ARTICLE 3. Definitions [78035. - 78170.]

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC 3.
in effect

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78035. Section 78035.

The definitions set forth in this article govern the interpretation of this part. Unless the context requires otherwise and except as provided in this article, the definitions contained in Section 101 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601) apply to the terms used in this part.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78060. Section 78060.

“Feasibility study” means the identification and evaluation of technically feasible and effective remedial action alternatives to protect public health and the environment, at a hazardous substance release site, or other activities deemed necessary by the department for the development of a remedial action plan.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78075. Section 78075.

(a) “Hazardous substance” means: (1) Any substance designated pursuant to Section 1321(b)(2)(A) of Title 33 of the United States Code. (2) Any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to Section 102 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9602). (3) Any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to Section 6921 of Title 42 of the United States Code, but not including any waste the regulation of which under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901 et seq.) has been suspended by act of Congress. (4) Any toxic pollutant listed under Section 1317(a) of Title 33 of the United States Code. (5) Any hazardous air pollutant listed under Section 7412 of Title 42 of the United States Code. (6) Any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with respect to which the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency has taken action pursuant to Section 2606 of Title 15 of the United States Code. (7) Any hazardous waste or extremely hazardous waste as defined by Sections 25117 and 25115, respectively, unless expressly excluded. (b) “Hazardous substance” does not include: (1) Petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction of crude oil that is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance in paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive, of subdivision (a), and natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel (or mixtures of natural gas and synthetic gas usable for fuel). (2) Ash produced by a resource recovery facility utilizing a municipal solid waste stream. (3) Nontoxic, nonflammable, noncorrosive stormwater runoff drained from underground vaults, chambers, or manholes into gutters or storm sewers.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78080. Section 78080.

“Operation and maintenance” means those activities initiated or continued at a hazardous substance release site following completion of a response action that are deemed necessary by the department or regional board in order to protect public health or safety or the environment, to maintain the effectiveness of the response action at the site, or to achieve or maintain the response action standards and objectives established by the final remedial action plan or final removal action work plan applicable to the site.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78085. Section 78085.

“Person” means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, business concern, corporation, including, but not limited to, a government corporation, partnership, limited liability company, and association. “Person” also includes any city, county, city and county, district, commission, the state or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof, any interstate body, and the United States and its agencies and instrumentalities, to the extent permitted by law.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78090. Section 78090.

“Phase I environmental assessment” means a preliminary assessment of a property to determine whether there has been, or may have been, a release of a hazardous substance based on reasonably available information about the property and general vicinity. A phase I environmental assessment may include, but is not limited to, a review of public and private records, current and historical land uses, prior releases of a hazardous material, database searches, reviews of relevant files of federal, state, and local agencies, visual and other surveys of the property and general vicinity, interviews with current and previous owners and operators, and review of regulatory correspondence and environmental reports. Sampling or testing is not required as part of a phase I environmental assessment.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78095. Section 78095.

“Preliminary endangerment assessment” means an activity that is performed to determine whether current or past hazardous substance management practices have resulted in a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance that poses a threat to the public health or the environment and is conducted in a manner that complies with the guidelines published by the department entitled “Preliminary Endangerment Assessment: Guidance Manual,” or as those guidelines may be amended by the department. A preliminary endangerment assessment includes all of the following activities: (a) Sampling and analysis of a site. (b) A preliminary determination of the type and extent of hazardous material contamination of a site. (c) A preliminary evaluation of the risks the hazardous materials contamination of a site may pose to public health or the environment.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78105. Section 78105.

(a) “Release” means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment. (b) “Release” does not include any of the following: (1) Any release that results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace, with respect to a claim those exposed persons may assert against their employer. (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 federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2011 et seq.), if the release is subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Section 2210 of Title 42 of the United States Code. (4) Any release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material, as those terms are defined in the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2011 et seq.), from any processing site designated under Section 7912(a)(1) or 7942(a) of Title 42 of the United States Code, which sections are a part of the federal Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-604). This paragraph applies for the purposes of Section 104 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9604) or any other response action. (5) The normal application of fertilizer, plant growth regulants, and pesticides.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78110. Section 78110.

