General Assembly Raised Bill No. 301
February Session, 2016 LCO No. 2102
*02102_______CE_*
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 301
February Session, 2016
LCO No. 2102
*02102_______CE_*
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT MODIFYING THE THRESHOLDS FOR MANDATORY REPORTING OF ENVIRONMENTAL SPILLS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 22a-450 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2016):
(a) The master of any ship, boat, barge or other vessel, or the person in charge of any terminal for the loading or unloading of any oil or petroleum or chemical liquids or solid, liquid or gaseous products, or hazardous wastes, or the person in charge of any establishment, or the operator of any vehicle, trailer or other machine which by accident, negligence or otherwise causes the uncontained discharge, spillage, uncontrolled loss, seepage or filtration of oil or petroleum or chemical liquids or solid, liquid or gaseous products, or hazardous wastes which (1) a reasonable environmental health and safety professional would determine poses a potential threat to human health or the environment, and (2) exceeds the applicable threshold adopted by the commissioner pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, shall immediately report such uncontained discharge, spillage, uncontrolled loss, seepage or filtration to the commissioner. [such facts as the commissioner by regulation may require.] Any such report shall include, but not be limited to, the location, the quantity and the type of substance, material or waste, the date and the cause of the discharge, spillage, uncontrolled loss, seepage or filtration, the name and address of the owner of the ship, boat, barge or other vessel, terminal, establishment, vehicle, trailer or machine, and the name and address of the person making the report and his relationship to the owner. Any person who fails to make a report required by this section may be fined not more than one thousand dollars and the employer of such person may be fined not more than five thousand dollars, except that any person who fails to make a report relating to the discharge, spillage, uncontrolled loss, seepage or filtration of gasoline shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars and the employer of such person may be fined not more than ten thousand dollars.
(b) The commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, defining the threshold amounts for uncontained discharges, spillages, uncontrolled losses, seepages or filtrations that shall be reported to the commissioner pursuant to this section. Such threshold amounts shall be defined in units of weight for solid products and in units of volume for liquid and gaseous products. The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, specifying any facts, in addition to those specified in subsection (a) of this section, that shall be included in any report submitted under this section.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2016 22a-450
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
October 1, 2016
22a-450
Statement of Purpose:
To modify the standard for the reporting to the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection of an environmental spill and to require the commissioner to adopt regulations defining the thresholds for spills that require reporting.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]