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8-7-502. Legislative intent — Purposes.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
8-7-502. Legislative intent — Purposes.
(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly to provide the state with the necessary authority and funds to investigate, control, prevent, abate, treat, or contain releases of hazardous substances necessary to protect the public health and the environment, including funds required to assure payment of the state's participation in response actions pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-510, and to encourage the reduction of hazardous waste generation.
(b) The purpose of this subchapter is to encourage privately funded remedial action and to clarify that persons who have undertaken remedial action at a hazardous substance site in response to an action initiated by the Division of Environmental Quality pursuant to § 8-7-508 may obtain contribution from any other person who is liable for remediation of the hazardous substance site.
(c) A further purpose of this subchapter is to clarify the General Assembly's intent to provide the division with the necessary funds for remedial action at a hazardous substance site, recognizing that both public and private funds must be expended to implement remedial action at the hazardous substance sites which exist in this state. Costs and expenses for remedial action, whether expended by the division or by any person liable for the hazardous substance site, are legal damages to persons liable to the state and to persons liable to any other person for contribution, whether the liability arises by voluntary compliance with this subchapter pursuant to an order from or settlement with the division, or by suit for injunctive relief, declaratory judgment, contribution, damages, or restitution, and whether the suit is brought by th
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 8-7-502
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:8-7-502
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.08.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: f45fd7a46d6eca87559eda73dfab6910976eb41d27f7e5a1f173503c2de0e937
Source location: content.xml paragraph 7326
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8-7-502. Legislative intent — Purposes.
(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly to provide the state with the necessary authority and funds to investigate, control, prevent, abate, treat, or contain releases of hazardous substances necessary to protect the public health and the environment, including funds required to assure payment of the state's participation in response actions pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-510, and to encourage the reduction of hazardous waste generation.
(b) The purpose of this subchapter is to encourage privately funded remedial action and to clarify that persons who have undertaken remedial action at a hazardous substance site in response to an action initiated by the Division of Environmental Quality pursuant to § 8-7-508 may obtain contribution from any other person who is liable for remediation of the hazardous substance site.
(c) A further purpose of this subchapter is to clarify the General Assembly's intent to provide the division with the necessary funds for remedial action at a hazardous substance site, recognizing that both public and private funds must be expended to implement remedial action at the hazardous substance sites which exist in this state. Costs and expenses for remedial action, whether expended by the division or by any person liable for the hazardous substance site, are legal damages to persons liable to the state and to persons liable to any other person for contribution, whether the liability arises by voluntary compliance with this subchapter pursuant to an order from or settlement with the division, or by suit for injunctive relief, declaratory judgment, contribution, damages, or restitution, and whether the suit is brought by the state or by any party authorized to bring a suit for relief under this subchapter.
(d) The General Assembly expressly intends that the provisions of this subchapter shall apply retroactively.
(e) A further purpose of this act is to:
(1) Provide the state with the authority necessary to protect the public's health and safety and the environment from releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances;
(2) Provide emergency response capabilities necessary to promptly contain, control, or remove hazardous substances resulting from spills or accidental releases; and
(3)(A) Provide the state with the authority necessary to fund site assessments at any one (1) or more of the following:
(i) Abandoned industrial, commercial, and agricultural sites or residential properties as stated in § 8-7-1101 et seq. for written requests from quasi-governmental agencies, county government, school districts, and planning and development districts if the persons do not hold title at the time of the written requests; or
(ii) Potentially contaminated sites when a letter of intent is signed and available federal funds are exhausted.
(B) The provisions concerning site assessments under §§ 8-7-504(a) and (b), 8-7-505, 8-7-508, 8-7-509(e) and (f), and 8-7-516 shall not apply under this subdivision (e)(3).
