415 ILCS 5/42
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 415 - ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY|415 ILCS 5/ - Environmental Protection Act.|Title XII - Penalties

 (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 1042)Sec. 42. Civil penalties.(a) Except as provided in this Section, any person that violates any  provision of this Act or any regulation adopted by the Board, or any permit  or term or condition thereof, or that violates any order of the Board pursuant  to this Act, shall be liable for a civil penalty of not to exceed  $50,000 for the violation and an additional civil penalty of not to exceed  $10,000 for each day during which the violation continues; such penalties may,  upon order of the Board or a court of competent jurisdiction, be made payable  to the Environmental Protection Trust Fund, to be used in accordance with the  provisions of the Environmental Protection Trust Fund Act.(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this Section:(1) Any person that violates Section 12(f) of this     Act or any NPDES permit or term or condition thereof, or any filing requirement, regulation or order relating to the NPDES permit program, shall be liable to a civil penalty of not to exceed $10,000 per day of violation.(2) Any person that violates Section 12(g) of this     Act or any UIC permit or term or condition thereof, or any filing requirement, regulation or order relating to the State UIC program for all wells, except Class II wells as defined by the Board under this Act, shall be liable to a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500 per day of violation; provided, however, that any person who commits such violations relating to the State UIC program for Class II wells, as defined by the Board under this Act, shall be liable to a civil penalty of not to exceed $10,000 for the violation and an additional civil penalty of not to exceed $1,000 for each day during which the violation continues.(3) Any person that violates Sections 21(f), 21(g),     21(h) or 21(i) of this Act, or any RCRA permit or term or condition thereof, or any filing requirement, regulation or order relating to the State RCRA program, shall be liable to a civil penalty of not to exceed $25,000 per day of violation.(4) In an administrative citation action under     Section 31.1 of this Act, any person found to have violated any provision of subsection (o) of Section 21 of this Act shall pay a civil penalty of $500 for each violation of each such provision, plus any hearing costs incurred by the Board and the Agency.  Such penalties shall be made payable to the Environmental Protection Trust Fund, to be used in accordance with the provisions of the Environmental Protection Trust Fund Act; except that if a unit of local government issued the administrative citation, 50% of the civil penalty shall be payable to the unit of local government.(4-5) In an administrative citation action under     Section 31.1 of this Act, any person found to have violated any provision of subsection (p) of  Section 21, Section 22.38, Section 22.51, Section 22.51a, or subsection (k) of Section 55 of this Act shall pay a civil penalty of $1,500 for each violation of each such provision, plus any hearing costs incurred by the Board and the Agency, except that the civil penalty amount shall be $3,000 for each violation of any provision of subsection (p) of Section 21, Section 22.38, Section 22.51, Section 22.51a, or subsection (k) of Section 55 that is the person's second or subsequent adjudication violation of that provision.  The penalties shall be deposited into the Environmental Protection Trust Fund, to be used in accordance with the provisions of the Environmental Protection Trust Fund Act; except that if a unit of local government issued the administrative citation, 50% of the civil penalty shall be payable to the unit of local government.(5) Any person who violates subsection 6 of Section     39.5 of this Act or any CAAPP permit, or term or condition thereof, or any fee or filing requirement, or any duty to allow or carry out inspection, entry or monitoring activities, or any regulation or order relating to the CAAPP shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 per day of violation.(6) Any owner or operator of a community water system     that violates subsection (b) of Section 18.1 or subsection (a) of Section 25d-3 of this Act shall, for each day of violation, be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $5 for each of the premises  connected to the affected community water system.(7) Any person who violates Section 52.5 of this Act     shall be liable for a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for the first violation of that Section and a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for a second or subsequent violation of that Section.(b.5) In lieu of the penalties set forth in subsections (a) and (b) of  this Section, any person who fails to file, in a timely manner, toxic  chemical release forms with the Agency pursuant to Section 25b-2  of this Act  shall be liable for a civil penalty of $100 per day for  each day the forms are  late, not to exceed a maximum total penalty of $6,000. This daily penalty  shall begin accruing on the thirty-first day after the  date that the person receives the warning notice issued by the Agency pursuant  to Section 25b-6 of this Act; and the penalty shall be paid to the Agency. The  daily accrual of penalties shall cease as of January 1 of the following year.  All penalties collected by the Agency pursuant to this subsection shall be  deposited into the Environmental Protection Permit and Inspection Fund.(c) Any person that violates this Act, any rule or regulation adopted under  this Act, any permit or term or condition of a permit, or any Board order and  causes the death of fish  or aquatic life shall, in addition to the other penalties provided by  this Act, be liable to pay to the State an additional sum for the  reasonable value of the fish or aquatic life destroyed. Any money so  recovered shall be placed in the Wildlife and Fish Fund in the State  Treasury.(d) The penalties provided for in this Section may be recovered in a  civil action.(e) The State's Attorney of the county in which the violation  occurred, or the Attorney General, may, at the request of the Agency or  on his own motion, institute a civil action for an injunction, prohibitory or mandatory, to  restrain violations of this Act, any rule or regulation adopted under this Act,  any permit or term or condition of a permit, or any Board order, or to require such other actions as may be necessary to address violations of this Act, any rule or regulation adopted under this Act, any permit or term or condition of a permit, or any Board order.(f) The State's Attorney of the county in which the violation  occurred, or the Attorney General, shall bring such actions in the name  of the people of the State of Illinois.  