A “release authorized or permitted pursuant to state law” means any release into the environment that is authorized by statute, ordinance, regulation, or rule of any state, regional, or local agency or government or by any specific permit, license, or similar authorization from such an agency, including one of the foregoing, that recognizes a standard industry practice, including variances obtained from the agency that allow operations for facilities during a period of time when releases from the facilities do not conform with relevant statutes, ordinances, regulations, or rules. The term includes a federally permitted release, as defined by Section 78070, and releases that are in accordance with any court order or consent decree.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78115. Section 78115.

“Remedial design” means the detailed engineering plan to implement the remedial action alternative or initial remedial measure approved by the department.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78120. Section 78120.

“Remedial investigation” means those actions deemed necessary by the department to determine the full extent of a hazardous substance release at a site, identify the public health and environment threat posed by the release, collect data on possible remedies, and otherwise evaluate the site for purposes of developing a remedial action plan.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78125. Section 78125.

“Remedy” or “remedial action” includes all of the following: (a) Those actions that are consistent with a permanent remedy, that are taken instead of, or in addition to, removal actions in the event of a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance into the environment, as further defined by Section 101(24) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601(24)), except that any reference in Section 101(24) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601(24)) to the President, relating to determinations regarding the relocation of residents, businesses, and community facilities shall, for the purposes of this part, be deemed to be a reference to the Governor and any other reference in that section to the President shall, for the purposes of this part, be deemed a reference to the Governor, or the director, if designated by the Governor. (b) Those actions that are necessary to monitor, assess, and evaluate a release or a threatened release of a hazardous substance. (c) Site operation and maintenance.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78130. Section 78130.

“Removal action work plan” means a work plan prepared or approved by the department or a regional board that is developed to carry out a removal action, in an effective manner, that is protective of the public health and safety and the environment. The removal action work plan shall include a detailed engineering plan for conducting the removal action, a description of the onsite contamination, the goals to be achieved by the removal action, and any alternative removal options that were considered and rejected and the basis for that rejection.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78135. Section 78135.

“Remove” or “removal” includes the cleanup or removal of released hazardous substances from the environment or the taking of other actions as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage that may otherwise result from a release or threatened release, as further defined by Section 101(23) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601(23)).

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78140. Section 78140.

“Response,” “respond,” or “response action” have the same meanings as defined in Section 101(25) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601(25)). The enforcement and oversight activities of the department and regional board are included within the meaning of “response,” “respond,” or “response action.”

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78145. Section 78145.

(a) (1) “Responsible party” or “liable person,” for the purposes of this part, means those persons described in Section 107(a) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a)). (2) (A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), but except as provided in subparagraph (B), a person is not a responsible party or liable person, for purposes of this part, for the reason that the person has developed or implemented innovative investigative or innovative remedial technology with regard to a release site, if the use of the technology has been approved by the department for the release site and the person would not otherwise be a responsible party or liable person. Upon approval of the use of the technology, the director shall acknowledge, in writing, that, upon proper completion of the innovative investigative or innovative remedial action at the release site, the immunity provided by this subparagraph shall apply to the person. (B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply in any of the following cases: (i) Conditions at the release site have deteriorated as a result of the negligence of the person who developed or implemented the innovative investigative or innovative remedial technology. (ii) The person who developed or implemented the innovative investigative or innovative remedial technology withheld or misrepresented information that was relevant to the potential risks or harms of the technology. (iii) The person who implemented the innovative investigative or innovative remedial technology did not follow the implementation process approved by the department. (b) For the purposes of this part, the defenses available to a responsible party or liable person shall be those defenses specified in Sections 101(35) and 107(b) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Secs. 9601(35) and 9607(b)). (c) Any person who unknowingly transports hazardous waste to a solid waste facility pursuant to the exemption provided in subdivision (e) of Section 25163 shall not be considered a responsible party for purposes of this part solely because of the act of transporting the waste. Nothing in this subdivision shall affect the liability of this person for the person’s negligent acts.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78160. Section 78160.

“Site cleanup evaluation” means an evaluation by the department of the effectiveness of a removal or remedial action conducted by a responsible party, to reduce or eliminate actual or potential public health and environmental threats posed by a hazardous substance release site if the action itself is not the subject of oversight by the department.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 78170. Section 78170.

“Tier” means a grouping of hazardous substance release sites that require removal and remedial actions, that are listed alphabetically, and that are of a roughly equivalent priority for removal and remedial action.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026

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