As used in this Article, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) Repealed by Session Laws 1973, c. 1417, s. 1.
(1a) "Affiliate" has the same meaning as in 17 Code of Federal Regulations § 240.12(b)-2 (1 June 1993 Edition), which defines "affiliate" as a person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control of another person.
(1b) "Airport authority" means an authority created under Chapter 63 of the General Statutes or by local act of the General Assembly for the purposes of operating an airport.
(2) "Commission" means the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission.
(3) "Department" means the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
(4) "District" means any Soil and Water Conservation District created pursuant to Chapter 139, North Carolina General Statutes.
(5) "Erosion" means the wearing away of land surface by the action of wind, water, gravity, or any combination thereof.
(6) "Land-disturbing activity" means any use of the land by any person in residential, industrial, educational, institutional or commercial development, highway and road construction and maintenance that results in a change in the natural cover or topography and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation.
(7) "Local government" means any county, incorporated village, town, or city, or any combination of counties, incorporated villages, towns, and cities, acting through a joint program pursuant to the provisions of this Article.
(7a) "Parent" has the same meaning as in 17 Code of Federal Regulations § 240.12(b)-2 (1 June 1993 Edition), which defines "parent" as an affiliate that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls another person.
(8) "Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, interstate body, or other legal entity.
(9) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Environmental Quality.
(10) "Sediment" means solid particulate matter, both mineral and organic, that has been or is being transported by water, air, gravity, or ice from its site of origin.
(10a) "Subsidiary" has the same meaning as in 17 Code of Federal Regulations § 240.12(b)-2 (1 June 1993 Edition), which defines "subsidiary" as an affiliate that is directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controlled by another person.
(10b) "Tract" means all contiguous land and bodies of water being disturbed or to be disturbed as a unit, regardless of ownership.
(11) "Working days" means days exclusive of Saturday and Sunday during which weather conditions or soil conditions permit land-disturbing activity to be undertaken.