Okla. Stat. tit. 2, § 2-2A-9

damages - Right of intervention - Notice - Hearings - Penalties -

Review.

A. Whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that there

has been a violation of any of the provisions of the Oklahoma

Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act, any permit,

any rule, or any order of the Director of the Agriculture Pollutant

Discharge Elimination System, the Director shall have the authority

and powers to proceed as specified in the Administrative Procedures

Act unless otherwise provided herein. However, provisions of this

section for written notice, enforcement hearing, and administrative

orders shall not be conditions precedent for seeking action in the

district court as provided by the Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant

Discharge Elimination System Act or other applicable provisions of

law.

B. The Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination

System Act shall not in any way impair or in any way affect the

right of a person to recover damages for pollution that are

otherwise allowed by law in a court of competent jurisdiction.

C. Any person having any interest connected with the geographic

area or waters or water system affected, including but not limited

to any health, environmental, pecuniary, or property interest, which

interest is or may be adversely affected, shall have the right to

intervene as a party in any administrative proceeding before the

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 2. Agriculture Page 78

Department, or in any civil proceeding, relating to violations of

the Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act

or rules, permits or orders issued hereunder.

D. Whenever, on the basis of any information available, the

Department finds that any person regulated by the Department is in

violation of any act, rule, order, permit, condition or limitation

implementing the Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System Act, or any previously issued discharge permit,

the Director may issue an order requiring the person or entity to

comply with the provision or requirement, commence appropriate

administrative enforcement proceedings, or bring a civil action.

Provided, however, the issuance of a compliance order or denial,

placing on probation, reinstatement, suspension or revocation of a

permit shall not be considered a condition precedent to the accrual

or imposition of penalties or fines in any administrative, civil, or

criminal proceeding.

E. 1. A copy of any order issued pursuant to this section

shall be sent immediately to the violator. In any case in which an

order or notice to a violator is issued to a corporation, a copy of

the order shall be served on any appropriate individual officers or

service agents.

2. Any order issued pursuant to this section shall state with

reasonable specificity the nature of the violation, and shall

specify a time for compliance not to exceed thirty (30) days in the

case of a violation of an interim compliance schedule or operation

and maintenance requirement and not to exceed a reasonable time in

the case of a violation of a final deadline, taking into account the

seriousness of the violation and any good faith efforts to comply

with applicable requirements. Any order or notice issued by the

Director may be served in any manner allowed by Oklahoma Rules of

Civil Procedure applicable to a civil summons.

F. 1. Whenever on the basis of any information available the

Director finds that any person regulated by the Department has

violated any of the provisions of the Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant

Discharge Elimination System Act, or any permit, rule, order or

condition or limitation implementing any of these sections, or

previously issued discharge permit or related order, the Director

may assess, after providing notice and opportunity for an

enforcement hearing to the alleged violator, an administrative fine

of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per day for each

violation.
charge Elimination System Act, or any permit, rule, order or

condition or limitation implementing any of these sections, or

previously issued discharge permit or related order, the Director

may assess, after providing notice and opportunity for an

enforcement hearing to the alleged violator, an administrative fine

of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per day for each

violation.

2. The total amount of the administrative fine shall not exceed

One Hundred Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($125,000.00) per

violation. In determining the amount of any penalty assessed under

this subsection, the Director shall take into account the nature,

circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation, or violations,

and, with respect to the violator, the ability to pay, any prior

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 2. Agriculture Page 79

history of violations, the degree of culpability, the economic

benefit savings, if any, resulting from the violation, and any other

matters as justice may require. For purposes of this subsection, a

single operational upset which leads to simultaneous violations of

more than one pollutant parameter shall be treated as a single

violation.

3. Enforcement hearings shall be conducted in accordance with

the procedures set out in the Administrative Procedures Act.

G. 1. The Director is authorized to commence a civil action

for appropriate relief, including a permanent or temporary

injunction, for any violation for which the Director is authorized

to issue a compliance order under subsection D of this section.

2. Any person who violates any provision of the Oklahoma

Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act, any permit

condition or limitation implementing any of such provisions in a

permit issued under the Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System Act, and any person who violates any order issued

by the Director under subsection D of this section, shall be subject

to a civil penalty not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00)

per day for each violation.

3. In determining the amount of the civil penalty, the court

shall consider the seriousness of the violation or violations, the

economic benefit, if any, resulting from the violation, any history

of violations, any good faith efforts to comply with the applicable

requirements, the economic impact of the penalty on the violator,

and any other matters as justice may require. For purposes of this

subsection, a single operational upset which leads to simultaneous

violations of more than one pollutant parameter shall be treated as

a single violation.

4. Any action pursuant to this subsection may be brought in the

district court for the district in which the property or defendant

is located or defendant resides or is doing business, and the court

shall have jurisdiction to restrain any violation and to require

compliance.

