22-4909. ENFORCEMENT. (1) Informal administrative resolution of noncompliance. When the director identifies items of noncompliance at a beef cattle animal feeding operation, the deficiencies will be noted and appropriate corrective actions will be identified and scheduled informally. When corrective actions cannot be commenced within thirty (30) days and completed within a reasonable time, the director may negotiate a compliance order as specified in subsection (2)(b) of this section.

(2) (a) Administrative enforcement. Any beef cattle animal feeding operation not complying with the provisions of this act may be assessed a civil penalty by the director or his duly authorized agent in an administrative enforcement action by the issuance of a notice of noncompliance. The notice of noncompliance shall identify the alleged violation with specificity, shall specify each provision of the act or permit which has been violated, and shall state the amount of any civil penalty claimed for each violation and identify appropriate corrective action.

(b) The notice of noncompliance shall inform the person to whom it is directed of an opportunity to confer with the director or the director’s designee in a compliance conference concerning the alleged violation. A compliance schedule must be requested within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the notice of noncompliance. The compliance conference shall provide an opportunity for the recipient of a notice of noncompliance to explain the circumstances of the alleged violation and, where appropriate, to present a proposal for remedying damage caused by the alleged violation and assuring future compliance. If the recipient and the director agree on a plan to remedy damage caused by the alleged noncompliance and to assure future compliance, they may enter into a compliance order formalizing their agreement. The compliance order may include a schedule to correct deficiencies and a provision providing for payment of any agreed civil penalty.

(c) A compliance order shall be effective immediately upon signing by both parties and shall preclude any civil enforcement action for the same alleged noncompliance. If a party does not comply with the terms of the compliance order, the director may seek and obtain, in any appropriate district court, specific performance of the compliance order and such other relief as authorized in this act.

(d) If the parties cannot reach agreement on a compliance order within sixty (60) days after the receipt of the notice of noncompliance, or if the recipient does not timely request a compliance conference under this section, the director may commence and prosecute a civil enforcement action in district court, in accordance with subsection (3) of this section.

(3) Civil enforcement. The director may initiate a civil enforcement action through the attorney general. Civil enforcement actions shall be commenced and prosecuted in the district court in and for the county in which the alleged violation occurred, and may be brought against any person who is alleged to have violated any provision of this act or any permit or order which has become effective pursuant to this act. Such action may be brought to compel compliance with any provision of this act or with any permit or order promulgated hereunder and for any relief or remedies authorized in this act. No civil or administrative proceeding may be brought to recover for a violation of any provision of this act or a violation of any permit or order issued pursuant to this act, more than two (2) years after the director had knowledge or ought reasonably to have had knowledge of the violation.

(4) Civil penalty. Any person determined in a civil enforcement action to have violated any provision of this act or any permit or order promulgated pursuant to this act shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per violation or one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day of a continuing violation. The method of recovery of said penalty shall be by a civil enforcement action in the district court in and for the county where the violation occurred. Moneys collected for violations of this section or rules promulgated thereunder shall be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the state school building fund. The imposition or computation of monetary penalties shall take into account the seriousness of the violation, good faith efforts to comply with the law, the economic impact of the penalty on the violator, the economic benefit, if any, of the violation and such other matters as justice requires.

History:

[22-4909, added 2000, ch. 63, sec. 1, p. 142.]