;\n 3-a. "Burning agents" means additives that, through physical or\nchemical means, improve the combustibility of the materials to which\nthey are applied.\n 3-b. "Chemical agents" means generally those elements, compounds or\nmixtures that coagulate, disperse, dissolve, emulsify, foam, neutralize,\nprecipitate, reduce, solubilize, oxidize, concentrate, congeal, entrap,\nfix, make the pollutant mass more rigid or viscous, or otherwise\nfacilitate the mitigation of deleterious effects or removal of the\npollutant or petroleum from the water.\n 4. "Cleanup and removal" means the (a) containment or attempted\ncontainment of a discharge, (b) removal or attempted removal of a\ndischarge or, (c) taking of reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate\ndamages to the public health, safety, or welfare, including but not\nlimited to, public and private property, shorelines, beaches, surface\nwaters, water columns and bottom sediments, soils and other affected\nproperty, including wildlife and other natural resources;\n 5. "Cleanup and removal costs" means all costs associated with the\ncleanup and removal of a discharge including relocation costs pursuant\nto section one hundred seventy-seven-a of this article incurred by the\nstate or its political subdivisions or their agents or any person with\napproval of the department;\n 6. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of\nenvironmental conservation, unless otherwise indicated;\n 6-a. "Containment boom" means a floating or stationary device composed\nof plastic, natural or synthetic materials which can be mechanically\nextended over water or permanently stationed over water for the purposes\nof containing floating petroleum, solid objects or other pollutants\nwithin or outside a particular area;\n 7. "Department" means the department of environmental conservation,\nunless otherwise indicated;\n 8. "Discharge" means any intentional or unintentional action or\nomission resulting in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping,\npouring, emitting, emptying or dumping of petroleum into the waters of\nthe state or onto lands from which it might flow or drain into said\nwaters, or into waters outside the jurisdiction of the state when damage\nmay result to the lands, waters or natural resources within the\njurisdiction of the state;\n 8-a. "Dispersant" means chemical agents that emulsify, disperse, or\nsolubilize petroleum into the water column or promote the surface\nspreading of petroleum slicks to facilitate dispersal of the petroleum\ninto the water column.\n 9. "Fund" means the New York environmental protection and spill\ncompensation fund;\n 10. "License fee period" means every calendar month on the basis of\nwhich the licensee is required to report under this article;\n 11. "Major facility" includes but is not limited to any refinery,\nstorage or transfer terminal, pipeline, deep water port, drilling\nplatform or any appurtenance related to any of the preceding that is\nused or is capable of being used to refine, produce, store, handle,\ntransfer, process or transport petroleum. A vessel shall be considered a\nmajor facility only when petroleum is transferred between vessels. A\nvessel that would not otherwise be considered a major facility shall not\nbe considered a major facility based solely upon its rendering of care,\nassistance or advice consistent with the national contingency plan or as\notherwise directed by the federal on-scene coordinator or by the\ncommissioner or his designee, in response to a discharge of petroleum\ninto or upon the navigable waters. Facilities with total combined\nabove-ground or buried storage capacity of less than four hundred\nthousand gallons are not major facilities for the purposes of this\narticle;\n 12. "Natural resources" means all land, fish, shellfish, wildlife,\nbiota, air, waters and other such resources;\n 13. "Owner" or "operator" means with respect to a vessel, any person\nowning, operating or chartering by demise such vessel; with respect to\nany major facility, any person owning such facility, or operating it by\nlease, contract or other form of agreement; with respect to abandoned or\nderelict major facilities, the person who owned or operated such\nfacility immediately prior to such abandonment, or the owner at the time\nof discharge;\n 14. "Person" means public or private corporations, companies,\nassociations, societies, firms, partnerships, joint stock companies,\nindividuals, the United States, the state of New York and any of its\npolitical subdivisions or agents;\n 15. "Petroleum" means oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form\nincluding, but not limited to, oil, petroleum, fuel oil, oil sludge, oil\nrefuse, oil mixed with other wastes and crude oils, gasoline and\nkerosene;\n 15-a. "Petroleum-bearing vessel" means any vessel transporting\npetroleum in commercial quantities as cargo or any vessel constructed or\nadapted for the carriage of petroleum in bulk;\n 15-b. "Sinking agents" means additives applied to petroleum discharges\nto sink floating pollutants below the water surface.\n 15-c. "Surface collecting agents" means chemical agents that form a\nsurface film to control the layer thickness of petroleum.\n 15-d. "Tank vessel" means a vessel that is constructed or adapted to\ncarry, or that carries, petroleum in bulk as cargo or cargo residue, and\nthat:\n (a) is a vessel of the United States;\n (b) operates on the waters of the state of New York; or\n (c) transfers petroleum in a place subject to the jurisdiction of the\nof the state of New York.\n 16. "Transfer" means onloading or offloading between major facilities\nand vessels or vessels and major facilities, and from vessel to vessel\nor major facility to major facility;\n 17. "Vessel" means every description, of watercraft or other\ncontrivance that is practically capable of being used as a means of\ncommercial transportation of petroleum upon the water, whether or not\nself-propelled; and\n 18. "Waters" means the ocean and its estuaries to the seaward limit of\nthe state's jurisdiction, and all lakes, springs, streams and bodies of\nsurface or groundwater, whether natural or artificial, within the\nboundaries of this state. Provided, however, that for purposes of this\ndefinition, waters of the state adjacent to Long Island Sound are to be\nstrictly construed to effectuate only the provisions of this article.\n