Title 49 — The Environment

A. If the director determines that a person is in violation of a rule adopted or a condition of a permit issued pursuant to section 49-203, subsection A, paragraph 7, any provision of article 2, 3, 3.1 or 3.3 of this chapter, a rule adopted pursuant to article 2, 3, 3.1 or 3.3 of…

A. Whether or not a person has requested a hearing, the director, through the attorney general, may request a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, a permanent injunction or any other relief necessary to protect the public health if the director has reason to bel…

A. It is unlawful to: 1. Discharge without a permit or appropriate authority under this chapter. 2. Fail to monitor, sample or report discharges as required by a permit issued under this chapter. 3. Violate a discharge limitation specified in a permit issued under this chapter. 4…

1. Discharge without a permit or appropriate authority under article 3.1 of this chapter. 2. Fail to monitor, sample or report discharges as required by a permit issued under article 3.1 of this chapter. 3. Violate a discharge limitation or standard specified in a permit issued u…

A. It is unlawful for any person, knowingly or with criminal negligence to do any of the following with respect to generation, treatment, transportation, disposal, application and management of sewage sludge: 1. Apply sewage sludge in violation of rules adopted under article 3.1 …

A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, a person that has an interest that is or may be adversely affected by a violation of this chapter or a rule adopted or an order issued by the department pursuant to this chapter may commence a civil action in superior court o…

All actions commenced under sections 49-261 and 49-262 shall be brought in the superior court in the county in which the alleged violation occurred or in which the department maintains an office.

1. "Applicant" means any individual, employee, officer, managing body, trust, firm, joint stock company, consortium, public or private corporation, including a government corporation, partnership or association, this state, a political subdivision of this state, or a commission o…

A. The water quality assurance revolving fund is established to be administered by the director. The fund consists of monies from the following sources: 1. Monies appropriated by the legislature. 2. Fertilizer license fees allocated under section 3-272, subsection B, paragraph 2.…

A. Notwithstanding any other law, a person engaging in mining is not required to pay fees and taxes listed in section 49-282, subsection A, paragraphs 2 through 8 in excess of the lesser of: 1. $10,000 in a calendar year per individual mining site. 2. $25,000 in a calendar year p…

A. Notwithstanding any other statute, monies from the water quality assurance revolving fund may be used for all reasonable costs incurred in remedial actions taken in response to a release or threat of a release of a hazardous substance or pollutant that presents an emergency to…

A. On the request of any person, the director may take interim remedial actions to address the loss or reduction of available water from a well before the selection of a remedy, including making grants from the water quality assurance revolving fund to provide alternative water s…

A. The director of environmental quality, in consultation with the director of water resources, may inspect wells for vertical cross-contamination of groundwater by hazardous substances and may take appropriate remedial actions to prevent or mitigate this cross-contamination at n…

A. The department may enter into an agreement with any person to perform work at a site on the site registry if the work will be conducted in accordance with the rules adopted pursuant to section 49-282.06. The terms and conditions of the agreement may include a suspension of any…

A. Remedial actions shall: 1. Assure the protection of public health and welfare and the environment. 2. To the extent practicable, provide for the control, management or cleanup of the hazardous substances in order to allow the maximum beneficial use of the waters of the state. …

A. For the purposes of imposing liability under this article, and except as provided in this section, a person is deemed the party responsible for the release or threatened release of a hazardous substance if the person: 1. Owned or operated the facility: (a) When the hazardous s…

A. A provider or user of remediated water is not liable for damages caused or contributed to by the use or distribution of the remediated water except on a showing of wilful, malicious or grossly negligent conduct that was the direct cause of the damages. B. For purposes of this …

A release of petroleum or a constituent of petroleum, as defined in section 49-1001, that is a hazardous substance, as defined in section 49-201, shall be subject to the remedial and liability provisions of this article if the release is not otherwise subject to the corrective or…

A. Notwithstanding any other requirement of state or federal law, any person who is the owner or operator of a facility shall, as soon as the person has knowledge of any release, other than a release in compliance with the limits or conditions in a federal or state permit, of a h…

A. Except as otherwise provided in section 49-283, a person who is a responsible party shall be strictly and severally liable for such reasonable, necessary and cost-effective expenditures for remedial actions as are incurred by this state, a political subdivision of this state o…

A. The department may provide, pursuant to section 49-292, to a prospective purchaser of a facility or a prospective remediator of a site a written release and a covenant not to sue and may also agree to seek an order of the court granting approval of a settlement that includes i…

A. If the director determines that a drinking water source is being or is about to be rendered unusable without treatment as a drinking water source by a non-hazardous substance that was disposed by a person that would be a responsible party under section 49-283 if the substance …

A. Except as provided in section 49-286, the provisions of this article are independent of and are not subject to the enforcement remedies of article 4 of this chapter and section 49-264. B. This section does not preclude the director from initiating actions pursuant to section 5…

A. When information of a possible release or threatened release of a hazardous substance is received, the director may conduct a preliminary investigation to obtain additional information necessary to determine the potential risk to the public health or welfare or the environment…

