As used in this chapter:

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

(2) "Environmental audit" means a voluntary, internal evaluation or review of one or more facilities or an activity at one or more facilities regulated under federal, state, regional, or local environmental law, or of compliance programs, or management systems related to the facility or activity if designed to identify and prevent noncompliance and to improve compliance with these laws. For the purposes of this act, an environmental audit does not include an environmental site assessment of a facility conducted solely in anticipation of the purchase, sale, or transfer of the business or facility. An environmental audit may be conducted by the owner or operator, the parent corporation of the owner or operator or by their officers or employees, or by independent contractors. An environmental audit must be a discrete activity with a specified beginning date and scheduled ending date reflecting the auditor's bona fide intended completion schedule.

(3) "Environmental audit report" means a document marked or identified as such with a completion date existing either individually or as a compilation prepared in connection with an environmental audit. An environmental audit report may include, but is not limited to, field notes and records of observations, findings, opinions, suggestions, recommendations, conclusions, drafts, memoranda, drawings, photographs, computer-generated or electronically-recorded information, maps, charts, graphs, and surveys, provided the supporting information is collected or developed for the primary purpose and in the course of an environmental audit. An environmental audit report, when completed, may have these components:

(a) an audit report prepared by an auditor, which may include the scope and date of the audit and the information gained in the audit, together with exhibits and appendices and may include conclusions and recommendations;

(b) memoranda and documents analyzing the report and discussing implementation issues;

(c) an audit implementation plan that addresses correcting past noncompliance, improving current compliance, and preventing future noncompliance.

(4) "Environmental laws" means all provisions of federal, state, regional, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances pertaining to environmental matters.

HISTORY: 1996 Act No. 384, Section 2; 2000 Act No. 270, Section 1.