Pennsylvania Code
Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Part I - Department of Environmental Protection
Subpart D - Environmental Health and Safety
Article VI - General Health and Safety
Chapter 245 - ADMINISTRATION OF THE STORAGE TANK AND SPILL PREVENTION PROGRAM
Subchapter D - CORRECTIVE ACTION PROCESS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF STORAGE TANKS AND STORAGE TANK FACILITIES AND OTHER RESPONSIBLE PARTIES
Section 245.303 - General requirements

(a) For a corrective action required by this subchapter, the Department may do one or more of the following:

(b) For a corrective action required by this subchapter, the Department may collect or recover, from the responsible party, the Department's costs and expenses involved in taking corrective action in accordance with this subchapter, authorizing a third party to take corrective action under this subchapter and initiating cost recovery actions under this subchapter. The Department may collect the amount in the same manner as civil penalties are collected under section 1307(b) of the act (35 P. S. § 6021.1307(b)).

(c) For corrective actions required by this subchapter, it will be presumed as a rebuttable presumption of law in civil and administrative proceedings that a person who owns or operates an aboveground or underground storage tank system is liable, without proof of fault, negligence or causation, for damage, contamination or pollution within 2,500 feet of the perimeter of the site of a storage tank system containing or which contained a regulated substance of the type which caused the damage, contamination or pollution. The presumption may be overcome by clear and convincing evidence that the person so charged did not contribute to the damage, contamination or pollution.

(d) To overcome the presumption of liability established in subsection (c), the owner or operator shall affirmatively prove, by clear and convincing evidence, one of the following:

(e) The Department may waive or combine one or more of the requirements in this subchapter based on:

(f) The Department's acceptance or approval of an interim remedial action, site characterization, site characterization report, remedial action plan, remedial action or remedial action completion report, does not constitute and may not be construed as a release from civil or criminal liability in an administrative, civil or criminal proceeding.