A. If the director determines that a remedial investigation at a site or portion of the site may be necessary and the director determines that cost recovery may be appropriate, the department shall conduct an investigation to identify any person who may be liable under this artic…

A. The department may conduct a remedial investigation and feasibility study of a scored site or portion of the site to assess conditions on the site or portion of the site and to evaluate alternative potential remedies to the extent necessary to select a final remedy in a manner…

A. After evaluating the site or portion of a site under section 49-287.03, the director shall prepare a proposed remedial action plan that describes all of the following: 1. The boundaries of the site or portion of the site that is the subject of the remedial action. 2. The resul…

A. After signing the record of decision, if the director determines that cost recovery may be appropriate, the director shall notify each person that has been determined to be liable under this article of the following: 1. The boundaries of the site or portion of the site that is…

A. Ninety days after the issuance of notice pursuant to section 49-287.05, subsection A, the director shall issue a notice to each person who has not settled its liability with the department of the start of an allocation proceeding. The director shall propose the names of at lea…

A. The following actions shall be brought pursuant to this section: 1. An action by the director or any person with a claim for recovery of remedial action costs to challenge a determination of liability or proportionate share in an allocator's report pursuant to section 49-287.0…

A. The director may take an action authorized under subsection B or C of this section to determine the need for, to select or to undertake any remedial action pursuant to this article, to investigate and allocate the liability of any person under this article or to otherwise enfo…

A. The director shall assure that remedial actions taken pursuant to this article are pursued and completed as expeditiously as possible, consistent with the criteria in section 49-282.06 and the rules adopted pursuant to that section. A remedial action shall not be financed in w…

A. A person who owns property within a site may petition the director to adjust the boundaries to exclude the person's property from the site boundaries. The geographic area covered by the boundary adjustment petition shall be described by legal description. B. The director shall…

A. The director shall establish a preliminary community involvement area for each site on the registry established pursuant to section 49-287.01, subsection D, within ninety days after the site is entered into the registry. B. The director shall provide written notice by mail or …

A. The public shall receive notice and be provided an opportunity to comment to the director regarding the following actions taken by the director: 1. The placement of a site on the registry as provided in section 49-287.01. 2. The selection of a remedy as provided in section 49-…

A. Notwithstanding any other statute, a person who performs a remedial action or a portion of a remedial action that has been approved by the department if that action or portion is conducted in compliance with this article is not subject to any requirement to obtain any permit o…

A. Notwithstanding section 49-290, any person conducting a remedial action shall obtain and comply with applicable permits, approvals or other authorizations required by the department of water resources. On consultation with the director of environmental quality, the director of…

A. A metal mining facility conducting mitigation activities pursuant to an order issued by the director of environmental quality pursuant to section 49-286 shall obtain and comply with applicable permits, approvals or other authorizations required by the department of water resou…

A. The director shall consider any offer of settlement by a person that is potentially liable for remedial action costs under this article and CERCLA. The director shall consider the factors in section 49-282.06 and section 49-285, subsections E and F in determining whether to se…

A. The director shall enter into a settlement under this article and section 107 of CERCLA with a person that qualifies pursuant to this section without regard to the extent of its liability except for a person whose liability under this article arose from criminal acts. B. An ap…

A. The director shall consider any offer by a person who may be potentially liable for remedial action costs under this article or section 107(a) of CERCLA without regard to the extent of that person's liability. In order to obtain a settlement under this section, a person must d…

A. All monies obtained by the director as the result of a settlement entered into pursuant to this article or through filing an action in state or federal court under this article or under CERCLA shall be deposited, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147. Monies recovered pursuan…

A. In addition to other rights or remedies available to this state, and in order to protect the state's interest in recovering monies expended by the state for remedial action, all remedial action costs for which a person is liable to the state for the remedial actions conducted …

A settlement agreement made pursuant to this article may provide that the director shall reimburse a party to the agreement from the fund for the costs of specific remedial actions that the party has agreed to perform. In appropriate cases, the director may make reasonable effort…

A. Nothing in this article is an appealable agency action as defined in section 41-1092 or a contested case as defined in section 41-1001 except for the following: 1. A determination by the director that a person does not qualify for a settlement pursuant to section 49-292.01 or …

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Active ingredient" has the meaning assigned to the term by title 7 United States Code section 136. 2. "Applicant" means any person who applies for a registration or amended registration pursuant to title 3, chapter 2, ar…

A. An applicant shall submit to the director information that enables the department of environmental quality to determine whether a pesticide has the potential to pollute the groundwater in this state. This information shall include all of the following information for each acti…

A. After satisfying the requirements of section 49-302, a registrant may use any of the following processes to demonstrate to the director whether the pesticide has the potential to pollute groundwater: 1. The use of specific numeric values established by the director for pestici…

A. A registrant of a pesticide is subject to a penalty of up to ten thousand dollars for each day that a groundwater protection data gap exists unless the information was waived pursuant to section 49-302, subsection D or a conditional registration was granted pursuant to section…

A. The director shall establish a groundwater protection list of pesticides that have the potential to pollute groundwater. The director shall immediately place all pesticides identified in section 49-303, subsection C, paragraphs 2 and 3 on the groundwater protection list and sh…