WAC 173-182-030   Definitions.  (1) "Boom" means flotation boom or other effective barrier containment material suitable for containment, protection or recovery of oil that is discharged onto the surface of the water. Boom also includes the associated support equipment necessary for rapid deployment and anchoring appropriate for the operating environment. Boom will be classified using criteria found in the 2000 ASTM International F 1523-94 (2001) and ASTM International F 625-94 (Reapproved 2000), and the Resource Typing Guidelines found in chapter 13 of the 2000 Oil spill field operations guide.

     (2) "Bulk" means material that is stored or transported in a loose, unpackaged liquid, powder, or granular form capable of being conveyed by a pipe, bucket, chute, or belt system.

     (3) "Cargo vessel" means a self-propelled ship in commerce, other than a tank vessel or a passenger vessel, three hundred or more gross tons, including but not limited to commercial fish processing vessels and freighters.

     (4) "Cascade" means to bring in equipment and personnel to the spill location in a succession of stages, processes, operations, or units.

     (5) "Contract or letter summarizing contract terms" means:

     (a) A written contract between a plan holder and a primary response contractor or proof of cooperative membership that identifies and ensures the availability of specified personnel and equipment within stipulated planning standard times; or

     (b) A letter that identifies personnel, equipment and services capable of being provided by the primary response contractor within stipulated planning standard times; acknowledges that the primary response contractor intends to commit the identified resources in the event of an oil spill.

     (6) "Covered vessel" means a tank vessel, cargo vessel (including fishing and freight vessels), or passenger vessel required to participate in this chapter.

     (7) "Dedicated" means equipment and personnel committed to oil spill response, containment, and cleanup that are not used for any other activity that would make it difficult or impossible for that equipment and personnel to provide oil spill response services in the time frames specified in this chapter.

     (8) "Demise charter" means that the owner gives possession of the ship to the charterer and the charterer hires its own master and crew.

     (9) "Director" means the director of the state of Washington department of ecology.

     (10) "Discharge" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping.

     (11) "Dispersant" means those chemical agents that emulsify, disperse, or solubilize oil into the water column or promote the surface spreading of oil slicks to facilitate dispersal of the oil into the water column.

     (12) "Effective daily recovery capacity" (EDRC) means the calculated capacity of oil recovery devices that accounts for limiting factors such as daylight, weather, sea state, and emulsified oil in the recovered material.

     (13) "Ecology" means the state of Washington department of ecology.

     (14) "Facility" means:

     (a) Any structure, group of structures, equipment, pipeline, or device, other than a vessel, located on or near the navigable waters of the state that:

     (i) Transfers oil in bulk to or from a tank vessel or pipeline; and

     (ii) Is used for producing, storing, handling, transferring, processing, or transporting oil in bulk.

     (b) A facility does not include any:

     (i) Railroad car, motor vehicle, or other rolling stock while transporting oil over the highways or rail lines of this state;

     (ii) Underground storage tank regulated by ecology or a local government under chapter 90.76 RCW;

     (iii) Motor vehicle motor fuel outlet;

     (iv) Facility that is operated as part of an exempt agricultural activity as provided in RCW 82.04.330; or

     (v) Marine fuel outlet that does not dispense more than three thousand gallons of fuel to a ship that is not a covered vessel, in a single transaction.

     (15) "Geographic Response Plans (GRP)" means response strategies published in the Northwest Area Contingency Plan.

     (16) "Gross tons" means a vessel's approximate volume as defined under Title 46, United States Code of Federal Regulations, Part 69.

     (17) "Incident command system (ICS)" means a standardized on-scene emergency management system specifically designed to allow its user(s) to adopt an integrated organizational structure equal to the complexity and demands of single or multiple incidents, without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries.

     (18) "In situ burn" means a spill response tactic involving controlled on-site burning, with the aid of a specially designed fire containment boom and igniters.

     (19) "Interim storage" means a site used to temporarily store recovered oil or oily waste until the recovered oil or oily waste is disposed of at a permanent disposal site.

     (20) "Maximum extent practicable" means the highest level of effectiveness that can be achieved through staffing levels, training procedures, deployment and tabletop drills incorporating lessons learned, use of enhanced skimming techniques and other best achievable technology. In determining what the maximum extent practicable is, the director shall consider the effectiveness, engineering feasibility, commercial availability, safety, and the cost of the measures.

