§ 18-13-112 — Hazardous waste violations

Colorado § 18-13-112

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 18: Criminal
• Art.: Miscellaneous Offenses

Text

(1) No person shall abandon any
vehicle containing any hazardous waste or intentionally spill hazardous waste upon
a street, highway, right-of-way, or any other public property or upon any private
property without the express consent of the owner or person in lawful charge of
that private property.

(2) As used in this section:

(a) (I) Abandon means to leave a thing with the intention not to retain
possession of or assert ownership or control over it. The intent need not coincide
with the act of leaving.

(II) It is prima facie evidence of the necessary intent that:

(A) The vehicle has been left for more than three days unattended and
unmoved; or

(B) License plates or other identifying marks have been removed from the
vehicle; or

(C) The vehicle has been damaged or is deteriorated so extensively that it
has value only for junk or salvage; or

(D) The owner has been notified by a law enforcement agency to remove the
vehicle and it has not been removed within twenty-four hours after notification.

(b) (I) Hazardous waste means any waste or other material, alone, mixed
with, or in combination with other wastes or materials, which because of its
quantity, concentration, or physical or chemical characteristics:

(A) Causes, or significantly contributes to, an increase in mortality or an
increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or

(B) Poses a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the
environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or
otherwise improperly managed.

(II) Hazardous waste also means any waste or other material defined as a
hazardous waste in the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to the federal
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 3251 et seq.), as amended by the federal
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. 6905,
6912 (a), 6921-6927, 6930, 6974), as such rules and regulations are set forth in 40
C.F.R. Parts 122-124 and 260-265 on July 1, 1981.

(c) Hazardous waste does not include:

(I) Discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended;

(II) Source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the federal
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended;

(III) Agricultural waste;

(IV) Domestic sewage which includes final use for beneficial purposes,
including fertilizer, soil conditioner, fuel, and livestock feed, of sludge from
wastewater treatment plants if such sludge meets all applicable standards of the
department;

(V) Irrigation return flows;

(VI) Inert materials deposited for construction fill or topsoil placement in
connection with actual or contemplated construction at such location or for
changes in land contour for agricultural purposes; or

(VII) Any waste or other materials exempted or otherwise not regulated as a
hazardous waste in the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to the federal
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 3251 et seq.), as amended by the federal
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. 6905,
6912 (a), 6921-6927, 6930, 6974), as such rules and regulations are set forth in 40
C.F.R. Parts 122-124 and 260-265 on July 1, 1981.

(d) Inert material means non-water-soluble and nondecomposable inert
solids together with such minor amounts and types of other materials as will not
significantly affect the inert nature of such solids. The term includes but is not
limited to earth, sand, gravel, rock, concrete which has been in a hardened state for
at least sixty days, masonry, asphalt paving fragments, and such other non-water-soluble and nondecomposable inert solids.

(e) Vehicle means any device which is capable of moving itself, or of being
moved, from place to place upon wheels or endless tracks. The term includes but is
not limited to any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer.

(3) (a) A person who violates this section by intentionally spilling hazardous
waste commits a class 4 felony.

(b) A person who violates this section by abandoning a vehicle containing
hazardous waste commits a class 5 felony.

Legislative History

Source: L. 81: Entire section added, p. 977, � 22, effective July 1. L. 92: IP(2)(b)(I) amended, p. 1258, � 15, effective August 1. L. 2023: (3) amended, (HB 23-1293), ch. 298, p. 1793, � 50, effective October 1.