Unless the context requires otherwise, the definitions in this section shall apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Abandoned heating oil tank" means a consumptive use heating oil tank system that has been abandoned or decommissioned and is no longer in service or use.

(2) "Active heating oil tank" means a consumptive use heating oil tank that is in use.

(3) "Agency" means the Washington state pollution liability insurance agency (PLIA).

(4) "Applicant" means the person seeking advice and assistance from the petroleum technical assistance program, whose application has been accepted by the agency.

(5) "Decommissioned heating oil tank" means a heating oil tank system that has been removed from operation by an approved method such as abandonment in place (e.g., cleaning and filling with an inert material) or by removal from the ground.

(6) "Director" means the director of the Washington state pollution liability insurance agency.

(7) "Heating oil" means any petroleum product used for space heating in oil-fired furnaces, heaters and boilers, including stove oil, diesel fuel, or kerosene. "Heating oil" does not include petroleum products used as fuel in motor vehicles, marine vessels, trains, buses, aircraft, or any off-highway equipment not used for space heating, or the generation of electrical energy or waste oil, hoists, pipelines, spills from transportation or a form of transport.

(8) "Heating oil tank system" means a tank and its connecting pipes, whether above or below ground, or in a basement, with pipes connected to the tank for space heating of human living or working space on the premises where the tank is located.

(9) "MTCA" means the Model Toxics Control Act, chapter 70A.305 RCW and implementing regulations in chapters 173-340 and 173-204 WAC.

(10) "Petroleum" means any petroleum-based substance including crude oil or any fraction that is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure. The term petroleum includes, but is not limited to, petroleum and petroleum-based substances comprised of a complex blend of hydrocarbons, such as motor fuels, jet fuels, distillate fuel oils, residual fuel oils, lubricants, petroleum solvents, used oils, mineral spirits, Stoddard solvents, waste oils and heating oils. The term petroleum does not include propane, asphalt, or any other petroleum product that is not liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure. Standard conditions of temperature and pressure are at sixty degrees Fahrenheit and 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute.

(11) "Petroleum storage tank system" means a storage tank system that contains petroleum or a mixture of petroleum with de minimis quantities of other substances. The systems include those containing motor fuels, jet fuels, distillate fuel oils, residual fuel oils, lubricants, petroleum solvents, used oils, and heating oils. "Petroleum storage tank system" does not include any storage tank system regulated under chapter 70A.305 RCW.

(12) "Program" means petroleum technical assistance program.

(13) "Qualified petroleum storage tank system" means a storage tank system that has been identified as eligible for services under the petroleum technical assistance program by the department of ecology based on the relative risk posed by the release to human health and the environment.

(14) "Release" means any intentional or unintentional entry of petroleum into the environment including, but not limited to, a spill, leak, emission, escape, or leaching into the environment.

(15) "Remedial action" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 70A.305.020.

(16) "Sampling and testing" means a PLIA-approved and recognized technique(s) or procedure(s) for measuring or determining the presence and extent of hydrocarbons in soil and/or water.

(17) "Site" has the same meaning as "facility" as defined in RCW 70A.305.020.

(18) "Site characterization" means an investigation of the nature and extent of the release.