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115B.18 FAILURE TO TAKE REQUESTED ACTIONS; CIVIL PENALTIES; ACTION
TO COMPEL PERFORMANCE; INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.
    Subdivision 1. Civil penalties. Any person responsible for a release or threatened release
from a facility of a pollutant or contaminant which presents an imminent and substantial danger
to the public health or welfare or the environment or for a release or threatened release of a
hazardous substance from a facility shall forfeit and pay to the state a civil penalty in an amount
to be determined by the court of not more than $20,000 per day for each day that the person fails
to take reasonable and necessary response actions or to make reasonable progress in completing
response actions requested as provided in subdivision 3.
The penalty provided under this subdivision may be recovered by an action brought by
the attorney general in the name of the state in connection with an action to recover expenses
of the agency under section 115B.17, subdivision 6, or by a separate action in the District
Court of Ramsey County. All penalties recovered under this subdivision shall be deposited in
the remediation fund.
    Subd. 2. Action to compel performance. When any person who is responsible for a release
or threatened release from a facility of a pollutant or contaminant which presents an imminent
and substantial danger to the public health or welfare or the environment or for a release or
threatened release of a hazardous substance from a facility, fails to take response actions or to
make reasonable progress in completing response actions requested as provided in subdivision
3, the attorney general may bring an action in the name of the state to compel performance of
the requested response actions. If any person having any right, title, or interest in and to the
real property where the facility is located or where response actions are proposed to be taken is
not a person responsible for the release or threatened release, the person may be joined as an
indispensable party in an action to compel performance in order to assure that the requested
response actions can be taken on that property by the responsible parties.
    Subd. 3. Requests for response actions. A request for emergency removal action shall be
made by the commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency. Other requests for response actions
shall be made by the agency. A request shall be in writing, shall state the action requested, the
reasons for the action, and a reasonable time by which the action must be begun and completed
taking into account the urgency of the action for protection of the public health or welfare
or the environment.
    Subd. 4. Injunctive relief. The release or threatened release of a hazardous substance, or a
pollutant or contaminant, shall constitute a public nuisance and may be enjoined in an action, in
the name of the state, brought by the attorney general.
History: 1983 c 121 s 18; 1987 c 186 s 15; 2004 c 228 art 1 s 25

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes