Section 319.503

Title XXI PUBLIC SAFETY AND MORALS

Chapter 319

Effective - 28 Aug 1991   

  319.503.  Emergencies created by hazardous liquids being transported — powers of director — civil actions, penalties, deposit — no liability for owners, when. — 1.  If the director of the department of natural resources determines that the owner or operator of a pipeline which transports hazardous liquids as defined in the federal Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979, 49 U.S.C. 2001, et seq., is responsible for a hazardous substance emergency, he may cause to have instituted a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief to prevent any continuation of the hazardous substance emergency or for the assessment of a civil penalty up to ten thousand dollars per day for each day or part thereof that the hazardous substance emergency occurred and continues to occur.  The director may also seek up to twenty-five hundred dollars for each subsequent day the effect of the emergency causes noncompliance with water quality standards promulgated by the clean water commission pursuant to chapter 644.  The total amount of any civil penalty imposed for violation of water quality standards shall not exceed five hundred thousand dollars.  In determining the amount of civil penalty for noncompliance with water quality standards under this section, the court shall consider the seriousness of the violation, the degree of culpability involved, any other penalty imposed for the same incident, the nature, extent and degree of success of any efforts of the violator to minimize or mitigate the effects of the discharge, and any other matters as justice may require.  The director may request either the attorney general or a prosecuting attorney to bring any action authorized in this section in the name of the people of the state of Missouri.  Suit may be brought in any county where the defendant's principal place of business is located or where the hazardous substance emergency is located or was located at the time the emergency occurred.  Moneys received pursuant to this section which are not required by Article IX, Section 7 of the Constitution of Missouri to be distributed to schools shall be deposited in an appropriate subaccount of the natural resources protection fund created in section 640.220.

  2.  Commencement of an action to assess a civil penalty under this section shall preclude the assessment of an administrative penalty for the same violation except that this limitation shall not apply to persons whom the department has determined to have habitually violated the requirements of the Missouri clean water law, the clean water laws of other states or federal laws pertaining to clean water.  The commission shall promulgate rules and regulations to provide further clarification of a habitual violator under this subsection.

  3.  Any person otherwise liable under the provisions of section 319.500 and this section is not liable if he demonstrates that the hazardous substance emergency occurred as the result of an act of God, an act of war, an act of the state of Missouri or the United States, or solely by the act of a third party.

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(L. 1991 S.B. 45 § 2)