Cross-references
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
8-7-1101. Declaration of policy.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) The redevelopment of abandoned industrial, commercial, or agricultural sites or abandoned residential property should be encouraged as a sound land use management policy to prevent the needless development of prime farmland, open spaces, and natural and recreation areas and to prevent urban sprawl;
(2) The redevelopment of abandoned sites should be encouraged so that these abandoned sites can be returned to useful, tax-producing properties to protect existing jobs and provide new job opportunities;
(3) Persons interested in redeveloping abandoned sites should have a method of determining what their legal liabilities and cleanup responsibilities will be as they plan the reuse of abandoned sites;
(4) Incentives should be put in place to encourage prospective purchasers to voluntarily develop and implement cleanup plans of abandoned sites without the need for adversarial enforcement actions by the Division of Environmental Quality;
(5) The division now routinely determines, through its permitting policies, when contamination will and will not pose unacceptable risks to public health or the environment, and similar concepts are used in establishing cleanup policies for abandoned sites;
(6) Parties and persons responsible under the law for pollution at abandoned sites should perform remedial responses which are fully consistent with existing requirements;
(7) As an incentive to promote the redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites, persons not responsible for preexisting pollution at or contamination on abandoned industrial sites should meet alternative cleanup requirements if they acquire title after the nature of conditions at the abandoned industrial site has been dis
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 8-7-1101
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 8-7-1101. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
8-7-504. Penalties.
(a)(1) Any person who commits any unlawful act under this subchapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than one (1) year or a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or to both a fine and imprisonment.
(2) Each day or part of a day during which such violation is continued or repeated shall constitute a separate offense.
(b) Any person who violates any provision of this subchapter or commits any unlawful act under this subchapter shall be subject to:
(1) A civil penalty in such amount as the Director of the Division of Environmental Quality shall find appropriate, not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) per day of the violation;
(2) The payment of any expenses reasonably incurred by the state in removing, correcting, or terminating any adverse effects resulting therefrom, including the cost of the investigation, inspection, or survey establishing the violation or unlawful act; and
(3) The payment to the state of reasonable compensation of any actual damage resulting therefrom.
(c) One-half (½) of the civil penalties provided for in subdivision (b)(1) of this section, but not to exceed five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in any one (1) calendar year and not to exceed four million dollars ($4,000,000) in the aggregate, may be deposited into the Remedial Action Account in the Construction Assistance Revolving Loan Fund established pursuant to § 15-5-901, if so authorized by the director, and such moneys shall not be deposited into or deemed to be a part of the State Treasury for the purposes of Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, § 29, Arkansas Constitution, Article 16, § 12, Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 20, or any other constitutional or statu
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 8-7-504
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 8-7-504. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
8-7-505. Unlawful acts.
It shall be unlawful for any person:
(1) To violate any provision of this subchapter or any rule adopted under this subchapter;
(2) To knowingly make a false statement, representation, or certification in any report or other document filed or required by this subchapter or the rules adopted pursuant to this subchapter; or
(3) To violate any order issued by the Division of Environmental Quality under this subchapter or any provision of such an order.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 8-7-505
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 8-7-505. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
8-7-508. Remedial and removal authority of the division.
(a)(1) Upon finding that a hazardous substance site exists or may exist, the Division of Environmental Quality, upon reasonable notice and after opportunity for hearing, may issue an order to any person liable for the site under § 8-7-512 if that person has caused or contributed to the release or threatened release of hazardous substances at the hazardous substance site. This order shall require that such remedial actions be taken as are necessary to investigate, control, prevent, abate, treat, or contain any releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances from the hazardous substance site.
(2) The fact that such a hazardous substance site is or is not listed by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission pursuant to § 8-7-509(f) shall in no manner limit the authority of the division under this subchapter.
(b) The Director of the Division of Environmental Quality or any employee or authorized agent of the division may enter upon any private or public property for the purpose of collecting information under this subchapter and for initiating and implementing remedial actions.
(c) The director is authorized to initiate and implement remedial actions under this subchapter pursuant to the provisions of § 8-7-509.
(d) In taking removal action or remedial actions pursuant to this subchapter, the division or any contractor of the division under this section shall not be required to obtain any state or local permit for the portion of any removal action or remedial action conducted pursuant to this subchapter entirely on site when the removal action or remedial action is otherwise carried out in compliance with the rules of the division.
(e) The director is authorized to initiate and implement
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 8-7-508
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 8-7-508. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.