§ 13-30-10-5 — Criminal penalties for violating underground storage tank laws

(a) A person who:
(1) operates an underground storage tank and knowingly,
intentionally, or recklessly violates:
(A) the terms of a permit issued by the department that relates
to the operation of an underground storage tank; or
(B) an Indiana statute that relates to the operation of an
underground storage tank; and
(2) discharges a contaminant into the environment, if the
discharge results in:
(A) a substantial risk of serious bodily injury;
(B) serious bodily injury to an individual;
(C) the death of a vertebrate animal; or
(D) damage to the environment that renders the environment
unfit for human or vertebrate animal life, or causes damage to
an endangered, an at risk, or a threatened species;
commits a Level 6 felony. However, the offense is a Level 5 felony if
it results in the death of another person.
(b) It is a defense to a prosecution under this section that the person
did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to know
that the substance discharged into the environment was capable of
causing a result described in subsection (a)(2).
(c) Notwithstanding IC 35-50-2-6(a), IC 35-50-2-7(a), or IC 35-50-3-2, the court may order a person convicted under this section to
pay:
(1) a fine of at least five thousand dollars ($5,000) and not more
than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each day of violation; or
(2) if the person has a prior unrelated conviction for an offense
under this title that may be punished as a felony, a fine of not
more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for each day
of violation.
In determining the amount of a fine imposed for a violation of this
section, the court shall consider any improper economic benefit,
including unjust enrichment, received by the defendant as a result of
the unlawful conduct.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.137-2007, SEC.31. Amended by P.L.158-2013, SEC.197.