(A) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or any ordinance or regulation promulgated, enacted, adopted, or issued pursuant to this chapter by the department or other implementing agency, or who initiates or continues a land disturbing activity for which a stormwater management and sediment control plan is required except in accordance with the terms, conditions, and provisions of an approved plan, is subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars. No penalty may be assessed until the person alleged to be in violation has been notified of the violation. Each day of a violation constitutes a separate violation.

(B) The implementing agency shall determine the amount of the civil penalty to be assessed under this section for violations under its jurisdiction. It shall make written demand for payment upon the person responsible for the violation and set forth in detail the violation for which the penalty has been invoked. If payment is not received or equitable settlement reached within thirty days after demand for payment is made, a civil action may be filed in the circuit court in the county in which the violation is alleged to have occurred to recover the amount of the penalty. If the implementing agency is the department, the action must be brought in the name of the State. Local governments shall refer the matters under their jurisdiction to their respective attorneys for the institution of a civil action in the name of the local government in the circuit court in the county in which the violation is alleged to have occurred for recovery of the penalty.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 48-14-140

  • Department: means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 48-14-20
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Implementing agency: means the department, local government, or conservation district with the responsibility for receiving stormwater management and sediment control plans for review and approval, reviewing plans, issuing permits for land disturbing activities, and conducting inspections and enforcement actions in a specified jurisdiction. See South Carolina Code 48-14-20
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Land disturbing activity: means any use of the land by any person that results in a change in the natural cover or topography that may cause erosion and contribute to sediment and alter the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff. See South Carolina Code 48-14-20
  • Local government: means any county, municipality, or any combination of counties or municipalities, acting through a joint program pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 48-14-20
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, electric supplier, municipality, interstate body, the federal government, or other legal entity. See South Carolina Code 48-14-20
  • Sediment: means solid particulate matter, both mineral and organic, that has been or is being transported by water, air, ice, or gravity from its site of origin. See South Carolina Code 48-14-20
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Stormwater management: means , for:

    (a) quantitative control, a system of vegetative or structural measures, or both, that control the increased volume and rate of stormwater runoff caused by manmade changes to the land;

    (b) qualitative control, a system of vegetative, structural, or other measures that reduce or eliminate pollutants that might otherwise be carried by stormwater runoff. See South Carolina Code 48-14-20
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