Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's duly authorized representative and, in the event of the commissioner's absence or a vacancy in the office of commissioner, the deputy commissioner. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
discharge: when used without qualification, each refer to the addition of pollutants to waters from a source. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Industrial user: means those industries identified in the standard industrial classification manual, bureau of the budget, 1967, as amended and supplemented, under the category "Division D - Manufacturing" and such other classes of significant waste producers as the board or commissioner deems appropriate. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Local administrative officer: means the chief administrative officer of a pretreatment agency that has adopted and implemented an approved pretreatment program pursuant to this part and 33 U. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Local hearing authority: means the administrative board created pursuant to an approved pretreatment program that is responsible for the administration and enforcement of that program and §. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Person: means any and all persons, including individuals, firms, partnerships, associations, public or private institutions, state and federal agencies, municipalities or political subdivisions, or officers thereof, departments, agencies, or instrumentalities, or public or private corporations or officers thereof, organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Pollution: means such alteration of the physical, chemical, biological, bacteriological, or radiological properties of the waters of this state, including, but not limited to, changes in temperature, taste, color, turbidity, or odor of the waters that will:(A) Result or will likely result in harm, potential harm or detriment to the public health, safety, or welfare. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Pretreatment agency: means the owner of a publicly owned treatment works permitted pursuant to this part that is required by its permit to adopt and enforce an approved pretreatment program that complies with this part and 33 U. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
Pretreatment program: means the rules, regulations, and/or ordinances of a pretreatment agency regulating the discharge and treatment of industrial waste that complies with this part and 33 U. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Waters: means any and all water, public or private, on or beneath the surface of the ground, that are contained within, flow through, or border upon Tennessee or any portion thereof, except those bodies of water confined to and retained within the limits of private property in single ownership that do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters. See Tennessee Code 69-3-103
written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Any person, including, but not limited to, industrial users, who does any of the following acts or omissions shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per day for each day during which the act or omission continues or occurs:
(A) Violates an effluent standard or limitation imposed by a pretreatment program;(B) Violates the terms or conditions of a permit issued pursuant to a pretreatment program;(C) Fails to complete a filing requirement of a pretreatment program;(D) Fails to allow or perform an entry, inspection, monitoring or reporting requirement of a pretreatment program;(E) Fails to pay user or cost recovery charges imposed by a pretreatment program; or(F) Violates a final determination or order of the local hearing authority or the local administrative officer.(2) Any civil penalty shall be assessed in the following manner:
(A) The local administrative officer may issue an assessment against any person or industrial user responsible for the violation;(B) Any person or industrial user against whom an assessment has been issued may secure a review of such assessment by filing with the local administrative officer a written petition setting forth the grounds and reasons for the violator’s objections and asking for a hearing in the matter involved before the local hearing authority and, if a petition for review of the assessment is not filed within thirty (30) days after the date the assessment is served, the violator shall be deemed to have consented to the assessment and it shall become final;(C) Whenever any assessment has become final because of a person’s failure to appeal the local administrative officer’s assessment, the local administrative officer may apply to the appropriate court for a judgment and seek execution of such judgment and the court, in such proceedings, shall treat a failure to appeal such assessment as a confession of judgment in the amount of the assessment;(D) In assessing the civil penalty, the local administrative officer may consider the following factors:
(i) Whether the civil penalty imposed will be a substantial economic deterrent to the illegal activity;(ii)Damages to the pretreatment agency, including compensation for the damage or destruction of the facilities of the publicly owned treatment works, and also including any penalties, costs and attorneys’ fees incurred by the pretreatment agency as the result of the illegal activity, as well as the expenses involved in enforcing this section and the costs involved in rectifying any damages;(iii) Cause of the discharge or violation;(iv) The severity of the discharge and its effect upon the facilities of the publicly owned treatment works and upon the quality and quantity of the receiving waters;(v) Effectiveness of action taken by the violator to cease the violation;(vi) The technical and economic reasonableness of reducing or eliminating the discharge; and(vii) The economic benefit gained by the violator; and(E) The local administrative officer may institute proceedings for assessment in the chancery court of the county in which all or part of the pollution or violation occurred, in the name of the pretreatment agency.(3) The local hearing authority may establish by regulation a schedule of the amount of civil penalty that can be assessed by the local administrative officer for certain specific violations or categories of violations.(b) Any civil penalty assessed to a violator pursuant to this section may be in addition to any civil penalty assessed by the commissioner for violations of § 69-3-115(a)(1)(F). However, the sum of penalties imposed by this section and by § 69-3-115(a) shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per day for each day during which the act or omission continues or occurs. The state‘s share of any additional costs of this section shall be funded in accordance with § 9-4-5303, from the increase in state imposed taxes that are earmarked to counties and that are not designated by such counties for a particular purpose.
