Awards

Awards. (1) General. (a) If the department determines that the claimant meets all of the eligibility requirements of this chapter, the department shall determine a deductible amount and issue an award to reimburse the claimant for eligible costs incurred in a remediation. (b) The department may not issue an award before all eligible costs have been incurred unless the department determines that the delay in issuing the award would cause a financial hardship to the owner, operator or the person owning a home oil tank system. The department may issue progress payments when sufficient evidence of completion of various activities, as specified in ss. NR 747.12 and 747.355 is received. (2) Awards, deductibles, and denials.. All awards shall be issued in accordance with this chapter and the requirements in s. 292.63 (4) (d) , (dg) , and (dm) to (g) , Stats. (3) Third-party claims. For owners or operators of underground storage tank system discharges eligible for PECFA, third-party damages resulting from petroleum product discharges may be eligible for reimbursement under the PECFA fund. Items which may not be reimbursed include, but are not limited to, costs for which the owner or operator is not legally liable; costs associated with discharges based on or attributed to a criminal act; intentional, willful or deliberate noncompliance with any statute or administrative rule; punitive or exemplary damages; and federal, state or local fines, forfeitures or other penalties.