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115E.03 DUTY TO PREPARE FOR RESPONSE TO DISCHARGES.
    Subdivision 1. General preparedness. A person who owns or operates a vessel or facility
transporting, storing, or otherwise handling hazardous substances or oil or who is otherwise in
control of hazardous substances or oil shall be prepared at all times to rapidly and thoroughly
recover discharged hazardous substances or oil that were under that person's control and to take
all other actions necessary to minimize or abate pollution of land, waters, and air of the state
and to protect the public's safety and health.
    Subd. 2. Specific preparedness. The following persons shall comply with the specific
requirements of subdivisions 3 and 4 and section 115E.04:
(1) persons who own or operate a vessel that is constructed or adapted to carry, or that
carried, oil or hazardous substances in bulk as cargo or cargo residue;
(2) persons who own or operate railroad car rolling stock transporting an aggregate total of
more than 100,000 gallons of oil or hazardous substance as cargo in Minnesota in any calendar
month;
(3) persons who own or operate facilities containing 1,000,000 gallons or more of oil or
hazardous substance in tank storage at any time;
(4) persons who own or operate facilities where there is transfer of an average monthly
aggregate total of more than 1,000,000 gallons of oil or hazardous substances to or from vessels,
tanks, rolling stock, or pipelines, except for facilities where the primary transfer activity is the
retail sales of motor fuels;
(5) persons who own or operate hazardous liquid pipeline facilities through which more than
100,000 gallons of oil or hazardous substance is transported in any calendar month; and
(6) persons required to demonstrate preparedness under section 115E.05.
    Subd. 3. Level of preparedness. A person described in subdivision 2 shall maintain a level
of preparedness that ensures that effective response can reliably be made to worst case discharges.
    Subd. 4. Demonstration of satisfactory preparedness. A person required to maintain
preparedness under subdivision 2 may demonstrate satisfactory preparedness to the commissioner
of the lead agency through one or a combination of the following means:
(1) adequate response personnel and equipment in the usual employ of the person;
(2) adequate response personnel and equipment available from for-hire cleanup contractors
with arrangements made for their deployment;
(3) adequate response personnel and equipment from a response cooperative or community
awareness and emergency response organization meeting guidelines prepared by the lead agency
with arrangements made for their deployment; or
(4) adequate response personnel and equipment of local, state, or federal public sector
response organizations with arrangements made for their deployment.
    Subd. 5. Department of Transportation. The commissioner of transportation may examine
the evidence of financial responsibility required under section 1016 of the Oil Pollution Act of
1990 for a vessel and may apply the sanctions in that section.
History: 1991 c 305 s 3; 1993 c 341 art 2 s 1

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes