Fremont Municipal Code Art. VI Responsibility

As soon as any person in charge of a hazardous materials facility or responsible for emergency response for a facility has knowledge of any confirmed or unconfirmed unauthorized discharge of a hazardous material, such person shall take all necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment and clean-up of such discharge. They shall notify the appropriate agencies of the occurrence, as required. All actions must be taken in a timely manner.

(a) Any person in charge of a facility or responsible for emergency response for a facility, who has knowledge of any unauthorized discharge of a hazardous material which is a gas at STP, must immediately report such discharge to the city if such discharge presents a threat or imminent danger to the environment, public health, and safety.

(b) Confirmed Unauthorized Discharge.

(1) Recordable Unauthorized Discharge. Any recordable unauthorized discharge shall be contained and safely disposed of in an appropriate manner by permittee and such occurrence and the response thereto shall be recorded in the permittee’s monitoring records. A recordable unauthorized discharge is any unauthorized release or emission of a hazardous material which meets all of the following criteria:

(A) The release is from primary containment to secondary containment or to an aboveground surface capable of containing the discharge until clean-up of the hazardous material is completed;

(B) The permittee is able to adequately clean up the liquid or solid discharge before it escapes from such secondary containment or such aboveground surface, but if the clean-up requires more than eight hours, it becomes a reportable discharge in accordance with subsection (b)(2) of this section; and

(C) There is no significant increase in the hazard of fire or explosion, nor is there any production of a flammable or poisonous gas, nor is there any significant deterioration of such secondary containment or aboveground surface, nor is there any significant increase of risk to people or the environment.

(2) Reportable Unauthorized Discharge. Any other unauthorized discharge which is not covered under subsection (a) of this section, and which is determined not to be only recordable under subsection (b)(1) of this section, must be reported to the city immediately. The reporting party shall provide information to the city relating to the ability of permittee to contain and dispose of the hazardous material, the estimated time it will take to complete containment and disposal, and the degree of hazard created. The city may verify that the hazardous material is being contained and appropriately disposed.

The city, at any time upon a determination that permittee is not adequately containing and disposing of such material, shall have the power and authority to undertake and direct an emergency response in order to protect the public health and/or safety. Any such emergency response will be governed by the procedures set forth in Section 8.35.290 and Article X of this chapter.

(3) Losses aboveground within secondary containment that are less than one percent of the reportable quantities specified in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 302, and are cleaned up adequately, are exempted from this section.

(c) Unconfirmed Unauthorized Discharge.

(1) Indication of Loss in Facility Records. Whenever a material balance or other information indicates a loss of hazardous material from a facility without secondary containment, or a gas, and no unauthorized discharge has been confirmed by other means, permittee shall have 48 hours to determine whether or not there has been an unauthorized discharge.

If, before the end of such period, it is determined that there has been no unauthorized discharge, an entry explaining the occurrence shall be made in permittee’s monitoring records. Where permittee has not been able, within such time, to determine that there has been no unauthorized discharge, an unauthorized discharge is deemed confirmed and permittee shall proceed in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.

Whenever a material balance or other record indicates a statistically significant loss of hazardous materials from an underground tank with secondary containment, or an aboveground facility, the secondary containment must be monitored to confirm or refute the indication of an actual unauthorized discharge. If there is evidence of an unauthorized discharge, it must be reported in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.

(2) Test Results. Whenever any test results suggest a possible unauthorized discharge, and no unauthorized discharge has been confirmed by other means, the permittee shall have 48 hours to retest. If second test results obtained within that period establish that there has been no unauthorized discharge, the results of both tests shall be recorded in permittee’s monitoring records. If it has not been established within such time period that there has been no unauthorized discharge, an unauthorized discharge is deemed confirmed and permittee shall proceed in accordance with subsection (b) of this section. (Ord. 1946 § 6, 11-27-90. 1990 Code § 3-12600.)

Any person, firm or corporation responsible for a hazardous material facility, or property owner, shall institute and complete all actions necessary to remedy the effect of any unauthorized discharge, whether sudden or gradual. The city shall undertake actions to remedy the effects of such unauthorized discharge if it determines that it is reasonably necessary under the circumstances for the city to do so. The responsible party and/or property owner shall be liable to reimburse to the city all costs incurred by the city in remedying the effects of such unauthorized discharge including overhead and administration costs.

This responsibility is not conditioned upon the evidence of willfulness or negligence of the property owner or the party handling the hazardous material(s) in causing or allowing such discharge. Any responsible party who undertakes actions to remedy the effects of unauthorized discharges shall not be barred by this chapter from seeking to recover appropriate costs and expenditures from other responsible parties. (Ord. 1946 § 6, 11-27-90. 1990 Code § 3-12601.)