Alaska Statutes
Alaska Stat. § 46.08.900 (2026)
Definitions
✓ current as of July 2026
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Sec. 46.08.900. Definitions.
In this chapter,
(1) “capital improvement” includes construction, renovation, repair of, and improvement to, a building, but does not include other improvements to real property, such as construction of a dike or retaining wall;
(2) “commissioner” means the commissioner of environmental conservation;
(3) “containment and cleanup” includes the direct and indirect efforts associated with the prevention, abatement, containment, or removal of oil or a hazardous substance, and the restoration of the environment; when applied to expenses, the term includes the additional costs of providing a reasonable and appropriate function or service incurred in response to the release of the oil or hazardous substance, including administrative expenses for the incremental costs of providing the function or service;
(4) “department” means the Department of Environmental Conservation;
(5) “fund” means the oil and hazardous substance release prevention and response fund;
(6) “hazardous substance” means (A) an element or compound that, when it enters into or on the surface or subsurface land or water of the state, presents an imminent and substantial danger to the public health or welfare, or to fish, animals, vegetation, or any part of the natural habitat in which fish, animals, or wildlife may be found; or (B) a substance defined as a hazardous substance under 42 U.S.C. 9601 — 9657 (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980); “hazardous substance” does not include uncontaminated crude oil or uncontaminated refined oil in an amount of 10 gallons or less;
(7) “oil” means petroleum products of any kind and in any form, whether crude, refined, or a petroleum by-product, including petroleum, fuel oil, gasoline, lubricating oils, oily sludge, oily refuse, oil mixed with other wastes, liquefied natural gas, propane, butane, and other liquid hydrocarbons regardless of specific gravity;
(8) “permitted release” means a release occurring under the authority of a valid permit issued by the department or by the United States Environmental Protection Agency;
(9) “prevention account” means the oil and hazardous substance release prevention account established in AS 46.08.010(a)(1);
(10) “prevention mitigation account” means the oil and hazardous substance release prevention mitigation account established in AS 46.08.020(b);
(11) “release”
(A) means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment;
(B) does not include
(i) a permitted release; or
(ii) an act of nature;
(12) “response account” means the oil and hazardous substance release response account established in AS 46.08.010(a)(2);
(13) “response mitigation account” means the oil and hazardous substance release response mitigation account established in AS 46.08.025(b);
(14) “service”
(A) means a function performed or service provided by a municipality under a duty or power authorized by AS 29 or by another provision of law authorizing a municipality to perform functions or provide services, or a comparable function performed or service provided by a village;
(B) includes functions not previously performed and services not previously provided by the municipality or village;
(15) “threatened release” means that a release is imminent; a release is imminent if
(A) it is impending or on the point of happening; or
(B) though not impending, in the judgment of the commissioner
(i) the incident or occurrence may reasonably be expected to culminate in an actual release; and
(ii) that actual release may reasonably be expected to cause personal injury, other injury to life, or loss of or damage to property, including the environment;
(16) “village” means a place within the unorganized borough or within a borough if the power, function, or service for which a grant application under AS 29.60.510 is submitted is not exercised or provided by the borough on an areawide or nonareawide basis at the time the grant application is submitted that
(A) has irrevocably waived, in a form approved by the Department of Law, any claim of sovereign immunity that might arise in connection with the use of grant money under this chapter; and
(B) has
(i) a council organized under 25 U.S.C. 476 (sec. 16 of the Indian Reorganization Act);
(ii) a traditional village council recognized by the United States as eligible for federal aid to Indians; or
(iii) a council recognized by the commissioner of commerce, community, and economic development under regulations adopted by the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development to determine and give official recognition of village entities under AS 44.33.755(b).
Chapter 09. Hazardous Substance Release Control.
