(1) General. The department will establish reasonable costs for all grants and loans, require local governments to manage projects in a cost-effective manner, and ensure that all potentially liable persons assume responsibility for remedial action.
(2) Funding discretion. The department retains the discretion to not provide a grant or loan for an eligible project or to provide less funding for an eligible project than the maximum allowed under this chapter.
(3) Funding limits. The department may not provide more funding for an eligible project than the maximum allowed under this chapter for each type of grant or loan.
(4) Retroactive funding. Retroactive costs are not eligible for funding, except as provided under this chapter for each type of grant or loan.
(5) Cash management of grants. For oversight remedial action grants, the department may not:
(a) Allocate more funds for a project each biennium than are estimated to be necessary to complete the scope of work for that biennium. The biennial scope of work must be approved by the department; or
(b) Allocate more funds for a project unless the local government has demonstrated to the department that funds awarded during the previous biennium have been substantially expended or contracts have been entered into to substantially expend the funds.
(6)
Consideration of insurance, contribution, and cost recovery claims. A recipient may use proceeds from an insurance claim or a contribution or cost recovery claim under RCW
70.105D.080 or the federal cleanup law seeking recovery of remedial action costs at a hazardous waste site to meet recipient share requirements, subject to the conditions in (a) through (f) of this subsection.
(a) Applicability. The project at the hazardous waste site is currently funded on or will be funded after July 1, 2014, under a grant agreement.
(b) Notice of claims. Upon application for the grant or within thirty days of filing a lawsuit or insurance claim to recover remedial action costs at the hazardous waste site, whichever is later, the recipient must notify the department of the filing.
(c) Notice of proceeds. Upon application for the grant, the recipient must notify the department of the total amount of proceeds received to date on any claims for remedial action costs at the hazardous waste site. The department may require the recipient to periodically update the total amount of proceeds received on the claims. The department may also require the recipient to provide documentation of the proceeds received on the claims.
(d) Notice of resolution. Upon application for the grant or within thirty days of any resolution of a claim for remedial action costs at the hazardous waste site, whichever is later, the recipient must:
(i) Notify the department of the resolution;
(ii) Specify the amount of proceeds received under the resolution and the portion of the proceeds attributable to eligible costs; and
(iii) Provide the department a copy of the settlement, judgment, or other document resolving the claim or portion of the claim.
(e) Repayment of grant funds. If the total proceeds from all the claims for remedial action costs at a hazardous waste site exceed the following costs, then the department may reduce the department share or require repayment of costs reimbursed by the department under a grant agreement by up to the amount of the exceedance:
(i) The cost incurred by the recipient to pursue the claims;
(ii) The cost of remedial actions incurred by the recipient that are not funded by the department at the hazardous waste site, including costs incurred before resolution of the claims; and
(iii) If approved by the department, the cost of remedial actions incurred by the recipient that are not funded by the department for an eligible project at a hazardous waste site that is not the basis for the claims.
(f) Eligibility of payments to other recipients. Contribution and cost recovery claim payments are not eligible costs if the payments are made for remedial actions previously funded by a grant to another jurisdiction.
(7) Reimbursement request deadlines.
(a) Requests for reimbursement and adequate documentation of eligible retroactive costs incurred before the application date must be submitted to the department in the application.
(b) Requests for reimbursement and adequate documentation of eligible retroactive costs incurred between the application date and the agreement signature date must be submitted to the department within ninety days of the agreement signature date.
(c) Requests for reimbursement and adequate documentation of eligible costs incurred after the agreement signature date must be submitted to the department within one hundred twenty days of incurring the costs.
(d) If requests for reimbursement are not submitted by the deadlines in (a) through (c) of this subsection, as applicable, the department may deny reimbursement of the costs.
(8) Spending plans for grant or loan agreements. The department may require grant or loan recipients to provide and periodically update a spending plan for the grant or loan.
(9)
Financial responsibility. As established by the Model Toxics Control Act, chapter
70.105D RCW, and implementing regulations, potentially liable persons bear financial responsibility for remedial action costs. The remedial action grant and loan programs may not be used to circumvent the responsibility of a potentially liable person. Remedial action grants and loans shall be used to supplement local government funding and funding from other sources to carry out required remedial action.
(10)
Puget Sound action agenda. The department may not fund projects designed to address the restoration of Puget Sound that are in conflict with the action agenda developed by the Puget Sound partnership under RCW
90.71.310.