Massachusetts § 7A - Storage and use of snow removal chemicals; regulations; reports; penalty

§ 7A. Storage and use of snow removal chemicals; regulations; reports; penalty

Section 7A. (a) For the purposes of this section, ''person'' shall include surveyors of highways, road commissioners, superintendents of streets in towns, commissioners of public works in cities and towns, the chief engineer of the highway division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the chief administrative officers of state agencies and private persons, including corporations.

(b) No person shall store sodium chloride, calcium chloride or chemically treated abrasives or other chemicals used for the removal of snow or ice on roadways in such a manner or place as to subject a water supply or groundwater supply to the risk of contamination.

(c) Any sodium chloride, calcium chloride or chemically treated abrasives or other chemicals used for the removal of snow or ice on roadways and stored within 200 hundred yards of an established river or estuary shall be stored in a solid frame storage shed to insure against ground leaching and airborne pollution of surrounding property. This subsection shall not apply to: (1) a water-dependent marine cargo facility that, on or before May 10, 1991, stored or distributed any such snow removal chemicals, is currently located at the site from which such chemicals were stored or distributed on or before May 10, 1991, such chemicals are stored or distributed with 200 yards of an established river or estuary and such river or estuary has a depth-averaged annual salinity greater than 10 parts per 1,000; or (2) a water-dependent marine cargo facility that stores or distributes any such snow removal chemicals, is located on an established river or estuary that has a depth-averaged annual salinity greater than 10 parts per 1,000 and has an agreement with the municipality in which it is located providing for the best management practices.

(d) The department of environmental protection, in consultation with the highway division, may issue regulations as to the place and manner of storage of such chemicals and may regulate, by specific order in a particular case, the place where such chemicals may be used for such purpose. All water-dependent marine cargo facilities storing chemicals used for the removal of snow and ice on roads shall have the best management practices described in writing for inspection at the facility by the department.

(e) A violation of this section or a regulation or order issued hereunder shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $50 dollars per day.

(f) A person who uses more than 1 ton of the chemicals described in this section in a calendar year shall report annually to the department of environmental protection on November 1 and at such other times as prescribed the amount of such chemicals used in the previous 12 months specified by road section or other location and the amount of chemicals on hand. Copies of such reports shall be made available upon the request of a concerned state or municipal agency or commission. The department may require studies by competent professional personnel of the probable impact of proposed new or improved highways and the maintenance thereof by use of such chemicals upon reservoirs, ponds, streams, lakes, wetlands and the groundwater aquifers associated with both public and private water sources. Estimates of such chemicals to be applied on proposed roadways and other paved areas shall be based upon the most recent records of chemicals actually applied as reported under this section.