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Public Act 093-0831 |
HB5823 Enrolled |
LRB093 16833 BDD 42485 b |
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AN ACT concerning environmental protection.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by |
changing Section 42 as follows:
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(415 ILCS 5/42) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 1042)
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Sec. 42. Civil penalties.
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(a) Except as provided in this Section, any person that |
violates any
provision of this Act or any regulation adopted by |
the Board, or any permit
or term or condition thereof, or that |
violates any order of the Board pursuant
to this Act, shall be |
liable for a civil penalty of not to exceed
$50,000 for the |
violation and an additional civil penalty of not to exceed
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$10,000 for each day during which the violation continues; such |
penalties may,
upon order of the Board or a court of competent |
jurisdiction, be made payable
to the Environmental Protection |
Trust Fund, to be used in accordance with the
provisions of the |
Environmental Protection Trust Fund Act.
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(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of |
this Section:
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(1) Any person that violates Section 12(f) of this Act |
or any
NPDES permit or term or condition thereof, or any |
filing requirement,
regulation or order relating to the |
NPDES permit program, shall be liable
to a civil penalty of |
not to exceed $10,000 per day of violation.
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(2) Any person that violates Section 12(g) of this Act |
or any UIC permit
or term or condition thereof, or any |
filing requirement, regulation or order
relating to the |
State UIC program for all wells, except Class II wells as
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defined by the Board under this Act, shall be liable to a |
civil penalty
not to exceed $2,500 per day of violation; |
provided, however, that any person
who commits such |
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violations relating to the State UIC program for Class
II |
wells, as defined by the Board under this Act, shall be |
liable to a civil
penalty of not to exceed $10,000 for the |
violation and an additional civil
penalty of not to exceed |
$1,000 for each day during which the violation
continues.
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(3) Any person that violates Sections 21(f), 21(g), |
21(h) or 21(i) of
this Act, or any RCRA permit or term or |
condition thereof, or any filing
requirement, regulation |
or order relating to the State RCRA program, shall
be |
liable to a civil penalty of not to exceed $25,000 per day |
of violation.
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(4) In an administrative citation action under Section |
31.1 of this Act,
any person found to have violated any |
provision of subsection (o) of
Section 21 of this Act shall |
pay a civil penalty of $500 for each
violation of each such |
provision, plus any hearing costs incurred by the Board
and |
the Agency. Such penalties shall be made payable to the |
Environmental
Protection Trust Fund, to be used in |
accordance with the provisions of the
Environmental |
Protection Trust Fund Act; except that if a unit of local
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government issued the administrative citation, 50% of the |
civil penalty shall
be payable to the unit of local |
government.
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(4-5) In an administrative citation action under |
Section 31.1 of this
Act, any person found to have violated |
any provision of subsection (p) of
Section 21 of this Act |
shall pay a civil penalty of $1,500 for each violation
of
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each such provision, plus any hearing costs incurred by the |
Board and the
Agency, except that the civil penalty amount |
shall be
be a $3,000 for
each violation of any provision of |
subsection (p) of Section 21 that is the
person's second
a |
second or subsequent adjudication violation of that
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provision. The penalties shall be deposited into the
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Environmental Protection Trust Fund, to be used in |
accordance with the
provisions of the Environmental |
Protection Trust Fund Act; except that if a
unit of local |
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government issued the administrative citation, 50% of the |
civil
penalty shall be payable to the unit of local |
government.
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(5) Any person who violates subsection 6 of Section |
39.5 of this Act
or any CAAPP permit, or term or condition |
thereof, or any fee or filing
requirement, or any duty to |
allow or carry out inspection, entry or
monitoring |
activities, or any regulation or order relating to the |
CAAPP
shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed |
$10,000 per day of violation.
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(b.5) In lieu of the penalties set forth in subsections (a) |
and (b) of
this Section, any person who fails to file, in a |
timely manner, toxic
chemical release forms with the Agency |
pursuant to Section 25b-2
of this Act
shall be liable for a |
civil penalty of $100 per day for
each day the forms are
late, |
not to exceed a maximum total penalty of $6,000. This daily |
penalty
shall begin accruing on the thirty-first day after the
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date that the person receives the warning notice issued by the |
Agency pursuant
to Section 25b-6 of this Act; and the penalty |
shall be paid to the Agency. The
daily accrual of penalties |
shall cease as of January 1 of the following year.
All |
penalties collected by the Agency pursuant to this subsection |
shall be
deposited into the Environmental Protection Permit and |
Inspection Fund.
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(c) Any person that violates this Act, any rule or |
regulation adopted under
this Act, any permit or term or |
condition of a permit, or any Board order and
causes the death |
of fish
or aquatic life shall, in addition to the other |
penalties provided by
this Act, be liable to pay to the State |
an additional sum for the
reasonable value of the fish or |
aquatic life destroyed. Any money so
recovered shall be placed |
in the Wildlife and Fish Fund in the State
Treasury.
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(d) The penalties provided for in this Section may be |
recovered in a
civil action.
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(e) The State's Attorney of the county in which the |
violation
occurred, or the Attorney General, may, at the |
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request of the Agency or
on his own motion, institute a civil |
action for an injunction , prohibitory or mandatory, to
restrain |
violations of this Act, any rule or regulation adopted under |
this Act,
any permit or term or condition of a permit, or any |
Board order , or to require such other actions as may be |
necessary to address violations of this Act, any rule or |
regulation adopted under this Act, any permit or term or |
condition of a permit, or any Board order .