In this chapter,
(1) “capital improvement” includes construction, renovation, repair of, and improvement to, a building, but does not include other improvements to real property, such as construction of a dike or retaining wall;
(2) “commissioner” means the commissioner of environmental conservation;
(3) “containment and cleanup” includes the direct and indirect efforts associated with the prevention, abatement, containment, or removal of oil or a hazardous substance, and the restoration of the environment; when applied to expenses, the term includes the additional costs of providing a reasonable and appropriate function or service incurred in response to the release of the oil or hazardous substance, including administrative expenses for the incremental costs of providing the function or service;
(4) “department” means the Department of Environmental Conservation;
(5) “fund” means the oil and hazardous substance release prevention and response fund;
(6) “hazardous substance” means (A) an element or compound that, when it enters into or on the surface or subsurface land or water of the state, presents an imminent and substantial danger to the public health or welfare, or to fish, animals, vegetation, or any part of the natural habitat in which fish, animals, or wildlife may be found; or (B) a substance defined as a hazardous substance under 42 U.S.C. 9601 — 9657 (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980); “hazardous substance” does not include uncontaminated crude oil or uncontaminated refined oil in an amount of 10 gallons or less;
(7) “oil” means petroleum products of any kind and in any form, whether crude, refined, or a petroleum by-product, including petroleum, fuel oil, gasoline, lubricating oils, oily sludge, oily refuse, oil mixed with other wastes, liquefied natural gas, propane, butane, and other liquid hydrocarbons regardless of specific gravity;
(8) “permitted release” means a release occurring under the authority of a valid permit issued by the department or by the United States Environmental Protection Agency;
(9) “prevention account” means the oil and hazardous substance release prevention account established in AS 46.08.010(a)(1);
(10) “prevention mitigation account” means the oil and hazardous substance release prevention mitigation account established in AS 46.08.020(b);
(11) “release”
(A) means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment;
(B) does not include
(i) a permitted release; or
(ii) an act of nature;
(12) “response account” means the oil and hazardous substance release response account established in AS 46.08.010(a)(2);
(13) “response mitigation account” means the oil and hazardous substance release response mitigation account established in AS 46.08.025(b);
(14) “service”
(A) means a function performed or service provided by a municipality under a duty or power authorized by AS 29 or by another provision of law authorizing a municipality to perform functions or provide services, or a comparable function performed or service provided by a village;
(B) includes functions not previously performed and services not previously provided by the municipality or village;
(15) “threatened release” means that a release is imminent; a release is imminent if
(A) it is impending or on the point of happening; or
(B) though not impending, in the judgment of the commissioner
(i) the incident or occurrence may reasonably be expected to culminate in an actual release; and
(ii) that actual release may reasonably be expected to cause personal injury, other injury to life, or loss of or damage to property, including the environment;
(16) “village” means a place within the unorganized borough or within a borough if the power, function, or service for which a grant application under AS 29.60.510 is submitted is not exercised or provided by the borough on an areawide or nonareawide basis at the time the grant application is submitted that
(A) has irrevocably waived, in a form approved by the Department of Law, any claim of sovereign immunity that might arise in connection with the use of grant money under this chapter; and
(B) has
(i) a council organized under 25 U.S.C. 476 (sec. 16 of the Indian Reorganization Act);
(ii) a traditional village council recognized by the United States as eligible for federal aid to Indians; or
(iii) a council recognized by the commissioner of commerce, community, and economic development under regulations adopted by the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development to determine and give official recognition of village entities under AS 44.33.755(b).
Chapter 09. Hazardous Substance Release Control.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1999–2023 · leading case: Chenega Corp. v. Exxon Corp., 991 P.2d 769 (Alaska 1999).
Chenega Corp. v. Exxon Corp., 991 P.2d 769 (Alaska 1999). “” The statute further defines "oil” as “a derivative of a liquid hydrocarbon and includes crude oil, lubricating oil, sludge, oil refuse or another petroleum-reláted product or by-product.”
Williams Alaska Petroleum, Inc. & The Williams Companies, Inc. v. State of Alaska, Flint Hills Resources Alaska, LLC, & Flint Hills Resources, LLC, 529 P.3d 1160 (Alaska 2023). “99 Holding businesses liable for pollution caused by activities from which they profited is 98 The superior court concluded likewise in an order denying summary judgment to both Williams and the State for various claims: “ ‘[U]npermitted’ means without ‘the authority of a valid…”
— Alaska Stat. § 46.08.900(6) — 1 case
Chenega Corp. v. Exxon Corp., 991 P.2d 769 (Alaska 1999). “” The statute further defines "oil” as “a derivative of a liquid hydrocarbon and includes crude oil, lubricating oil, sludge, oil refuse or another petroleum-reláted product or by-product.”
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