     (21) "Mobilization" means the time it takes to get response resources readied for operation and ready to travel to the spill site or staging area.

     (22) "Navigable waters of the state" means those waters of the state, and their adjoining shorelines, that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide and/or are presently used, have been used in the past, or may be susceptible for use to transport intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce.

     (23) "Nondedicated" means those response resources listed by a primary response contractor for oil spill response activities that are not dedicated response resources.

     (24) "Nonpersistent or group 1 oil" means a petroleum-based oil, such as gasoline, diesel or jet fuel, which evaporates relatively quickly. Such oil, at the time of shipment, consists of hydrocarbon fractions of which:

     (a) At least fifty percent, by volume, distills at a temperature of 340°C (645°F); and

     (b) At least ninety-five percent, by volume, distills at a temperature of 370°C (700°F).

     (25) "Northwest Area Contingency Plan (NWACP)" means the regional emergency response plan developed in accordance with federal requirements. In Washington state, the NWACP serves as the statewide master oil and hazardous substance contingency plan required by RCW 90.56.060.

     (26) "Offshore facility" means any facility located in, on, or under any of the navigable waters of the state, but does not include a facility, any part of which is located in, on, or under any land of the state, other than submerged land.

     (27) "Oil" or "oils" means oil of any kind that is liquid at atmospheric temperature and pressure and any fractionation thereof, including, but not limited to, crude oil, petroleum, gasoline, fuel oil, diesel oil, oil sludge, oil refuse, biological oils and blends, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil. Oil does not include any substance listed in Table 302.4 of 40 C.F.R. Part 302 adopted August 14, 1989, under section 101(14) of the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended by P.L. 99-499.

     (28) "Oily waste" means oil contaminated waste resulting from an oil spill or oil spill response operations.

     (29) "Onshore facility" means any facility, as defined in subsection (14) of this section, any part of which is located in, on, or under any land of the state, other than submerged land, that because of its location, could reasonably be expected to cause substantial harm to the environment by discharging oil into or on the navigable waters of the state or the adjoining shorelines.

     (30) "Operating environments" means the conditions in which response equipment is designed to function. Water body classifications will be determined using criteria found in the ASTM Standard Practice for Classifying Water Bodies for Spill Control Systems.

     (31) "Owner" or "operator" means:

     (a) In the case of a vessel, any person owning, operating, or chartering by demise, the vessel;

     (b) In the case of an onshore or offshore facility, any person owning or operating the facility; and

     (c) In the case of an abandoned vessel or onshore or offshore facility, the person who owned or operated the vessel or facility immediately before its abandonment.

     Operator does not include any person who owns the land underlying a facility if the person is not involved in the operations of the facility.

     (32) "Passenger vessel" means a ship of greater than three hundred gross tons with a fuel capacity of at least six thousand gallons carrying passengers for compensation.

     (33) "Persistent oil" means petroleum-based oil that does not meet the distillation criteria for a nonpersistent oil. Persistent oils are further classified based on both specific and American Petroleum Institute (API) observed gravities corrected to 60°F, as follows:

     (a) Group 2 - specific gravity greater than or equal to 0.8000 and less than 0.8500. API gravity less than or equal to 45.00 and greater than 35.0;

     (b) Group 3 - specific gravity greater than or equal to 0.8500, and less than 0.9490. API gravity less than or equal to 35.0 and greater than 17.5;

     (c) Group 4 - specific gravity greater than or equal to 0.9490 and up to and including 1.0. API gravity less than or equal to 17.5 and greater than 10.00; and

     (d) Group 5 - specific gravity greater than 1.0000. API gravity equal to or less than 10.0.

     (34) "Person" means any political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, public or private corporation, co-partnership, association, firm, individual, or any other entity whatsoever.

     (35) "Pipeline" means a pipeline connected to a facility, and not owned or operated by the facility referred to in subsection (14) of this section.

     (36) "Pipeline tank farm" means a facility that is linked to a pipeline but not linked to a vessel terminal.

