2023 Oklahoma Statutes › Title 27A. Environment and Natural Resources › §27A-1015. Powers of Department relating to POTW - Violations - Penalties - Power to halt or prevent discharge.

A. Once a Central Treatment Trust has made the election and given the notice specified in Section 3 of this act, and entered into the coordinating agreement with the Department as specified in paragraph 2 of Section 4 of this act, the Department, in addition to all of its other authority under state or federal law, shall have and shall exercise the enforcement powers specified in this section with respect to the POTW owned and operated by such CTT (terms used, but not defined, in this section, but defined in 40 CFR, Section 403.3, shall have the same meanings ascribed to them in 40 CFR, Section 403.3):
1. To issue permits to industrial users of the POTW, designed to:
a.
limit and control their contributions of pollutants and allocate waste loads to the POTW so that the requirements of the CTT's NPDES permit and Oklahoma law will be met, and
b.
require compliance by the industrial users with applicable pretreatment standards and requirements;
2. To require compliance by industrial users of the POTW with applicable pretreatment standards and requirements;
3. To deny or condition new or increased contributions of pollutants, or changes in the nature of pollutants, by industrial users to the POTW where such contributions would not meet applicable pretreatment standards or requirements or where such contributions would cause a violation of the CTT's NPDES Permit;
4. To require industrial users of the POTW to develop a compliance schedule for the installation of technology required to meet applicable pretreatment standards and requirements;
5. To require industrial users of the POTW to submit all notices and self-monitoring reports as are necessary to assess and assure compliance with pretreatment standards and requirements and with conditions and requirements of permits issued by the Department pursuant to paragraph 1 of this subsection;
6. To require industrial users of the POTW to meet any provisions of Oklahoma law applicable to the discharge of pollutants by an industrial user to a POTW;
7. To carry out all inspection, surveillance, sampling and monitoring procedures necessary to determine, independent of information supplied by industrial users, compliance or noncompliance by industrial users of the POTW with applicable pretreatment standards and requirements. Authorized representatives of the Department or of the CTT are hereby authorized in order to carry out the purposes specified above to enter any premises of any industrial user of the POTW which is contributing pollutants to the POTW, and in which a discharge source or treatment system is located or records are required by 40 CFR, Section 403.12 to be kept. The authority to enter upon the premises of any industrial user of the POTW granted in this paragraph is intended to, and shall, be as extensive as the authority provided under Section 308 of the Federal Clean Water Act; and
8. To promulgate rules reasonably required to implement paragraphs 1 through 7 of this subsection, and to conduct individual proceedings and to enter orders to enforce such rules and to enforce paragraphs 1 through 7 of this subsection.
B. For purposes of promulgating rules, conducting individual proceedings and issuing orders as provided in this section, the Department shall be subject to the provisions of the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act, Section 301 et seq. of Title 75 of the Oklahoma Statutes; provided, that any person adversely affected by issuance of a rule, permit or order of the Department may, within thirty (30) days after such rule, permit or order becomes final, seek judicial review thereof; provided further, that the exclusive venue for such judicial review shall be the District Court of Oklahoma County; and provided further, that such judicial review shall be limited to review of the administrative record compiled before the Department, and shall be conducted by the court without a jury.
C. An industrial user of the POTW who violates any provision of this act or of any rule, permit or order of the Department issued pursuant to this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per violation. Any violation which continues for more than one (1) day shall constitute a separate violation for each day of violation. If any such penalties are not paid within thirty (30) days after administratively assessed by the Department, the Department shall bring suit in district court to recover such penalties. Penalties shall be paid to the Department for the benefit of the CTT.
D. The Department may sue an industrial user of the POTW for injunctive relief in any instance where an industrial user of the POTW violates or threatens to violate any provision of this act or of any rule, permit or order of the Department issued pursuant to this section. In any such suit, the court shall have jurisdiction to grant to the Department, without bond or other undertaking, such prohibitory or mandatory injunctions as the facts may warrant, including temporary restraining orders, after notice and hearing, temporary injunctions or permanent injunctions.
E. The Department may sue for both civil penalties and injunctive relief, as authorized by subsections C and D of this section, in the same proceeding.
F. The venue of any suit brought by the Department pursuant to subsections C and D of this section shall be either the District Court of Oklahoma County, or the district court of the county where the CTT maintains its administrative offices and the POTW is located, at the Department's election.
G. In any proceeding by the Department to recover civil penalties, injunctive relief or both, the prevailing party shall be allowed to recover reasonable attorney fees, to be set by the court and taxed and collected as costs.
H. In addition to the remedies provided for in subsections C and D of this section, the Department shall have the following additional remedy: The Department shall have the authority (after informal notice to the affected industrial user) to immediately and effectively halt or prevent any discharge of pollutants to the POTW which reasonably appears to present an imminent endangerment of the health or welfare of persons. The Department shall also have the authority (which shall include notice to the affected industrial user and an opportunity to respond) to halt or prevent any discharge to the POTW which presents or may present an endangerment to the environment or which threatens to interfere with the operation of the POTW.
I. Nothing in this act shall directly or indirectly limit or supersede any jurisdiction of the Department or the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the Oklahoma Pollutant Discharge Elimination Act, the Oklahoma Environmental Quality Code, or any other federal or state statute or regulation.
J. The term "NPDES Permits" as used in this act shall include any permit, or interim, successor, renewal or substitute permit issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or by the State of Oklahoma or an agency thereof in the event the State of Oklahoma at some future date is authorized to administer the NPDES program in Oklahoma, pursuant to 33 U.S.C.A., Section 1342.
Added by Laws 1993, c. 217, § 5, eff. July 1, 1993.