Criminal penalties for violating underground storage tank laws

Sec. 5. (a) A person who:

(1) operates an underground storage tank and knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly violates:

(A) the terms of a permit issued by the department that relates to the operation of an underground storage tank; or

(B) an Indiana statute that relates to the operation of an underground storage tank; and

(2) discharges a contaminant into the environment, if the discharge results in:

(A) a substantial risk of serious bodily injury;

(B) serious bodily injury to an individual;

(C) the death of a vertebrate animal; or

(D) damage to the environment that renders the environment unfit for human or vertebrate animal life, or causes damage to an endangered, an at risk, or a threatened species;

commits a Level 6 felony. However, the offense is a Level 5 felony if it results in the death of another person.

(b) It is a defense to a prosecution under this section that the person did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to know that the substance discharged into the environment was capable of causing a result described in subsection (a)(2).

(c) Notwithstanding IC 35-50-2-6(a), IC 35-50-2-7(a), or IC 35-50-3-2, the court may order a person convicted under this section to pay:

(1) a fine of at least five thousand dollars ($5,000) and not more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each day of violation; or

(2) if the person has a prior unrelated conviction for an offense under this title that may be punished as a felony, a fine of not more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for each day of violation.

In determining the amount of a fine imposed for a violation of this section, the court shall consider any improper economic benefit, including unjust enrichment, received by the defendant as a result of the unlawful conduct.

As added by P.L.137-2007, SEC.31. Amended by P.L.158-2013, SEC.197.