Title 40
SECTION 1068.125
1068.125 What happens if I violate the regulations
§ 1068.125 What happens if I violate the regulations?(a) Civil penalties and injunctions. We may bring a civil action to assess and recover civil penalties and/or enjoin and restrain violations in the United States District Court for the district where you allegedly violated a requirement, or the district where you live or have your main place of business. Actions to assess civil penalties or restrain violations of § 1068.101 must be brought by and in the name of the United States. The selected court has jurisdiction to restrain violations and assess civil penalties.
(1) To determine the amount of a civil penalty and reach a just conclusion, the court considers these factors:
(i) The seriousness of your violation.
(ii) How much you benefited or saved because of the violation.
(iii) The size of your business.
(iv) Your history of compliance with Title II of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401-7590).
(v) What you did to remedy the violation.
(vi) How the penalty will affect your ability to continue in business.
(vii) Such other matters as justice may require.
(2) Subpoenas for witnesses who must attend a district court in any district may apply to any other district.
(b) Administrative penalties. Instead of bringing a civil action, we may assess administrative penalties if the total is less than $356,312 against you individually. This maximum penalty may be greater if the Administrator and the Attorney General jointly determine that a greater administrative penalty assessment is appropriate, or if the limit is adjusted under 40 CFR part 19. No court may review this determination. Before we assess an administrative penalty, you may ask for a hearing as described in subpart G of this part. The Administrator may compromise or remit, with or without conditions, any administrative penalty that may be imposed under this section.
(1) To determine the amount of an administrative penalty, we will consider the factors described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
(2) An administrative order we issue under this paragraph (b) becomes final 30 days after we issue it unless you ask for judicial review by that time (see paragraph (c) of this section). You may ask for review by any of the district courts listed in paragraph (a) of this section. Send the Administrator a copy of the filing by certified mail.
(3) We will not pursue an administrative penalty for a particular violation if either of the following two conditions is true:
(i) We are separately prosecuting the violation under this subpart.
(ii) We have issued a final order for a violation, no longer subject to judicial review, for which you have already paid a penalty.
(c) Judicial review. If you ask a court to review a civil or administrative penalty, we will file in the appropriate court within 30 days of your request a certified copy or certified index of the record on which the court or the Administrator issued the order.
(1) The judge may set aside or remand any order issued under this section only if one of the following is true:
(i) Substantial evidence does not exist in the record, taken as a whole, to support finding a violation.
(ii) The Administrator's assessment of the penalty is an abuse of discretion.
(2) The judge may not add civil penalties unless our penalty is an abuse of discretion that favors you.
(d) Effect of enforcement actions on other requirements. Our pursuit of civil or administrative penalties does not affect or limit our authority to enforce any provisions of this chapter.
(e) Penalties. In any proceedings, the United States government may seek to collect civil penalties assessed under this section.
(1) Once a penalty assessment is final, if you do not pay it, the Administrator will ask the Attorney General to bring a civil action in an appropriate district court to recover the money. We may collect interest from the date of the final order or final judgment at rates established by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 6621(a)(2)). In this action to collect overdue penalties, the court will not review the validity, amount, and appropriateness of the penalty.
(2) In addition, if you do not pay the full amount of a penalty on time, you must then pay more to cover interest, enforcement expenses (including attorney's fees and costs for collection), and a quarterly nonpayment penalty for each quarter you do not pay. The quarterly nonpayment penalty is 10 percent of your total penalties plus any unpaid nonpayment penalties from previous quarters.
[73 FR 59344, Oct. 8, 2008, as amended at 75 FR 23062, Apr. 30, 2010; 81 FR 74226, Oct. 25, 2016]