Definitions as used in W.Va. Code §22-30 The Aboveground Storage Tank Act
Aboveground storage tank (AST) – AST or “tank” means a device made to contain an accumulation of more than one thousand three hundred twenty (1,320) gallons of fluids that are liquid at standard temperature and pressure, which is constructed primarily of nonearthen materials, including concrete, steel, plastic or fiberglass reinforced plastic, which provide structural support, more than ninety (90) percent of the capacity of which is above the surface of the ground, and includes all ancillary pipes and dispensing systems up to the first point of isolation. The term includes stationary devices which are permanently affixed, and mobile devices which remain in one location on a continuous basis for three hundred sixty five (365) or more days.
Owner – A person who holds title to, controls or owns an interest in an AST, including owners of tanks immediately preceding the discontinuation of a tank’s use. An “owner” does not mean a person who holds an interest in a tank for financial security unless the holder has taken possession of and operated the tank.
Operator – Any person in control of, or having responsibility for, the daily operation of an AST.
Zone of Critical Concern (ZCC) – ZCC for a public surface water supply source and for a public surface water influenced groundwater supply source is a corridor along streams within a watershed that warrants detailed scrutiny due to its proximity to the surface water intake and the intake’s susceptibility to potential contaminants within that corridor. The ZCC is determined using a mathematical model that accounts for stream flows, gradient and area topography. The length of the ZCC is based on a five-hour time-of-travel of water in the streams to the water intake. The width of the ZCC is one thousand (1,000) feet measured horizontally from each bank of the principal stream and five hundred (500) feet measured horizontally from each bank of the tributaries draining into the principal stream.
Zone of Peripheral Concern (ZPC) – ZPC for a public surface water supply source and for a public surface water influenced groundwater supply source is a corridor along streams within a watershed that warrants scrutiny due to its proximity to the surface water intake and the intake’s susceptibility to potential contaminants within that corridor. The ZPC is determined using a mathematical model that accounts for stream flows, gradient and area topography. The length of the ZPC is based on an additional five-hour time-of-travel of water in the streams beyond the perimeter of the ZCC, which creates a protection zone of ten (10) hours above the water intake. The width of the ZPC is one thousand (1,000) feet measured horizontally from each bank of the principal stream and five hundred (500) feet measured horizontally from each bank of the tributaries draining into the principal stream.
Certificate to Operate – A certificate issued to the owner by DEP following proper registration of their regulated ASTs and payment of the annual operating fee. Annual renewals are issued upon payment of annual fee.
Process vessel – A tank that forms an integral part of a production process through which there is a steady, variable, recurring or intermittent flow of materials during the operation of the process or in which a biological, chemical or physical change in the material occurs. This does not include tanks used for storage of materials prior to their introduction into the production process or for the storage of finished products or by-products of the production process.
Nonoperational storage tank – An empty AST in which fluids will not be deposited or from which fluids will not be dispensed on or after June 12, 2015.
Secondary containment – A safeguard applied to one or more tanks that prevents the discharge into the waters of the state of the entire capacity of the largest single tank and sufficient freeboard to contain precipitation. In order to qualify as secondary containment, the barrier and containment field must be sufficiently impervious to contain fluids in the event of a release, and may include double-walled tanks, dikes, containment curbs, pits or drainage trench enclosures that safely confine the release from a tank in a facility catchment basin or holding pond. Earthen dikes and similar containment structures must be designed and constructed to contain, for a minimum of seventy two (72) hours, fluid that escapes from a tank.
"Regulated aboveground storage tank” or “regulated tank” – An AST that meets the definition of a level 1 or level 2 regulated tank.
"Regulated level 1 aboveground storage tank” or “level 1 regulated tank”
(A) An AST located within a ZCC, source water protection area, public surface water influenced groundwater supply source area, or any AST system designated by the secretary as a level 1 regulated tank; or
(B) An AST that contains substances defined in section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) as a “hazardous substance” (42 U. S. C. § 9601(14)); or is on EPA’s “Consolidated List of Chemicals Subject to the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), CERCLA, and §112(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA)” (known as “the List of Lists”) as provided by 40 C. F. R. §§ 355, 372, 302, and 68) in a concentration of one percent or greater regardless of the AST’s location, except ASTs containing petroleum are not “level 1 regulated tanks” based solely upon containing constituents recorded on the CERCLA lists; or,
(C) An AST with a capacity of 50,000 gallons or more, regardless of its contents or location.
"Regulated level 2 aboveground storage tank” or “level 2 regulated tank” – An AST that is located within a ZPC that is not a level 1 regulated tank.
Release – Any spilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, or leaching of fluids from an aboveground storage tank into the waters of the state or escaping from secondary containment.
Source water protection area – For a public groundwater supply source, it is the area within an aquifer that supplies water to a public water supply well within a five-year time-of-travel, and is determined by the mathematical calculation of the locations from which a drop of water placed at the edge of the protection area would theoretically take five years to reach the well.