Title 48, Environmental Protection and Conservation

(A) An environmental audit report or any part of an environmental audit report is privileged and, therefore, immune from discovery and is not admissible as evidence in a civil or administrative penalty action, except as provided in Sections 48-57-40 and 48-57-50. These documents …

(A) The privilege provided for in Section 48-57-30 does not apply to the extent that it is expressly waived in writing by the owner or operator of a facility at which an environmental audit was conducted and who prepared or caused to be prepared the audit report as a result of th…

In order to assert at any time in the future the privilege established in Section 48-57-30, the facility conducting the environmental audit shall, upon inspection by the department of the facility or no later than ten working days after completion of the department's inspection, …

In an administrative proceeding before an administrative law judge, the department may seek by motion a declaratory ruling on the issue of whether an environmental audit report is privileged. The administrative law judge shall revoke the privilege granted in Section 48-57-30 to a…

The privilege provided for in Section 48-57-30 is not applicable in any criminal proceeding.

A party asserting the privilege provided for in Section 48-57-30 has the burden of proving that the materials claimed as privileged constitute an environmental audit report as defined by Section 48-57-20 and also of proving that compliance has been achieved or will be achieved th…

The parties may at any time stipulate to entry of an order directing that specific information contained in an environmental audit report is or is not subject to the privilege. In the absence of an on-going proceeding, where the parties are not in agreement, the department may se…

Nothing in this chapter limits, waives, or abrogates: (1) the scope or nature of any statutory or common law privilege, including the work-product privilege or the attorney-client privilege; (2) any existing ability or authority under state law to challenge privilege; or (3) the …