(415 ILCS 60/22.3) (from Ch. 5, par. 822.3)

Sec. 22.3. (a) An owner or operator of an agrichemical facility is eligible to receive money from the Agrichemical Incident Response Trust Fund for costs of response action only if all of the following requirements are satisfied:

(1) the owner or operator has provided notification of the release as required by law;

(2) the owner or operator was current with payment of all fees required under Section 13.1 at the time of the incident;

(3) the costs of response action were incurred by the owner or operator as a result of an incident involving a release of an agricultural pesticide at an agrichemical facility in Illinois.

(b) The Department shall not approve payment of costs of response action to an owner or operator which would result in the payment of funds from the Agrichemical Incident Response Trust Fund in excess of $500,000 during a calendar year. The Department shall not approve any payment from the Fund to reimburse an owner or operator for costs of response action incurred by such owner or operator in an amount in excess of $500,000 per incident.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) or (b), no owner or operator is eligible to receive money from the Fund unless the owner or operator demonstrates to the Department that, at the time of the incident, the agrichemical facility was in compliance with requirements adopted by the Department for secondary containment of agrichemicals.

(d)(1) Costs of response action incurred by an owner or operator relating to an incident which occurred prior to the effective date of this Section are not eligible for payment or reimbursement under this Section.

(2) Costs of response action incurred by an owner or operator prior to reporting the incident as required by law are not eligible for payment or reimbursement under this Section.

(3) Costs of response action incurred by an owner or operator which have been paid under a policy of insurance shall not be eligible for payment or reimbursement under this Section.

(e) Requests for partial or final payment for claims under this Section shall be sent to the Department and partial or final payment shall be made only if all of the following are satisfied:

(1) The owner or operator is eligible under subsections (a) and (c) of this Section;

(2) Approval of the payments requested will not result in the limitations set forth in subsection (b) of this Section being exceeded;

(3) The owner or operator provides an accounting of all costs, demonstrates the costs to be reasonable, and provides either proof of payment of such costs or demonstrates the financial need for joint payment to the owner or operator and the owner's or operator's contractor in order to pay such costs;

(4) The owner or operator demonstrates that the response action taken was necessary and appropriate.

(f) If an owner or operator submits a claim or claims to the Department for approval under this Section, the Department shall deduct from the amount approved a total of $50,000 plus 10% of the total response costs incurred by that owner or operator, but in no event shall the Department deduct in excess of $100,000 for each agrichemical facility for which a claim is submitted. This deductible amount shall apply annually for each agrichemical facility at which costs were incurred under a claim submitted pursuant to this Section.

(g)(1) Upon receipt of notification from the Department that the requirements of this Section have been met, the Department shall make payment to the owner or operator of the amount approved by the Department. If there is insufficient money in the Fund to make payment in full of a claim submitted for reimbursement, the Department may make partial payment until such time as sufficient money in the Fund becomes available.

(2) In no case shall the Fund or the State of Illinois be liable to pay claims or requests for costs of response action if money in the Fund is insufficient to meet such claims or requests.

(h) Payment of any amount from the Fund for response action shall be subject to the State of Illinois acquiring, by subrogation, the rights of any owner or operator to recover the costs of response action for which the Fund has compensated the owner or operator from the person responsible or liable for the release.

(i)(1) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize recovery for costs of response action for any release authorized or permitted pursuant to State or federal law.

(2) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize recovery for costs of response action as the result of the storage, handling and use, or recommendation for storage, handling and use, of a pesticide consistent with:

(A) its directions for storage, handling and use as stated in its label or labeling;

(B) its warning and cautions as stated in its label or labeling; and

(C) the uses for which it is registered under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and the Illinois Pesticide Act.

(j) For purposes of this Section and Section 22.2:

(1) "Agrichemical facility" means a site:

(A) used for commercial purposes

(i) where bulk pesticides are stored in a single container in excess of 300 gallons of liquid pesticide or 300 pounds of dry pesticide for more than 30 days per year, or

(ii) where more than 300 gallons of liquid pesticide or 300 pounds of dry pesticide are being mixed, repackaged, or transferred from one container to another within a 30 day period; and

(B) that serves at a point in the pesticide distribution chain immediately prior to final use.

(2) "Response action" means an action to stop, eliminate, contain, or mitigate a release of agricultural pesticides and its effects at an agrichemical facility as may be necessary or appropriate to protect human health and the environment.

(3) "Incident" means a flood, fire, tornado, on-site transportation accident, equipment malfunction, storage container rupture, leak, spill, discharge, escape, or other event that suddenly releases an agricultural pesticide into the environment and that creates an imminent threat to public health or the environment.

(4) "Release" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment.

(Source: P.A. 86-1172; 87-128.)