5. The prior revocation of a permit shall not be a condition

precedent to the filing of a civil action under the Oklahoma

Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act.

H. 1. Any person who violates any provision of this act, any

order of the Director, or any condition or limitation in a permit

issued pursuant to this act may be punishable by a fine of not less

than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) nor more than Ten Thousand

Dollars ($10,000.00) per day for each violation, or by imprisonment

for not more than six (6) months for each violation, or both.

2. Any person who knowingly makes any false material statement,

representation, or certification in, omits material data from, or

tampers with any application, notice, record, report, plan, or other

document filed or required to be maintained under the Oklahoma

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 2. Agriculture Page 80

Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act or who

knowingly falsifies, tampers with, or renders inaccurate any

monitoring device or method required to be maintained under the
its material data from, or

tampers with any application, notice, record, report, plan, or other

document filed or required to be maintained under the Oklahoma

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 2. Agriculture Page 80

Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act or who

knowingly falsifies, tampers with, or renders inaccurate any

monitoring device or method required to be maintained under the

Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act,

shall be punishable, upon conviction, by a fine of not more than Ten

Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per day for each violation, or by

imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, or by both. If a

conviction of a person is for a violation committed after a first

conviction of that person under this paragraph, punishment shall be

by a fine of not more than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) per

day for each violation, or by imprisonment for not more than four

(4) years, or by both. In addition, the Director shall deny

issuance of the permit or require submission of a new application.

3. For purposes of this subsection, a single operational upset

which leads to simultaneous violations of more than one pollutant

parameter shall be treated as a single violation.

I. 1. Whenever, on the basis of information available, the

Department finds that an owner or operator of any source is

introducing a pollutant into a treatment works in violation of the

Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act or

any requirement, rule, permit, or order issued under this act, the

Department shall notify the owner or operator of the treatment works

of the violation.

2. If the operator of the treatment works does not commence

appropriate enforcement action within thirty (30) days of the date

of the notification, the Department may commence a civil action for

appropriate relief, including but not limited to a permanent or

temporary injunction, against the owner or operator of the treatment

works.

3. In the civil action, the Department shall join the operator

of the source as a party to the action.

4. The action shall be brought in the district court in the

county in which the treatment works is located.

5. The court shall have jurisdiction to restrain the violation

and to require the operator of the treatment works and the operator

of the source to take any action as may be necessary to come into

compliance with the Oklahoma Agriculture Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System Act.

6. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit or

prohibit any other authority the Department may have under this

section.

J. 1. Any person against whom an administrative compliance or

penalty order is issued under this section may obtain review of the

order by filing a petition for review in district court pursuant to

the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act. The court shall not

impose additional civil penalties for the same violation unless the

assessment of the penalty constitutes an abuse of discretion. No

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 2. Agriculture Page 81

stay of an administrative penalty order shall be granted until the

amount of penalty assessed has been deposited with the reviewing

district court pending resolution of the petition for review.

2. If any person fails to pay an assessment of an

administrative penalty:

a. after the order making the assessment has become final,

or

b. after a court in an action brought under paragraph 1 of

this subsection has entered a final judgment in favor

of the Department, as the case may be,

a civil action may be brought in an appropriate district court to

recover the amount assessed plus interest at currently prevailing

rates from the date of the final order or the date of the final

judgment, as the case may be. In such an action, the validity,

amount, and appropriateness of the penalty shall not be subject to

review.

3. Any person who fails to pay on a timely basis the amount of
civil action may be brought in an appropriate district court to

recover the amount assessed plus interest at currently prevailing

rates from the date of the final order or the date of the final

judgment, as the case may be. In such an action, the validity,

amount, and appropriateness of the penalty shall not be subject to

review.

3. Any person who fails to pay on a timely basis the amount of

an assessment of an administrative or civil penalty shall be

required to pay, in addition to the amount and interest, attorney

fees and costs for the collection proceeding and a quarterly

nonpayment penalty for each quarter during which the failure to pay

persists. The nonpayment penalty shall be in an amount equal to

twenty percent (20%) of the aggregate amount of the penalties of the

person and nonpayment penalties which are unpaid as of the beginning

of the quarter.

K. 1. The Attorney General or the district attorney of the

appropriate district court of Oklahoma may bring an action in a

court of competent jurisdiction for the prosecution of a violation

by any person of a provision of this act, any rule, any order of the

Director, or any condition or limitation in a permit issued pursuant

to this act.

2. Any action for injunctive relief to redress or restrain a

violation of any person of a provision of this act, any rule, any

order of the Director, or any condition or limitation in a permit

issued pursuant to this act or recovery of any administrative or

civil penalty assessed may be brought by:

a. the district attorney of the appropriate district

court of the State of Oklahoma,

b. the Attorney General on behalf of the State of

Oklahoma, or

c. the Department on behalf of the State of Oklahoma.

3. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General and district

attorney if requested by the Director to bring such action.