§ 22-50. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Hazardous substance means:

(1)

Any substance designated pursuant to 33 USC § 1321(b)(2)(A);

(2)

Any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated as hazardous pursuant to law.

(3)

Any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to Section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act [42 USC § 6921] (but not including any waste the regulation of which under the Solid Waste Disposal Act [42 USC § 6901 et seq.] has been suspended by Act of Congress);

(4)

Any toxic pollutant listed under 33 USC § 1317(a);

(5)

Any hazardous air pollutant listed under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act [42 USC § 7412]; and

(6)

Any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with respect to which the EPA Administrator has taken action pursuant to 15 USC § 2606. The term does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under subparagraphs (1) through (6) of this definition, and the term does not include natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).

Pollutant or contaminant includes, but is not limited to, any element, substance, compound, or mixture, including disease-causing agents, which after release into the environment and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will or may reasonably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical deformations, in such organisms or their offspring; except that the term "pollutant or contaminant" shall not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under subparagraphs (1) through (6) of the definition of hazardous substance contained in this section, and shall not include natural gas, liquefied natural gas, or synthetic gas of pipeline quality (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).

Release means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant) within the City but excludes:

(1)

Any release which results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace, with respect to a claim which such persons may assert against the employer of such persons;

(2)

Emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling stock, aircraft, vessel, or pipeline pumping station engine;

(3)

Release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 [42 USC § 2011 et seq.], if such release is subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Section 170 of such Act [42 USC § 2210]; and

(4)

The normal application of fertilizer.

The term "release" also means the threat of release.

(Code 1999, § 8-111)