The incentives established in section 349‑N apply to a violation of an environmental requirement only if:
1.Systematic discovery.
The violation was discovered through:
2.Voluntary discovery.
The violation was discovered by the regulated entity. Incentives under section 349‑N do not apply to violations discovered through a legally mandated monitoring or sampling requirement prescribed by statute, regulation, permit, judicial or administrative order or consent agreement, including:
3.Prompt disclosure.
The regulated entity fully discloses the specific violation in writing to the department within 21 days after the entity discovered that the violation has, or may have, occurred, unless the amount of time to report the violation is otherwise prescribed in statute, rule or order. The time at
Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI
The incentives established in section 349‑N apply to a violation of an environmental requirement only if:
1.
Systematic discovery.
The violation was discovered through:
2.
Voluntary discovery.
The violation was discovered by the regulated entity. Incentives under section 349‑N do not apply to violations discovered through a legally mandated monitoring or sampling requirement prescribed by statute, regulation, permit, judicial or administrative order or consent agreement, including:
3.
Prompt disclosure.
The regulated entity fully discloses the specific violation in writing to the department within 21 days after the entity discovered that the violation has, or may have, occurred, unless the amount of time to report the violation is otherwise prescribed in statute, rule or order. The time at which the regulated entity discovers that a violation has, or may have, occurred begins when a person authorized to speak on behalf of the regulated entity has an objectively reasonable basis for believing that a violation has, or may have, occurred. Persons authorized to speak on behalf of the regulated entity must be listed in the management audit by position title. The department's response to a violation disclosed by a regulated entity under this subsection must be made in writing to the regulated entity within 3 months of the disclosure of the violation by the entity;
4.
Discovery and disclosure independent of government or 3rd-party plaintiff.
The regulated entity discovers and discloses to the department the potential violation prior to:
5.
Correction and remediation.
The regulated entity corrects the violation within 60 days from the date of discovery, unless the amount of time to correct is otherwise prescribed in statute, rule or order, certifies in writing to the department that the violation has been corrected and takes appropriate measures as determined by the department to remedy any environmental or human harm due to the violation. The department retains the authority to order an entity to correct a violation within a specific time period shorter than 60 days whenever correction in a shorter period of time is feasible and necessary to protect public health and the environment adequately. If more than 60 days will be needed to correct the violation, the regulated entity shall so notify the department in writing before the 60-day period has passed. To satisfy conditions of this subsection and subsection 6, the department may require a regulated entity to enter into a publicly available written agreement, administrative consent order or judicial consent decree as a condition of obtaining relief under this subchapter, particularly when compliance or remedial measures are complex or a lengthy schedule for attaining and maintaining compliance or remediating harm is required;
6.
Prevent recurrence.
The regulated entity agrees in writing to take steps to prevent a recurrence of the violation, which may include improvements to its environmental audit program or compliance management system;
7.
No repeat violations.
The specific violation, or a closely related violation, has not occurred within the past 3 years at the same facility and has not occurred within the past 5 years as part of a pattern at multiple facilities owned or operated by the same regulated entity. For the purposes of this subsection, a violation or closely related violation is any violation previously identified in a judicial or administrative order, a consent agreement or order, a complaint, letter of warning or notice of violation, a conviction or plea agreement or any act or omission for which the regulated entity has previously received penalty mitigation from the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the department;
8.
Other violations excluded.
The violation did not result in serious actual harm, or present an imminent and substantial endangerment, to human health or the environment, did not violate the specific terms of any judicial or administrative order or consent agreement or was not a knowing, intentional or reckless violation; and
9.
Cooperation.
The regulated entity cooperates as requested by the department and provides such information requested by the department to determine the applicability of this subchapter.