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(f) The State's Attorney of the county in which the |
violation
occurred, or the Attorney General, shall bring such |
actions in the name
of the people of the State of Illinois.
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Without limiting any other authority which may exist for the |
awarding
of attorney's fees and costs, the Board or a court of |
competent
jurisdiction may award costs and reasonable |
attorney's fees, including the
reasonable costs of expert |
witnesses and consultants, to the State's
Attorney or the |
Attorney General in a case where he has prevailed against a
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person who has committed a wilful, knowing or repeated |
violation of this Act,
any rule or regulation adopted under |
this Act, any permit or term or condition
of a permit, or any |
Board order.
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Any funds collected under this subsection (f) in which the |
Attorney
General has prevailed shall be deposited in the
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Hazardous Waste Fund created in Section 22.2 of this Act. Any |
funds
collected under this subsection (f) in which a State's |
Attorney has
prevailed shall be retained by the county in which |
he serves.
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(g) All final orders imposing civil penalties pursuant to |
this Section
shall prescribe the time for payment of such |
penalties. If any such
penalty is not paid within the time |
prescribed, interest on such penalty
at the rate set forth in |
subsection (a) of Section 1003 of the Illinois Income
Tax Act, |
shall be paid for the period from the date payment is due until |
the
date payment is received. However, if the time for payment |
is stayed during
the pendency of an appeal, interest shall not |
accrue during such stay.
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(h) In determining the appropriate civil penalty to be |
imposed under
subdivisions (a), (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(3), or |
(b)(5) of this
Section, the Board is authorized to consider any |
matters of record in
mitigation or aggravation of penalty, |
including but not limited to the
following factors:
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(1) the duration and gravity of the violation;
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(2) the presence or absence of due diligence on the |
part of the
respondent in attempting to comply with |
requirements of this
Act and regulations thereunder or to |
secure relief therefrom as provided by
this Act;
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(3) any economic benefits accrued by the respondent
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because of delay in compliance with requirements, in which |
case the economic
benefits shall be determined by the |
lowest cost alternative for achieving
compliance;
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(4) the amount of monetary penalty which will serve to |
deter further
violations by the respondent and to otherwise |
aid in enhancing
voluntary
compliance with this Act by the |
respondent and other persons
similarly
subject to the Act;
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(5) the number, proximity in time, and gravity of |
previously
adjudicated violations of this Act by the |
respondent;
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(6) whether the respondent voluntarily self-disclosed, |
in accordance
with subsection (i) of this Section, the |
non-compliance to the Agency; and
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(7) whether the respondent has agreed to undertake a |
"supplemental
environmental project," which means an |
environmentally beneficial project that
a respondent |
agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action |
brought
under this Act, but which the respondent is not |
otherwise legally required to
perform.
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In determining the appropriate civil penalty to be imposed |
under subsection
(a) or paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (5) of |
subsection (b) of this Section, the
Board shall ensure, in all |
cases, that the penalty is at least as great as the
economic |
benefits, if any, accrued by the respondent as a result of the
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violation, unless the Board finds that imposition of such |
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penalty would result
in an arbitrary or unreasonable financial |
hardship. However, such civil
penalty
may be off-set in whole |
or in part pursuant to a supplemental
environmental project |
agreed to by the complainant and the respondent.
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(i) A person who voluntarily self-discloses non-compliance |
to the Agency,
of which the Agency had been unaware, is |
entitled to a 100% reduction in the
portion of the penalty that |
is not based on the economic benefit of
non-compliance if the |
person can
establish the following:
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(1) that the non-compliance was discovered through an |
environmental
audit, as defined in Section 52.2 of this |
Act, and the person waives the
environmental audit |
privileges as provided in that Section with respect to that
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non-compliance;
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(2) that the non-compliance was disclosed in writing |
within 30 days of
the date on which the person discovered |
it;
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(3) that the non-compliance was discovered and |
disclosed prior to:
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(i) the commencement of an Agency inspection, |
investigation, or request
for information;
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(ii) notice of a citizen suit;
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(iii) the filing of a complaint by a citizen, the |
Illinois Attorney
General, or the State's Attorney of |
the county in which the violation occurred;
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(iv) the reporting of the non-compliance by an |
employee of the person
without that person's |
knowledge; or
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(v) imminent discovery of the non-compliance by |
the Agency;
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(4) that the non-compliance is being corrected and any |
environmental
harm is being remediated in a timely fashion;
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(5) that the person agrees to prevent a recurrence of |
the non-compliance;
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(6) that no related non-compliance events have |
occurred in the
past 3 years at the same facility or in the |
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past 5 years as part of a
pattern at multiple facilities |
owned or operated by the person;
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(7) that the non-compliance did not result in serious |
actual
harm or present an imminent and substantial |
endangerment to human
health or the environment or violate |
the specific terms of any judicial or
administrative order |
or consent agreement;
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(8) that the person cooperates as reasonably requested |
by the Agency
after the disclosure; and
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(9) that the non-compliance was identified voluntarily |
and not through a
monitoring, sampling, or auditing |
procedure that is required by statute, rule,
permit, |
judicial or administrative order, or consent agreement.
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If a person can establish all of the elements under this |
subsection except
the element set forth in paragraph (1) of |
this subsection, the person is
entitled to a 75% reduction in |
the portion of the penalty that is not based
upon the economic |
benefit of non-compliance.
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(Source: P.A. 93-152, eff. 7-10-03; 93-575, eff. 1-1-04; |
revised 9-11-03.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law. |