The Hazardous Substance Response Plan is promulgated pursuant to and shall be read in conjunction with the Environment Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, and the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR). The Hazardous Substance Response Plan does not create a right to State response or enforcement action for any private party, nor does the Hazardous Substance Response Plan create any duty of the State to take any response action at any particular time. State actions in implementing the Hazardous Substance Response Plan are discretionary governmental functions. The Department need not follow or implement any provisions of this Hazardous Substance Response Plan if funds are not appropriated or otherwise are not available. The Hazardous Substance Response Plan may be used as guidance concerning methods and criteria for response actions by other parties under other funding mechanisms. The Hazardous Substance Response plan does not establish any preconditions to enforcement action by the State to compel response actions by potentially responsible persons. The Hazardous Substance Response Plan is not intended to create any rights to contested case hearings. In this chapter, the following terms have the meanings indicated. Terms Defined. “County” means Baltimore City and any county within the State. “Department” means the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). “Federal act” means the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. “Ground water” means water below the land surface in a zone of saturation. “Hazardous substance” means any substance: Defined as a hazardous substance under the federal act; or Identified as a controlled hazardous substance by the Department in the Code of Maryland Regulations. “National Contingency Plan (NCP)” means the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, 40 CFR 300. “Oil” means oil as defined in Environment Article, Title 4, Subtitle 4, Annotated Code of Maryland. “Person” means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, federal agency, corporation including a government corporation, partnership, association, State, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a State, or any interstate body. “Release” means the addition, introduction, leaking, spilling, emitting, discharge as defined in Environment Article, Titles 4 and 7, escaping, or leaching of any hazardous substance or oil into the environment. “Remedy” or “remedial action” means those actions consistent with a permanent remedy taken instead of, or in addition to, removal action in the event of a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance or oil into the environment, to prevent or minimize the release of hazardous substances so that the substances do not migrate to cause substantial danger to present or future public health, welfare, or the environment. This term includes, but is not limited to, the remedies described in the federal act. “Removal” or “remove” means the cleanup or removal of released hazardous substances or oil from the environment, such actions as may be necessary taken in the event of the threat of release of hazardous substances or oil into the environment, such actions as may be necessary to monitor, assess, and evaluate the release or threat of release of hazardous substances or oil, the disposal of removed material, or the taking of other actions as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare or to the environment, which may otherwise result from a release or threat of release. The terms include, in addition, without being limited to, security fencing or other measures to limit access, provision of alternative water supplies, containment of hazardous substances or oil, and other appropriate actions in response to emergencies. “Response” or “respond” means remove, removal, remedy, and remedial action. All these terms, including the terms “removal” and “remedial action”, include any related enforcement activities. “Responsible person” means a responsible person as defined in Environment Article, Title 7, Subtitle 2, or a person responsible for the discharge as defined in Environment Article, Title 4, Subtitle 4, Annotated Code of Maryland. “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Environment. “Site” means: A building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works, well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft; or An area where a hazardous substance or oil has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or has otherwise come to be located. For Federal National Priorities List sites at which the Department is the lead agency, the Department shall comply with the provisions for public information and community relations set forth in the National Contingency Plan. For sites listed on the Disposal Site Registry where remedial actions are funded entirely by the Hazardous Substance Control Fund, the Department: Shall publish the final selection of remedy in a major local newspaper of general circulation; and May initiate the community relations and public information procedures set forth in §E of this regulation. For any other responses to releases or threatened releases conducted pursuant to COMAR 26.14.02, the Department may initiate procedures for community relations and public information in accordance with §E of this regulation. The Department may initiate procedures for public information and community relations for any release that may have an impact on the public health or the environment. Community relations and public information procedures may include the following: Opportunity for public informational meetings; Opportunity for public comment on the proposed selection of remedy; and Notice of informational meetings and proposed selections of remedy in a major local newspaper of general circulation. In addition to other community relations and public information procedures, the Department shall, upon any county's request, provide information on sites of interest to the chief health or environment officer of the county, and an opportunity to consult with the Department before the Department's final selection of remedy. In addition to other community relations and public information procedures, the Department may compile and maintain an administrative record that contains the documents that form the basis for the selection of a response action. Responsible persons shall reimburse the Department for all expenditures from both the Maryland Oil Disaster Containment, Clean-Up, and Contingency Fund and the State Hazardous Substance Control Fund, including but not limited to, costs of response, restoration, oversight, enforcement, investigation, equipment, personnel, fringe benefits, indirect overhead, legal expenses, and interest on the amounts recoverable. Environment Article, §§4-405(a)(7), 7-208(e)(10), and 7-208(f), Annotated Code of Maryland Effective date: May 10, 1993 (20:9 Md. R. 781)