§ 58.9 — Liability

Illinois § 58.9

• Jurisdiction: Illinois
• Topic: HEALTH AND SAFETY
• Ch. 415: ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
• Act 415 ILCS 5/: Environmental Protection Act.
• Art.: Title XVII - Site Remediation Program

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(a) Cost assignment. (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act to the contrary, including subsection (f) of Section 22.2, in no event may the Agency, the State of Illinois, or any person bring an action pursuant to this Act or the Groundwater Protection Act to require any person to conduct remedial action or to seek recovery of costs for remedial activity conducted by the State of Illinois or any person beyond the remediation of releases of regulated substances that may be attributed to being proximately caused by such person's act or omission or beyond such person's proportionate degree of responsibility for costs of the remedial action of releases of regulated substances that were proximately caused or contributed to by 2 or more persons. (2) Notwithstanding any provisions in this Act to the contrary, including subsection (f) of Section 22.2, in no event may the State of Illinois or any person require the performance of remedial action pursuant to this Act against any of the following: (A) A person who neither caused nor contributed to in any material respect a release of regulated substances on, in, or under the site that was identified and addressed by the remedial action taken pursuant to this Title. (B) Notwithstanding a landlord's rights against a tenant, a landlord, if the landlord did not know, and could not have reasonably known, of the acts or omissions of a tenant that caused or contributed to, or were likely to have caused or contributed to, a release of regulated substances that resulted in the performance of remedial action at the site. (C) The State of Illinois or any unit of local government if it involuntarily acquires ownership or control of the site by virtue of its function as a sovereign through such means as escheat, bankruptcy, tax delinquency, or abandonment, unless the State of Illinois or unit of local government takes possession of the site and exercises actual, direct, and continual or recurrent managerial control in the operation of the site that causes a release or substantial threat of a release of a regulated substance resulting in removal or remedial activity. (D) The State of Illinois or any unit of local government if it voluntarily acquires ownership or control of the site through purchase, appropriation, or other means, unless the State of Illinois or the unit of local government takes possession of the site and exercises actual, direct, and continual or recurrent managerial control in the operation of the site that causes a release or substantial threat of a release of a regulated substance resulting in removal or remedial activity. (E) A financial institution, as that term is defined in Section 2 of the Illinois Banking Act and to include the Illinois Housing Development Authority, that has acquired the ownership, operation, management, or control of a site through foreclosure, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, receivership, by exercising of an assignment of rents, as mortgagee in possession or otherwise under the terms of a security interest held by the financial institution, or under the terms of an extension of credit made by the financial institution, unless the financial institution takes actual physical possession of the site and, in so doing, directly causes a release of a regulated substance that results in removal or remedial activity. (F) A corporate fiduciary that has acquired ownership, operation, management, or control of a site through acceptance of a fiduciary appointment unless the corporate fiduciary directly causes a release of a regulated substance resulting in a removal or remedial activity. (b) In the event that the State of Illinois seeks to require a person who may be liable pursuant to this Act to conduct remedial activities for a release or threatened release of a regulated substance, the Agency shall provide notice to such person. Such notice shall include the necessity to conduct remedial action pursuant to this Title and an opportunity for the person to perform the remedial action. (c) In any instance in which the Agency has issued notice pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section, the Agency and the person to whom such notice was issued may attempt to determine the costs of conducting the remedial action that are attributable to the releases to which such person or any other person caused or contributed. Determinations pursuant to this Section may be made in accordance with rules promulgated by the Board. (d) The Board shall adopt, not later than January 1, 1999, pursuant to Sections 27 and 28 of this Act, rules and procedures for determining proportionate share. Such rules shall, at a minimum, provide for criteria for the determination of apportioned responsibility based upon the degree to which a person directly caused or contributed to a release of regulated substances on, in, or under the site identified and addressed in the remedial action; procedures to establish how and when such persons may file a petition for determination of such apportionment; and any other standards or procedures which the Board may adopt pursuant to this Section. In developing such rules, the Board shall take into consideration any recommendations and proposals of the Agency and the Site Remediation Advisory Committee established in Section 58.11 of this Act and other interested participants. (e) Nothing in this Section shall limit the authority of the Agency to provide notice under subsection (q) of Section 4 or to undertake investigative, preventive, or corrective action under any other applicable provisions of this Act. The Director of the Agency is authorized to enter into such contracts and agreements as may be necessary to carry out the Agency's duties and responsibilities under this Section as expeditiously as possible. (f) This Section does not apply to any cost recovery action brought by the State under Section 22.2 to recover costs incurred by the State prior to July 1, 1996.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 89-443, eff. 7-1-96; 90-484, eff. 8-17-97.)