As used in this chapter:

(1) "Approval" means a permit, license, or other approval issued by the department under South Carolina environmental law.

(2) "Cooperative agreement" means an agreement entered into under Section 48-56-30.

(3) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

(4) "Environmental management system" means an organized set of procedures implemented by the owner or operator of a facility that is based on standards issued by the International Organization for Standardization or an alternative management system or program that is acceptable to the South Carolina Environmental Excellence Program and the department and is designed to evaluate the environmental performance of the facility and to achieve measurable or noticeable improvements in that environmental performance through planning and changes in the facility's operations.

(5) "Facility" means any site, including all buildings, equipment, and structures located on a single parcel or on contiguous parcels that are owned or operated by the same person, a manufacturing or natural resource management operation, or any business or local government activity that is regulated under any provision of South Carolina environmental law.

(6) "Innovative environmental approaches" means procedures, practices, technologies, or systems that are designed to achieve superior environmental performance when applied by doing one or more of the following:

(a) achieving emissions reductions or reductions in discharges of waste that exceed otherwise applicable statutory and regulatory requirements;

(b) providing for alternative monitoring, testing, recordkeeping, notification, or reporting requirements that reduce the administrative burden on the department or the participant and providing the information needed to ensure compliance with the cooperative agreement and other applicable provisions of South Carolina environmental law; or

(c) achieving natural resource conservation or reductions in the use of natural resources or energy consumption.

(7) "Interested person" means a person or a representative of a person who, due to his proximity to a facility, is or may be affected by the activities at the facility that is covered or proposed to be covered by a cooperative agreement.

(8) "Performance evaluation" means a systematic, documented, and objective review, conducted by or on behalf of the owner or operator of a facility, of the environmental operations of the facility, including an evaluation of compliance with the cooperative agreement covering the facility, approvals that are not replaced by the cooperative agreement and the provisions of South Carolina environmental law for which a participant has not been granted a variance.

(9) "Person" means an individual, corporation, company, association, partnership, unit of local government, state agency, federal agency, or other legal entity.

(10) "Pollution" means:

(a) the presence in the environment of any substance including, but not limited to, sewage, industrial waste, other waste, air contaminant, or any combination of these in a quantity and of characteristics and duration:

(i) as may cause or tend to cause the environment of the State to be contaminated, unclean, noxious, odorous, impure, or degraded;

(ii) which is or tends to be injurious to human health or welfare;

(iii) which damages property, plant, animal or marine life or use of property; or

(b) the manmade or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.

(11) "South Carolina Environmental Excellence Program" means a voluntary program in which facilities are selected for membership based upon their demonstrated commitment to continuous environmental improvement through the use of environmental management systems to achieve pollution prevention and energy and natural resource conservation.

(12) "South Carolina environmental law" means all state and federal environmental laws and regulations that the department is authorized to administer and enforce.

(13) "Violation" means a violation of a cooperative agreement, of an approval that is not replaced by the cooperative agreement, or of a provision of South Carolina environmental law for which a participant has not received a variance.

HISTORY: 2002 Act No. 318, Section 1.