Section 09.25.480. Exceptions to immunity; mitigation.

   (a) There is no immunity under AS 09.25.475 if a court or administrative hearing officer finds that
        (1) the owner or operator claiming the immunity has
             (A) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly committed or authorized the violation;
             (B) within the 36 months preceding the violation, committed, at the same facility or associated facilities located in the state, a pattern of violations that are the same as or closely related to the violation for which the immunity is sought; or
             (C) not attempted to bring the facility, operation, or property into compliance so as to constitute a pattern of disregard of environmental laws;
        (2) the violation was authorized or committed intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly by a member of the owner's or operator's management and the owner's or operator's policies contributed materially to the occurrence of the violation; or
        (3) the owner or operator, after taking into account the cost of completing corrective and remedial measures within a reasonable time and implementing appropriate measures to prevent recurrence of the violation, realized substantial economic savings in not complying with the requirement for which a violation is charged; the exception to immunity in this paragraph applies only to that portion of a penalty that reflects the economic savings of noncompliance after taking into account the cost of completing the corrective, remedial, and preventive measures necessary to qualify for immunity.
   (b) There is no immunity under AS 09.25.475 from an administrative or civil penalty for the violation of an administrative or court order or for violation of a term or condition of an administrative or court order.
   (c) An administrative or civil penalty that is imposed on an owner or operator for violation of an environmental law when the owner or operator has made a voluntary disclosure under AS 09.25.475(a) but is not granted immunity because of (a) of this section may, to the extent appropriate and not prohibited by law, be mitigated by
        (1) the good faith actions of the owner or operator in disclosing the violation;
        (2) efforts by the owner or operator to conduct environmental audits and to complete any resulting implementation plan or tracking system for corrective and preventive action;
        (3) remediation;
        (4) cooperation with government officials investigating the disclosed violation;
        (5) the nature of the violation; and
        (6) other relevant considerations.

Notes

History

(Sec. 2 ch 29 SLA 1997)