(A) Definitions:
COSTS/EXPENSES: All costs and expenses of the Village incurred in the cleanup, abatement or removal of hazardous materials, including "special wastes" such as antifreeze, oil, and/or battery acid, or any remedial action taken by the Village, or the extinguishing of a fire involving hazardous materials, shall include, but not be limited to, the following: actual labor costs of Village personnel involved in the cleanup, abatement, removal or remedial action of the discharge(s), including workers' compensation benefits, fringe benefits, attorney fees and administrative overhead or any other medical expenses, immediate or long term, of personnel exposed to the hazardous material; cost of equipment operation, damage or loss as published and updated by the Village; costs of materials ordered directly by the Village; the cost of any labor and material(s) expended through the retention of other parties to assist in cleanup, abatement, removal or remedial action and the repair of the property in the area of the incident.
FACILITY: Any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline, including, but not limited to, any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works, well, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, tank, motor vehicle, truck trailer, rolling stock or aircraft. Also, any site or area where a hazardous material has been deposited, stored, disposed of, abandoned, placed, or otherwise come to be located.
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL(S): The leakage, release, seepage, or emission of any substance or material which, due to its quantity, form, concentration, location or other characteristics, is determined by the Chief of Police or his authorized representative, based upon a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, to pose an unreasonable and inordinate risk to the life, health or safety of persons or property or to the ecological balance of the environment, including, but not limited to, explosives, compressed gases, asbestos, flammable and combustible liquids, flammable and water reactive solids, oxidizers and peroxides, poisons, radioactive materials, corrosives or other regulated materials, or any substance determined to be hazardous or toxic under any Federal or State law, statute or regulation.
MUTUAL AID: Any action taken by the Forest View Fire Department or any other public agency pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement.
PERSON: Any individual, business, firm, partnership, corporation, association, trust, estate, joint venture or other legal entity, or their legal representative, agent or assign.
RELEASE: Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, escaping, emptying, discharging, injecting, leaching, dumping or disposing of a hazardous material into or on any land, air, water, well, stream, sewer or pipe so that such hazardous material or any constituent thereof may enter the environment.
REMEDIAL ACTION: Any action consistent with permanent, remedy taken instead of, or in addition to, removal actions in the event of a release or threatened release of a hazardous material into the environment, to prevent or minimize the release of hazardous materials so that they do not migrate to cause a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, property or the environment. The term includes, but is not limited to, such actions at the location of the release as storage, confinement, perimeter protection using dikes, trenches, or ditches, clay cover, neutralization, cleanup of released hazardous materials or contaminated materials, recycling or reuse, diversion, destruction, segregation of reactive wastes, repair or replacement of leaking containers, collection of leachate and runoff, on-site treatment of incineration, provision of alternate water supplies, and any monitoring reasonably required to assure that such actions protect the public health and welfare and the environment.
REMOVAL: The cleanup or removal of released hazardous materials from the environment, such actions as may be necessary or appropriate to monitor, assess, and evaluate the release or threat of release of hazardous materials, the disposal of removed material, or the taking of such action as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare of the environment. The term includes, but is not limited to, security fencing, provision of alternative water supplies, and temporary evacuation of threatened individuals.
RESPONSE: Any removal or remedial action. (Ord. 97-1, 1-14-1997; amd. Ord. 17-07, 4-11-2017)
(B) Prohibited Acts: It shall be unlawful, whether intentional or unintentional, for any person to cause, threaten or allow the release of hazardous materials into the environment unless the release is in accordance with an appropriate permit granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, or other Federal or State agency having primary jurisdiction over the release and such release is in such place and manner as will not create a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, property or the environment. (Ord. 97-1, 1-14-1997)
(C) Response Authority:
1. The Chief of Police or his authorized representative shall have authority to respond to any release or threatened release of hazardous materials within the corporate boundaries of the Village or affecting the public water supply, wells or sewage treatment works located within the corporate boundaries of the Village or pursuant to any lawful intergovernmental agreement of which the Forest View Fire Department is a party. This authority includes, but is not limited to, remedial action and removal.
