HAR §11-451-8. General

(a) Purpose. This subchapter establishes procedural requirements that the department shall follow or require another person to follow when responding to a release or threat of a release of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant that may pose a substantial endangerment to public health or welfare, the environment, or natural resources, including: (1) Methods and criteria for determining the appropriate extent and type of response actions authorized by chapter 128D, HRS; (2) Procedures for gathering sufficient information to characterize a release or threat of release; (3) Procedures to identify and analyze potential response options; (4) Procedures for implementing removal or remedial actions; and (5) Procedures the department shall follow in selecting remedial actions. (b) Limitations on departmental response. Unless the department determines that a release constitutes a public health or environmental emergency and no other person with the authority and capability to respond will do so in a timely manner, the department shall not use the fund monies to conduct a response action under section 128D-4, HRS, in response to a release: (1) Of a naturally occurring substance in its unaltered form, or altered solely through naturally occurring processes or phenomena, from a location where it is naturally found; (2) From products that are part of a building, and result in exposure within the building; or (3) Into public or private drinking water supplies due to deterioration of the water supply system through ordinary use. (c) Guiding principles. In determining the need for and in planning or undertaking a response action, the department will to the extent practicable: (1) Engage in prompt response actions; (2) Consider, or require to be considered the following hierarchy of response action alternatives in order of descending preference: 451-16 1853 §11-451-8 (A) Reuse or recycling; (B) Destruction or detoxification; (C) Separation, concentration, or volume reduction, followed by reuse, recycling, destruction or detoxification of the residual hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant; (D) Immobilization of hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants; (E) On-site or off-site disposal, isolation, or containment at an engineered facility designed to minimize the future release of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants and in accordance with applicable requirements; and (F) Institutional controls or long term monitoring. (3) Conserve fund monies by soliciting the cooperation of potentially responsible parties, and if necessary, entering into consent agreements or issuing orders, which require potentially responsible parties to conduct any necessary response action or actions; (4) Seek to recover any cost incurred and payable from the fund in accordance with section 128D-5, HRS; and (5) Ensure that the concerns of affected or potentially affected public and private interests, including local communities, are considered. (d) Potentially responsible party notification. In soliciting the cooperation of potentially responsible parties, the department, at its discretion, may: (1) Provide the potentially responsible parties notice of their potential liability under section 128D-6, HRS, and a description of the conditions believed by the department to exist at the facility or vessel which warrant a response action; and (2) Provide potentially responsible parties with the opportunity to conduct any required response action. (e) Compliance with applicable requirements. All response actions, including assessment and investigation activities, must at a minimum comply with applicable requirements. In addition to complying with applicable requirements, the department may, as appropriate, identify other advisories, criteria, or guidance to be considered for a particular release. The "to be considered" category consists of advisories, criteria, or guidance developed by the department, EPA, other federal agencies, or states that 451-17 1853