§ 78105

(a) “Release” means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment.

(b) “Release” does not include any of the following:

(1) Any release that results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace, with respect to a claim those exposed persons may assert against their employer.

(2) Emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling stock, aircraft, vessel, or pipeline pumping station engine.

(3) Release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2011 et seq.), if the release is subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Section 2210 of Title 42 of the United States Code.

(4) Any release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material, as those terms are defined in the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2011 et seq.), from any processing site designated under Section 7912(a)(1) or 7942(a) of Title 42 of the United States Code, which sections are a part of the federal Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-604). This paragraph applies for the purposes of Section 104 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9604) or any other response action.

(5) The normal application of fertilizer, plant growth regulants, and pesticides.

(Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 257, Sec. 2. (AB 2293) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative January 1, 2024, pursuant to Sec. 4 of Stats. 2022, Ch. 257.)