Bill Text: FL S0702 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Petroleum Cleanup

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2020-06-22 - Chapter No. 2020-56 [S0702 Detail]

Download: Florida-2020-S0702-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2020                                     SB 702
       
       
        
       By Senator Albritton
       
       
       
       
       
       26-00620-20                                            2020702__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to petroleum cleanup; amending s.
    3         376.3071, F.S.; revising requirements for a limited
    4         contamination assessment report required to be
    5         provided by a property owner, operator, or person
    6         otherwise responsible for site rehabilitation to the
    7         Department of Environmental Protection under the
    8         Petroleum Cleanup Participation Program; amending s.
    9         376.30713, F.S.; revising the contents of an advanced
   10         cleanup application to include a specified property
   11         owner or responsible party agreement; requiring an
   12         applicant to submit a scope of work after the
   13         department has accepted the applicant’s advanced
   14         cleanup application; requiring the department to issue
   15         a purchase order for a certain contamination
   16         assessment; providing an effective date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (13) of section
   21  376.3071, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   22         376.3071 Inland Protection Trust Fund; creation; purposes;
   23  funding.—
   24         (13) PETROLEUM CLEANUP PARTICIPATION PROGRAM.—To encourage
   25  detection, reporting, and cleanup of contamination caused by
   26  discharges of petroleum or petroleum products, the department
   27  shall, within the guidelines established in this subsection,
   28  implement a cost-sharing cleanup program to provide
   29  rehabilitation funding assistance for all property contaminated
   30  by discharges of petroleum or petroleum products from a
   31  petroleum storage system occurring before January 1, 1995,
   32  subject to a copayment provided for in a Petroleum Cleanup
   33  Participation Program site rehabilitation agreement. Eligibility
   34  is subject to an annual appropriation from the fund.
   35  Additionally, funding for eligible sites is contingent upon
   36  annual appropriation in subsequent years. Such continued state
   37  funding is not an entitlement or a vested right under this
   38  subsection. Eligibility shall be determined in the program,
   39  notwithstanding any other provision of law, consent order,
   40  order, judgment, or ordinance to the contrary.
   41         (d) Upon notification by the department that rehabilitation
   42  funding assistance is available for the site pursuant to
   43  subsections (5) and (6), the property owner, operator, or person
   44  otherwise responsible for site rehabilitation shall provide the
   45  department with a limited contamination assessment report and
   46  shall enter into a Petroleum Cleanup Participation Program site
   47  rehabilitation agreement with the department. The limited
   48  contamination assessment report must be sufficient to support
   49  the proposed course of action and to estimate the cost of the
   50  proposed course of action. The agreement must provide for a 25
   51  percent cost savings to the department and may use a copayment
   52  by the owner, operator, or person otherwise responsible for
   53  conducting site rehabilitation or a demonstrated savings to the
   54  department, in the form of reduced rates by the proposed agency
   55  term contractor or the difference in cost associated with an
   56  RMO-I closure versus an RMO-II closure, or both the copayment
   57  and demonstrated cost savings. The owner, operator, or person
   58  otherwise responsible for conducting site rehabilitation shall
   59  adequately demonstrate the ability to meet the copayment
   60  obligation. The limited contamination assessment report and the
   61  copayment costs may be reduced or eliminated if the owner and
   62  all operators responsible for restoration under s. 376.308
   63  demonstrate that they cannot financially comply with the
   64  copayment and limited contamination assessment report
   65  requirements. The department shall take into consideration the
   66  owner’s and operator’s net worth in making the determination of
   67  financial ability. In the event the department and the owner,
   68  operator, or person otherwise responsible for site
   69  rehabilitation cannot complete negotiation of the cost-sharing
   70  agreement within 120 days after beginning negotiations, the
   71  department shall terminate negotiations and the site shall be
   72  ineligible for state funding under this subsection and all
   73  liability protections provided for in this subsection shall be
   74  revoked.
   75         Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 376.30713, Florida
   76  Statues, is amended to read:
   77         376.30713 Advanced cleanup.—
   78         (2) The department may approve an application for advanced
   79  cleanup at eligible sites, including applications submitted
   80  pursuant to paragraph (c), notwithstanding the site’s priority
   81  ranking established pursuant to s. 376.3071(5)(a), pursuant to
   82  this section. Only the facility owner or operator or the person
   83  otherwise responsible for site rehabilitation qualifies as an
   84  applicant under this section.
   85         (a) Advanced cleanup applications may be submitted between
   86  May 1 and June 30 and between November 1 and December 31 of each
   87  fiscal year. Applications submitted between May 1 and June 30
   88  shall be for the fiscal year beginning July 1. An application
   89  must consist of:
   90         1. A commitment to pay 25 percent or more of the total
   91  cleanup cost deemed recoverable under this section along with
   92  proof of the ability to pay the cost share. The department shall
   93  determine whether the cost savings demonstration is acceptable.
   94  Such determination is not subject to chapter 120.
   95         a. Applications for the aggregate cleanup of five or more
   96  sites may be submitted in one of two formats to meet the cost
   97  share requirement:
   98         (I) For an aggregate application proposing that the
   99  department enter into a performance-based contract, the
  100  applicant may use a commitment to pay, a demonstrated cost
  101  savings to the department, or both to meet the requirement.
  102         (II) For an aggregate application relying on a demonstrated
  103  cost savings to the department, the applicant shall, in
  104  conjunction with the proposed agency term contractor, establish
  105  and provide in the application the percentage of cost savings in
  106  the aggregate that is being provided to the department for
  107  cleanup of the sites under the application compared to the cost