     (37) "Plan" means oil spill response, cleanup, and disposal contingency plan for the containment and cleanup of oil spills into the waters of the state and for the protection of fisheries and wildlife, shellfish beds, natural resources, and public and private property from such spills as required by RCW 90.56.210 and 88.46.060.

     (38) "Planning standards" means goals and criteria that ecology will use to assess whether a plan holder is prepared to respond to the maximum extent practicable to a worst case spill. Ecology will use planning standards for reviewing oil spill contingency plans and evaluating drills.

     (39) "Primary response contractor (PRC)" means a response contractor that has been approved by ecology and is directly responsible to a contingency plan holder, either by a contract or other approved written agreement.

     (40) "Public vessel" means a vessel that is owned, or demise chartered, and is operated by the United States government, or a government of a foreign country, and is not engaged in commercial service.

     (41) "Regional response list" means a regional equipment list established and maintained by spill response equipment owners in the northwest area.

     (42) "Resident" means the spill response resources are staged at a location within the described planning area.

     (43) "Responsible party" means a person liable under RCW 90.56.370.

     (44) "Ship" means any boat, ship, vessel, barge, or other floating craft of any kind.

     (45) "Spill" means an unauthorized discharge of oil which enters waters of the state.

     (46) "Spill assessment" means determining product type, potential spill volume, environmental conditions including tides, currents, weather, river speed and initial trajectory as well as a safety assessment including air monitoring.

     (47) "Tank vessel" means a ship that is constructed or adapted to carry, or that carries, oil in bulk as cargo or cargo residue, and that:

     (a) Operates on the waters of the state; or

     (b) Transfers oil in a port or place subject to the jurisdiction of this state.

     (48) "Transmission pipeline" means a pipeline whether interstate or intrastate, subject to regulation by the United States Department of Transportation under 49 C.F.R. 195, as amended through December 5, 1991, through which oil moves in transportation, including line pipes, valves, and other appurtenances connected to line pipe, pumping units, and fabricated assemblies associated with pumping units.

     (49) "Transfer site" means a location where oil is moved in bulk on or over waters of the state to or from a covered vessel by means of pumping, gravitation, or displacement.

     (50) "Recovery system" means a skimming device, storage work boats, boom, and associated material needed such as pumps, hoses, sorbents, etc., used collectively to maximize oil recovery.

     (51) "Umbrella plan" means a single plan that covers multiple vessels or facilities.

     (52) "Vessel terminal" means a facility that is located on marine or river waters and transfers oil to or from a tank vessel.

     (53) "Waters of the state" means all lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, inland waters, underground water, salt waters, estuaries, tidal flats, beaches and lands adjoining the seacoast of the state, sewers, and all other surface waters and watercourses within the jurisdiction of the state of Washington.

     (54) "Worst case spill" means:

     (a) For an offshore facility, the largest possible spill considering storage, production, and transfer capacity complicated by adverse weather conditions; or

     (b) For an onshore facility, the entire volume of the largest above ground storage tank on the facility site complicated by adverse weather conditions, unless ecology determines that a larger or smaller volume is more appropriate given a particular facility's site characteristics and storage, production, and transfer capacity; or

     (c) For a vessel, a spill of the vessel's entire cargo and fuel complicated by adverse weather conditions; or

     (d) For pipelines, the size of the worst case spill is dependent on the location of pump stations, key block valves, geographic considerations, or volume of the largest breakout tank. The largest volume determined from three different methods, complicated by adverse weather conditions:

     (i) The pipeline's maximum time to detect the release, plus the maximum shutdown response time multiplied by the maximum flow rate per hour, plus the largest line drainage volume after shutdown;

     (ii) The maximum historic discharge from the pipeline; and

     (iii) The largest single breakout tank or battery of breakout tanks without a single secondary containment system. Each operator shall determine the worst case discharge and provide the methodology, including calculations, used to arrive at the volume.

     (55) "WRIA" means a water resource inventory area as defined in chapter 173-500 WAC.



[Statutory Authority: Chapters 90.56, 88.46, 90.48 RCW. 07-22-119 (Order 07-14), § 173-182-030, filed 11/7/07, effective 12/8/07; 06-20-035 (Order 00-03), § 173-182-030, filed 9/25/06, effective 10/26/06.]