Montana Code 75-10-723. Agreements and administrative orders on consent to perform remedial action
75-10-723. Agreements and administrative orders on consent to perform remedial action. (1) To expedite effective remedial actions and minimize litigation, the department, in its discretion and whenever practicable and in the public interest, may negotiate and enter into an agreement or an administrative order on consent with any person, including the owner or operator of the facility from which a release emanates, to perform a remedial action if the department determines that the action will be properly done by the person. The agreement must contain terms and conditions that the department in its discretion determines to be appropriate.
Terms Used In Montana Code 75-10-723
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Department: means the department of environmental quality provided for in 2-15-3501. See Montana Code 75-10-701
- Facility: means :
(i)any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline (including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft; or
(ii)any site or area where a hazardous or deleterious substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, placed, or otherwise come to be located. See Montana Code 75-10-701
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Person: means an individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company, joint venture, consortium, commercial entity, partnership, association, corporation, commission, state or state agency, political subdivision of the state, interstate body, or the federal government, including a federal agency. See Montana Code 75-10-701
- Release: means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of a hazardous or deleterious substance directly into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous or deleterious substance), but excludes releases confined to the indoor workplace environment, the use of pesticides as defined in 80-8-102 when they are applied in accordance with approved federal and state labels, and the use of commercial fertilizers, as defined in 80-10-101, when applied as part of accepted agricultural practice. See Montana Code 75-10-701
- Remedial action: includes all notification, investigation, administration, monitoring, cleanup, restoration, mitigation, abatement, removal, replacement, acquisition, enforcement, legal action, health studies, feasibility studies, and other actions necessary or appropriate to respond to a release or threatened release. See Montana Code 75-10-701
(2)Whenever the department enters into an administrative order on consent under this section for remedial action or for assessment or payment of natural resource damages, that administrative order on consent must be available for public comment for at least 30 days.
(3)A decision of the department to enter into or not enter into agreements or administrative orders on consent under this section is not subject to judicial review.