§ 4009. Penalties
Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated StatutesTitle 35 P.S. Health and Safety
35 P.S. § 4009
§ 4009. Penalties
(a) Any person who violates any provision of this act, any rule or regulation adopted under this act, any order of the department or any condition or term of any plan approval or permit issued pursuant to this act commits a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) for each separate offense and, in default of the payment of such fine, may be sentenced to imprisonment for ninety (90) days for each separate offense. Employes of the department authorized to conduct inspections or investigations are hereby declared to be law enforcement officers authorized to issue or file citations for summary violations under this act, and the General Counsel is hereby authorized to prosecute these offenses. For purposes of this subsection, a summary offense may be prosecuted before any district justice in the county where the offense occurred. There is no accelerated rehabilitative disposition authorized for a summary offense.
(b)(1) Any person who wilfully or negligently violates any provision of this act, any rule or regulation adopted under this act or any order of the department or any condition or term of any plan approval or permit issued pursuant to this act commits a misdemeanor of the second degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) for each separate offense or to imprisonment for a period of not more than two (2) years for each separate offense, or both.
(2) Any person who knowingly makes any false statement or representation in any application, record, report, certification or other document required to be either filed or maintained by this act or the regulations promulgated under this act commits a misdemeanor of the second degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) nor more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) for each separate offense or to imprisonment for a period of not more than two (2) years for each separate offense, or both.
(3) Any person who negligently releases into the ambient air any hazardous air pollutant listed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act1 or any extremely hazardous substance listed under section 302(a)(2) of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613)2 that is not listed in section 112 of the Clean Air Act and who at the time negligently places another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury commits a misdemeanor of the third degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) nor more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) for each separate offense or to imprisonment for a period of not more than one (1) year for each separate offense, or both.
(c)(1) Any person who knowingly releases into the ambient air any hazardous air pollutant listed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act or any extremely hazardous substance listed under section 302(a)(2) of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 that is not listed in section 112 of the Clean Air Act and who knows at the time that he thereby places another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury commits a felony of the first degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) nor more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) per day for each violation or to imprisonment for a period of not less than two (2) years nor more than twenty (20) years, or both. Any person which is an organization committing such violation shall, upon conviction under this clause, be subject to a fine of not more than one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) per day for each violation. If a conviction of any person under this clause is for a violation committed after a first conviction of such person under this clause, the maximum punishment shall be doubled with respect to both the fine and imprisonment. For any air pollutant for which the board has set an emissions standard or for any source for which a permit has been issued by the department, a release of such pollutant in accordance with that standard or permit shall not constitute a violation of this section.
(ii) knowledge possessed by a person other than the defendant, but not by the defendant, may not be attributed to the defendant, except that, in proving a defendant's possession of actual knowledge, circumstantial evidence may be used, including evidence that the defendant took affirmative steps to be shielded from relevant information.
(ii) Medical treatment or medical or scientific experimentation conducted by professionally approved methods and such other person had been made aware of the risks involved prior to giving consent. The defendant may establish an affirmative defense under this subclause by a preponderance of the evidence.
(4) All general defenses, affirmative defenses and bars to prosecution that may apply with respect to other State criminal offenses may apply under this clause and shall be determined by the courts according to the principles of common law. Concepts of justification and excuse applicable under this section may be developed according to those principles.
(5) For purposes of this subsection, the term “organization” means a legal entity, other than a government, established or organized for any purpose, and the term includes a corporation, a company, an association, a firm, a partnership, a joint stock company, a foundation, an institution, a trust, a society, a union or any other association of persons.
(d) For purposes of subsections (b) and (c) of this section, the term “serious bodily injury” means bodily injury which involves a substantial risk of death, unconsciousness, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ or mental faculty.
(f) For purposes of the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section and section 9.1,3 the term “operator,” as used in such provisions, shall include any person who is senior management personnel or a corporate officer. Except in the case of knowing and wilful violations, such term shall not include any person who is a stationary engineer or technician responsible for the operation, maintenance, repair or monitoring of equipment and facilities and who often has supervisory and training duties, but who is not senior management personnel or a corporate officer. Except in the case of knowing and wilful violations, for purposes of clause (3) of subsection (b) of this section, the term “a person” shall not include an employe who is carrying out his normal activities and who is not a part of senior management personnel or a corporate officer. Except in the case of knowing and wilful violations, for the purposes of clauses (1) and (2) of subsection (b) and subsection (c) of this section, the term “a person” shall not include an employe who is carrying out his normal activities and who is acting under orders from the employer.
(g) For purposes of this section, a person acts negligently with respect to a material element of an offense when he should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the actor's failure to perceive it, considering the nature and intent of his conduct and the circumstances known to him, involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor's situation.
Credits
1960, Jan. 8, P.L. (1959) 2119, § 9. Amended 1968, June 12, P.L. 163, No. 92, § 7; 1972, Oct. 26, P.L. 989, No. 245, § 8, imd. effective; 1992, July 9, P.L. 460, No. 95, § 10, imd. effective.
35 P.S. § 4009, PA ST 35 P.S. § 4009
Current through Act 10 of the 2024 Regular Session. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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