View all text of Part 302 [§ 302.1 - § 302.8]

§ 302.3 - Definitions.

As used in this part, all terms shall have the meaning set forth below:

The Act, CERCLA, or Superfund means the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-510);

Administrator means the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”);

Animal waste means feces, urine, or other excrement, digestive emission, urea, or similar substances emitted by animals (including any form of livestock, poultry, or fish). The term “animal waste” includes animal waste that is mixed or commingled with bedding, compost, feed, soil, or any other material typically found with such waste.

Consumer product shall have the meaning stated in 15 U.S.C. 2052;

Environment means (1) the navigable waters, the waters of the contiguous zone, and the ocean waters of which the natural resources are under the exclusive management authority of the United States under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, and (2) any other surface water, ground water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States or under the jurisdiction of the United States;

Facility means (1) any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline (including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft, or (2) any site or area where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise come to be located; but does not include any consumer product in consumer use or any vessel;

Farm means a site or area (including associated structures) that—

(1) Is used for—

(i) The production of a crop; or

(ii) The raising or selling of animals (including any form of livestock, poultry, or fish); and

(2) Under normal conditions, produces during a farm year any agricultural products with a total value equal to not less than $1,000.

Hazardous substance means any substance designated pursuant to 40 CFR part 302;

Hazardous waste shall have the meaning provided in 40 CFR 261.3;

Navigable waters means the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas, as defined in § 120.2 of this chapter.

Offshore facility means any facility of any kind located in, on, or under, any of the navigable waters of the United States, and any facility of any kind which is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and is located in, on, or under any other waters, other than a vessel or a public vessel;

Onshore facility means any facility (including, but not limited to, motor vehicles and rolling stock) of any kind located in, on, or under, any land or non-navigable waters within the United States;

Person means an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, consortium, joint venture, commercial entity, United States Government, State, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a State, or any interstate body;

Release means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant), but excludes:

(1) Any release which results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace, with respect to a claim which such persons may assert against the employer of such persons;

(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 Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release is subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under section 170 of such Act, or for the purposes of section 104 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act or any other response action, any release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from any processing site designated under section 102(a)(1) or 302(a) of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978; and

(4) The normal application of fertilizer;

Reportable quantity (“RQ”) means that quantity, as set forth in this part, the release of which requires notification pursuant to this part;

United States include the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and any other territory or possession over which the United States has jurisdiction; and

Vessel means every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.

[50 FR 13474, Apr. 4, 1985, as amended at 67 FR 45321, July 9, 2002; 73 FR 76959, Dec. 18, 2008; 80 FR 37123, June 29, 2015; 83 FR 5209, Feb. 6, 2018; 83 FR 37446, Aug. 1, 2018; 84 FR 56671, Oct. 22, 2019; 85 FR 22342, Apr. 21, 2020]