2. The Chief of Police shall have primary authority to respond to any release or threatened release of hazardous materials as described above. The Chief of Police shall report any release or threatened release of hazardous materials to all appropriate Federal, State and local public health, safety and emergency agencies within twenty four (24) hours of any substantial release of hazardous materials. The Chief of Police shall relinquish his response authority at such time, if any, as the Federal, State or local public health, safety or emergency agency having primary jurisdiction over the release or threatened release has assumed responsibility for response to the release or threatened release.
3. The Chief of Police, during such time as response authority is vested in him, shall be authorized to utilize all Village personnel and equipment, and may, in his sole discretion, take such remedial or removal action as he may deem necessary or appropriate to respond to the release or threatened release of hazardous material.
4. All responding personnel shall cooperate with and operate under the direction of the Chief of Police or other person then exercising authority under this section until such time as the person exercising such response authority has determined that the response is complete or responsibility for response is assumed by the Federal, State or local public health, safety or emergency agency having primary jurisdiction over the release or threatened release. (Ord. 97-1, 1-14-1997; amd. Ord. 17-07, 4-11-2017)
5. The person exercising response authority under this section shall coordinate and/or cooperate with other Federal, State or local public health, safety or emergency agencies involved in response to the release or threatened release of hazardous materials.
(D) Liability For Costs: The person or companies in immediate control or possession of the hazardous material(s) at a hazardous materials incident, to which the Forest View Fire Department has responded, shall be responsible for reimbursement to the Village for all expenses incurred by the Village related to the response, the handling or the cleanup of the material(s). There shall be joint and several liability for reimbursement including, but not limited to, the following parties:
1. The owner and operator of a facility or vessel from which there is a release or substantial threat of release of a hazardous material.
2. Any person who, at the time of disposal, transport, storage or treatment of a hazardous material, owned or operated the facility or vessel used for such disposal, transport, treatment or storage from which there was a release or substantial threat of a release of any such hazardous material.
3. Any person who by contract, agreement, or otherwise has arranged with another party or entity for transport, storage, disposal or treatment of hazardous materials owned, controlled or possessed by such person at a facility owned or operated by another party or entity from which facility there is a release or substantial threat of a release of such hazardous materials.
4. Any person who accepts or accepted any hazardous materials for transport to disposal, storage or treatment facilities from which there is a release or a substantial threat of release of such hazardous substances.
5. Third parties having caused or contributed to the cause of the release or a substantial threat of release of the hazardous materials.
(E) Fault Not To Be Considered: The person in immediate control or possession of the hazardous materials at a hazardous materials incident shall be liable for any other costs, fees or expenses of whatever kind or nature which are incurred by the Village or its agents in abatement, cleanup or repair. The fault of the entity in immediate control or possession shall not be an issue in the attachment of this liability. For the purposes of this section, repair shall mean, without exception, the return of the property to the condition that existed immediately prior to the release or substantial threat of release of hazardous materials.
(F) Costs And Penalties:
1. Any person who is liable for the release or threatened release of a hazardous material who fails without sufficient cause to pay for or provide removal or remedial action, upon or in accordance with a written notice and request from the Village or in accordance with any order of any court having jurisdiction over the matter, shall be liable to the Village for any costs incurred by the Village as a result of such failure to provide or take such removal or remedial action, together with the cost of any removal or remedial action taken by the Forest View Fire Department in accordance with this section, and all attorney fees and related legal costs incurred in connection therewith.
2. Any person who violates any provisions of this section, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than two hundred dollars ($200.00) nor more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00) plus all costs, expenses and attorney fees and legal costs involved in litigation for each offense. A separate offense shall be deemed committed for each day on which a violation occurs or continues. In addition, such person shall be liable in a civil suit for the reimbursement to the Village for the expenses to the Village.
(G) Distribution Of Reimbursed Costs; Replacement Of Materials And/Or Other Expenses: The reimbursement funds may be used to replenish the supplies used by the Village at the scene of the release or substantial threat of release of hazardous materials. Such supplies may include, but shall not be limited to: protective clothing, absorbents, neutralizing chemicals, detection monitoring equipment, firefighting foams and chemicals, overtime personnel expenses, laboratory analysis, medical treatment (immediate and long-term) of exposed or injured personnel, or equipment or supplies damaged or destroyed by exposure to the hazardous materials.
(H) Regulation Or Remedies: Nothing in this section shall be deemed to relieve any party from any other obligation or responsibilities that it might otherwise have under law to any other agency or party. (Ord. 97-1, 1-14-1997)