Without limiting any other authority which may exist for the awarding  of attorney's fees and costs, the Board or a court of competent  jurisdiction may award costs and reasonable attorney's fees, including the  reasonable costs of expert witnesses and consultants, to the State's  Attorney or the Attorney General in a case where he has prevailed against a  person who has committed a willful, knowing, or repeated violation of this Act,  any rule or regulation adopted under this Act, any permit or term or condition  of a permit, or any Board order.Any funds collected under this subsection (f) in which the Attorney  General has prevailed shall be deposited in the  Hazardous Waste Fund created in Section 22.2 of this Act. Any funds  collected under this subsection (f) in which a State's Attorney has  prevailed shall be retained by the county in which he serves.(g) All final orders imposing civil penalties pursuant to this Section  shall prescribe the time for payment of such penalties.  If any such  penalty is not paid within the time prescribed, interest on such penalty  at the rate set forth in subsection (a) of Section 1003 of the Illinois Income  Tax Act, shall be paid for the period from the date payment is due until the  date payment is received.  However, if the time for payment is stayed during  the pendency of an appeal, interest shall not accrue during such stay.(h) In determining the appropriate civil penalty to be imposed  under  subdivisions  (a), (b)(1), (b)(2),  (b)(3), (b)(5), (b)(6), or (b)(7) of this  Section, the Board is authorized to consider any matters of record in  mitigation or aggravation of penalty, including, but not limited to, the  following factors:(1) the duration and gravity of the violation;(2) the presence or absence of due diligence on the     part of the respondent in attempting to comply with requirements of this Act and regulations thereunder or to secure relief therefrom as provided by this Act;(3) any economic benefits accrued by the respondent     because of delay in compliance with requirements, in which case the economic benefits shall be determined by the lowest cost alternative for achieving compliance;(4) the amount of monetary penalty which will serve     to deter further violations by the respondent and to otherwise aid in enhancing voluntary compliance with this Act by the respondent and other persons similarly subject to the Act;(5) the number, proximity in time, and gravity of     previously adjudicated violations of this Act by the respondent;(6) whether the respondent voluntarily     self-disclosed, in accordance with subsection (i) of this Section, the non-compliance to the Agency;(7) whether the respondent has agreed to undertake a     "supplemental environmental project", which means an environmentally beneficial project that a respondent agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action brought under this Act, but which the respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform; and(8) whether the respondent has successfully completed     a Compliance Commitment Agreement under subsection (a) of Section 31 of this Act to remedy the violations that are the subject of the complaint.In determining the appropriate civil penalty to be imposed under subsection  (a) or paragraph (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), or (7) of subsection (b) of this Section, the  Board shall ensure, in all cases, that the penalty is at least as great as the  economic benefits, if any, accrued by the respondent as a result of the  violation, unless the Board finds that imposition of such penalty would result  in an arbitrary or unreasonable financial hardship. However, such civil  penalty  may be off-set in whole or in part pursuant to a supplemental  environmental project agreed to by the complainant and the respondent.(i) A person who voluntarily self-discloses non-compliance to the Agency,  of which the Agency had been unaware, is entitled to a 100% reduction in the  portion of the penalty that is not based on the economic benefit of  non-compliance if the person can  establish the following:(1) that either the regulated entity is a small     entity or the non-compliance was discovered through an environmental audit or a compliance management system documented by the regulated entity as reflecting the regulated entity's due diligence in preventing, detecting, and correcting violations;(2) that the non-compliance was disclosed in writing     within 30 days of the date on which the person discovered it;(3) that the non-compliance was discovered and     disclosed prior to:(i) the commencement of an Agency inspection,         investigation, or request for information;(ii) notice of a citizen suit;(iii) the filing of a complaint by a citizen, the         Illinois Attorney General, or the State's Attorney of the county in which the violation occurred;(iv) the reporting of the non-compliance by an         employee of the person without that person's knowledge; or(v) imminent discovery of the non-compliance by         the Agency;(4) that the non-compliance is being corrected and     any environmental harm is being remediated in a timely fashion;(5) that the person agrees to prevent a recurrence of     the non-compliance;(6) that no related non-compliance events have     occurred in the past 3 years at the same facility or in the past 5 years as part of a pattern at multiple facilities owned or operated by the person;(7) that the non-compliance did not result in serious     actual harm or present an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health or the environment or violate the specific terms of any judicial or administrative order or consent agreement;(8) that the person cooperates as reasonably     requested by the Agency after the disclosure; and(9) that the non-compliance was identified     voluntarily and not through a monitoring, sampling, or auditing procedure that is required by statute, rule, permit, judicial or administrative order, or consent agreement.If a person can establish all of the elements under this subsection except  the element set forth in paragraph (1) of this subsection, the person is  entitled to a 75% reduction in the portion of the penalty that is not based  upon the economic benefit of non-compliance.For the purposes of this subsection (i), "small entity" has the same meaning as in Section 221 of the federal Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601).(j) In addition to any other remedy or penalty that may  apply, whether civil or criminal, any person who violates Section 22.52 of this Act shall be liable for an additional civil penalty of up to 3 times the gross amount of any pecuniary gain resulting from the violation.(k) In addition to any other remedy or penalty that may apply, whether civil or criminal, any person who violates subdivision (a)(7.6) of Section 31 of this Act shall be liable for an additional civil penalty of $2,000. (Source: P.A. 102-310, eff. 8-6-21.)