  108  of cleanup of those same sites using the current rates provided
  109  to the department by the proposed agency term contractor.
  110         b. Applications for the cleanup of individual sites may be
  111  submitted in one of two formats to meet the cost-share
  112  requirement:
  113         (I) For an individual application proposing that the
  114  department enter into a performance-based contract, the
  115  applicant may use a commitment to pay, a demonstrated cost
  116  savings to the department, or both to meet the requirement.
  117         (II) For an individual application relying on a
  118  demonstrated cost savings to the department, the applicant
  119  shall, in conjunction with the proposed agency term contractor,
  120  establish and provide in the application a 25-percent cost
  121  savings to the department for cleanup of the site under the
  122  application compared to the cost of cleanup of the same site
  123  using the current rates provided to the department by the
  124  proposed agency term contractor.
  125         2. A nonrefundable review fee of $250 to cover the
  126  administrative costs associated with the department’s review of
  127  the application.
  128         3. A property owner or responsible party agreement in which
  129  the property owner or responsible party commits to continue to
  130  participate in the advanced cleanup program upon completion of
  131  the limited contamination assessment and finalization of the
  132  proposed course of action limited contamination assessment
  133  report.
  134         4. A conceptual proposed course of action.
  135         5. A department site access agreement, or similar
  136  agreements approved by the department that do not violate state
  137  law, entered into with the property owner or owners, as
  138  applicable, and evidence of authorization from such owner or
  139  owners for petroleum site rehabilitation program tasks
  140  consistent with the proposed course of action where the
  141  applicant is not the property owner for any of the sites
  142  contained in the application.
  143  
  144  The limited contamination assessment report must be sufficient
  145  to support the proposed course of action and to estimate the
  146  cost of the proposed course of action. Costs incurred related to
  147  conducting the limited contamination assessment report are not
  148  refundable from the Inland Protection Trust Fund. Site
  149  eligibility under this subsection or any other provision of this
  150  section is not an entitlement to advanced cleanup or continued
  151  restoration funding.
  152         6. A certification The applicant shall certify to the
  153  department that the applicant has the prerequisite authority to
  154  enter into an advanced cleanup contract with the department. The
  155  certification must be submitted with the application.
  156         (b) The department shall rank the applications based on the
  157  percentage of cost-sharing commitment proposed by the applicant,
  158  with the highest ranking given to the applicant who proposes the
  159  highest percentage of cost sharing. If the department receives
  160  applications that propose identical cost-sharing commitments and
  161  that exceed the funds available to commit to all such proposals
  162  during the advanced cleanup application period, the department
  163  shall proceed to rerank those applicants. Those applicants
  164  submitting identical cost-sharing proposals that exceed funding
  165  availability must be so notified by the department and offered
  166  the opportunity to raise their individual cost-share
  167  commitments, in a period specified in the notice. At the close
  168  of the period, the department shall proceed to rerank the
  169  applications pursuant to this paragraph.
  170         (c) Applications for the advanced cleanup of individual
  171  sites scheduled for redevelopment are not subject to the
  172  application period limitations or the requirement to pay 25
  173  percent of the total cleanup cost specified in paragraph (a) or
  174  to the cost-sharing commitment specified in paragraph (1)(d).
  175  Applications must be accepted on a first-come, first-served
  176  basis and are not subject to the ranking provisions of paragraph
  177  (b). Applications for the advanced cleanup of individual sites
  178  scheduled for redevelopment must include:
  179         1. A nonrefundable review fee of $250 to cover the
  180  administrative costs associated with the department’s review of
  181  the application.
  182         2. A limited contamination assessment report. The report
  183  must be sufficient to support the proposed course of action and
  184  to estimate the cost of the proposed course of action. Costs
  185  incurred related to conducting and preparing the report are not
  186  refundable from the Inland Protection Trust Fund.
  187         3. A proposed course of action for cleanup of the site.
  188         4. If the applicant is not the property owner for any of
  189  the sites contained in the application, a department site access
  190  agreement, or a similar agreement approved by the department and
  191  not in violation of state law, entered into with the property
  192  owner or owners, as applicable, and evidence of authorization
  193  from such owner or owners for petroleum site rehabilitation
  194  program tasks consistent with the proposed course of action.
  195         5. A certification to the department stating that the
  196  applicant has the prerequisite authority to enter into an
  197  advanced cleanup contract with the department. The advanced
  198  cleanup contract must include redevelopment and site
  199  rehabilitation milestones.
  200         6. Documentation, in the form of a letter from the local
  201  government having jurisdiction over the area where the site is
  202  located, which states that the local government is in agreement
  203  with or approves the proposed redevelopment and that the
  204  proposed redevelopment complies with applicable law and
  205  requirements for such redevelopment.
  206         7. A demonstrated reasonable assurance that the applicant
  207  has sufficient financial resources to implement and complete the
  208  redevelopment project.
  209         (d) Upon acceptance of an advanced cleanup application, the
  210  applicant’s selected agency term contractor shall submit to the
  211  department a scope of work for a limited contamination
  212  assessment. When the scope of work is negotiated and agreed
  213  upon, the department shall issue one or more purchase orders of
  214  up to $35,000 each for the limited contamination assessment. The
  215  limited contamination assessment report must be sufficient to
  216  support the proposed course of action and to estimate the cost
  217  of the proposed course of action.
  218         (e) Site eligibility under this section is not an
  219  entitlement to advanced cleanup funding or continued restoration
  220  funding.
  221         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.