HB 276: "An Act amending the purposes for which money in the oil and hazardous substance release response fund may be expended."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 276 01 "An Act amending the purposes for which money in the oil and hazardous 02 substance release response fund may be expended." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 46.08.040(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) In addition to money in the fund that is transferred to the commissioner of 06 community and regional affairs to make grants under AS 29.60.510 and to pay for 07 impact assessments under AS 29.60.560, the commissioner of environmental 08 conservation may use money from the fund to 09 (1) investigate and evaluate the release or threatened release of oil or 10 a hazardous substance, and contain, clean up, and take other necessary action, such as 11 monitoring and assessing, to address a release or threatened release of oil or a 12 hazardous substance that poses an imminent and substantial threat to the public health 13 or welfare, or to the environment; 14 (2) pay all costs incurred to
01 (A) establish and maintain the oil and hazardous substance 02 response office; 03 (B) review oil discharge prevention and contingency plans 04 submitted under AS 46.04.030; 05 (C) conduct training, response exercises, inspections, and tests, 06 in order to verify equipment inventories and ability to prevent and respond to 07 oil and hazardous substance release emergencies, and to undertake other 08 activities intended to verify or establish the preparedness of the state, a 09 municipality, or a party required by AS 46.04.030 to have an approved 10 contingency plan to act in accordance with that plan; and 11 (D) verify or establish proof of financial responsibility required 12 by AS 46.04.040; 13 (3) pay the expenses incurred by the Alaska division of emergency 14 services for the oil and hazardous substance response corps and the oil and hazardous 15 substance response depots when presented with appropriate documentation by the 16 division; 17 (4) provide matching funds for participation in federal oil discharge 18 cleanup activities and under 42 U.S.C. 9601 - 9657 (Comprehensive Environmental 19 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980); 20 (5) recover the costs to the state, a municipality, or a village of a 21 containment and cleanup resulting from the release or the threatened release of oil or 22 a hazardous substance; 23 (6) prepare, review, and revise 24 (A) the state's master oil and hazardous substance discharge 25 prevention and contingency plan required by AS 46.04.200; and 26 (B) a regional master oil and hazardous substance discharge 27 prevention and contingency plan required by AS 46.04.210; [AND] 28 (7) restore the environment by addressing the effects of an oil or 29 hazardous substance release; and 30 (8) pay compensation to persons engaged in commercial fishing for 31 the loss of fishing gear or for the fouling of that gear if
01 (A) the loss of or fouling of that gear 02 (i) occurs in state water or, if the gear loss or fouling 03 occurs outside state water, the loss or fouling occurs in conjunction with 04 a fishery activity that is authorized by the Board of Fisheries and to the 05 gear of a vessel that is registered under the laws of the state; and 06 (ii) is attributable to the release of oil or a hazardous 07 substance; and 08 (B) the person responsible for the release cannot be 09 identified. 10 * Sec. 2. AS 46.08.040(c) is amended to read: 11 (c) Notwithstanding other provisions of this section, money from the fund may 12 not be used for a purpose specified in (a)(2) - (8) [(a)(2)-(7)] and (d)(2) of this section 13 unless money is available from an appropriation made specifically for that purpose.