68-212-202 - Definitions. - Tennessee Statutes

68-212-202. Definitions.

As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:

     (1)  “Brownfield project” means the screening, investigation, monitoring, control and/or remediation of any abandoned, idled, under-utilized, or other property whose re-use, growth, enhancement or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived adverse environmental conditions. Brownfield projects may address sites contaminated by hazardous substances, solid waste, or any other pollutant;

     (2)  “Hazardous substance” is as defined in Section 101 of Public Law 96-510;

     (3)  “Hazardous substance site” means any site or area where hazardous substance disposal has occurred;

     (4)  “Liable party” means:

          (A)  The owner or operator of an inactive hazardous substance site;

          (B)  Any person who at the time of disposal was the owner or operator of an inactive hazardous substance site;

          (C)  Any generator of hazardous substance who at the time of disposal caused such substance to be disposed of at an inactive hazardous substance site; or

          (D)  Any transporter of hazardous substance which is disposed of at an inactive hazardous substance site who, at the time of disposal, selected the site of disposal of such substance;

          (E)  (i)  “Liable party” does not include a unit of state or local government which becomes an owner or operator of an inactive hazardous substance site by acquiring ownership or control involuntarily through bankruptcy, tax delinquency, abandonment, or other circumstances in which the government involuntarily acquires title by virtue of its function as sovereign, unless such governmental entity has caused or contributed to the release or threatened release of a hazardous substance from the facility;

                (ii)  “Liable party,” as provided for in part 4 of this chapter, does not include a person who, without participating in the management of the hazardous substance site, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect a security interest in the site;

                (iii)  This subdivision (4)(E) shall apply to any site currently listed or listed at any time in the future as a superfund site through rules promulgated by the board, unless liability has otherwise been established through administrative or judicial action; and

          (F)  (i)  As used in this subdivision (4), “owner or operator” does not include a person who establishes, by a preponderance of the evidence, that:

                     (a)  Such person acquired the title to the hazardous substance site after the disposal or placement of the hazardous substance on, in, or at the site;

                     (b)  At the time the person acquired title to the hazardous substance site, such person did not know and had no reason to know that any hazardous substance which is the subject of the release or threatened release was disposed of on, in or at the site; and

                     (c)  The person exercised due care with respect to the hazardous substance concerned, taking into consideration the characteristics of such hazardous substance, in light of all relevant facts and circumstances;

                (ii)  To establish that such person had no reason to know, as provided in subdivision (4)(F)(i), the person must have undertaken, at the time of acquisition, all appropriate inquiry into the previous ownership and uses of the property consistent with good commercial or customary practice in an effort to minimize liability. For the purpose of the preceding sentence, the court, presiding authority, or the department of environment and conservation shall take into account any specialized knowledge or experience on the part of such person, the relationship of the purchase price to the value of the property if uncontaminated, commonly known or reasonably ascertainable information about the property, the obviousness of the presence or a likely presence of contamination at the property, and the ability to detect such contamination by appropriate inspection. The good faith performance of a Transaction Screen Process in material compliance with the version of the ASTM Practice E 1528 in effect at the time of the acquisition, or any successive replacement standard, or a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment in substantial and material compliance with the version of the ASTM E-1527 Guideline for Environmental Site Assessments in effect at the time of acquisition, or any successive replacement standard (collectively the “Assessment Standard”), that appropriately concludes that no further investigation is required, shall create a presumption that the person ordering or authorized to use the Transaction Screen Process or the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment has conducted “all appropriate inquiry” under this subdivision; and

     (5)  All other terms used in this part are defined as such terms are defined in § 68-212-104.

[Acts 1983, ch. 423, § 2; 1991, ch. 169, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 68-46-202; Acts 1994, ch. 890, § 3; 1995, ch. 375, §§ 1, 2; 2001, ch. 449, § 1.]