Functions and responsibilities of Administrator not affected

(b) The calling of a hearing under this section shall not be construed by the courts, the Administrator, or any person as limiting, modifying, or otherwise affecting the functions and responsibilities of the Administrator under this section to establish and enforce water quality requirements under this chapter.

Hearing board; composition; findings of fact; recommendations;
implementation of board's decision

(c) The Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register a notice of a public hearing before a hearing board of five or more persons appointed by the Administrator. A majority of the members of the board and the chairman who shall be designated by the Administrator shall not be officers or employees of Federal, State, or local governments. On the basis of the evidence presented at such hearing, the board shall within sixty days after completion of the hearing make findings of fact as to whether or not such pollution is occurring and shall thereupon by decision, incorporating its findings therein, make such recommendations to abate the pollution as may be appropriate and shall transmit such decision and the record of the hearings to the Administrator. All such decisions shall be public. Upon receipt of such decision, the Administrator shall promptly implement the board's decision in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Report by alleged polluter

(d) In connection with any hearing called under this subsection, the board is authorized to require any person whose alleged activities result in discharges causing or contributing to polltion to file with it in such forms as it may prescribe, a report based on existing data, furnishing such information as may reasonably be required as to the character, kind, and quantity of such discharges and the use of facilities or other means to prevent or reduce such discharges by the person filing such a report. Such report shall be made under oath or otherwise, as the board may prescribe, and shall be filed with the board within such reasonable period as it may prescribe, unless additional time is granted by it. Upon a showing satisfactory to the board by the person filing such report that such report or portion thereof (other than effluent data), to which the Administrator has access under this section, if made public would divulge trade secrets or secret processes of such person, the board shall consider such report or portion thereof confidential for the purposes of sec

tion 1905 of Title 18. If any person required to file any report under this paragraph shall fail to do so within the time fixed by the board for filing the same, and such failure shall continue for thirty days after notice of such default, such person shall forfeit to the United States the sum of $1,000 for each and every day of the continuance of such failure, which forfeiture shall be payable into the Treasury of the United States, and shall be recoverable in a civil suit in the name of the United States in the district court of the United States where such person has his principal office or in any district in which he does business. The Administrator may upon application therefor remit or mitigate any forfeiture provided for under this subsection.

Compensation of board members

(e) Board members, other than officers or employees of Federal, State, or local governments, shall be for each day (including traveltime) during which they are performing board business, entitled to receive compensation at a rate fixed by the Administrator but not in excess of the maximum rate of pay for grade GS-18, as provided in the General Schedule under section 5332 of Title 5, and shall, notwithstanding the limitations of sections 5703 and 5704 of Title 5, be fully reimbursed for travel, subsistence, and related expenses.

Enforcement proceedings

(f) When any such recommendation adopted by the Administrator involves the institution of enforcement proceedings against any person to obtain the abatement of pollution subject to such recommendation, the Administrator shall institute such proceedings if he believes that the evidence warrants such proceedings. The district court of the United States shall consider and determine de novo all relevant issues, but shall receive in evidence the record of the proceedings before the conference or hearing board. The court shall have jurisdiction to enter such judgment and orders enforcing such judgment as it deems appropriate or to remand such proceedings to the Administrator for such further action as it may direct.

June 30, 1948, c. 758, Title III, § 310, as added Oct. 18, 1972, Pub.L. 92-500, § 2, 86 Stat. 860.

§1321. Oil and hazardous substance liability-Definitions

(a) For the purpose of this section the term

(1) "oil" means oil of any kind or in any form, including,

but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil;

(2) "discharge" includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping;

(3) "vessel" means every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water other than a public vessel;

(4) "public vessel" means a vessel owned or bareboatchartered and operated by the United States, or by a State or political subdivision thereof, or by a foreign nation, except when such vessel is engaged in commerce;

(5) "United States" means the States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands;

(6) "owner or operator" means (A) in the case of a vessel, any person owning, operating, or chartering by demise, such vessel, and (B) in the case of an onshore facility, and an offshore facility, any person owning or operating such onshore facility or off shore facility, and (C) in the case of any abandoned offshore facility, the person who owned or operated such facility immediately prior to such abandonment;

(7) "person" includes an individual, firm, corporation, association, and a partnership;

(8) "remove" or "removal" refers to removal of the oil or hazardous substances from the water and shorelines or the taking of such other actions as may be necessary to minimize or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare, including, but not limited to, fish, shellfish, wildlife, and public and private property, shorelines, and beaches;

(9) "continguous zone" means the entire zone established or to be established by the United States under article 24 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone;

(10) "onshore facility" means any facility (including, but not limited to, motor vehicles and rolling stock) of any kind located in, on, or under, any land within the United States other than submerged land;

(11) "offshore facility" means any facility of any kind located in, on, or under, any of the navigable waters of the United States other than a vessel or a public vessel;

(12) "act of God" means an act occasioned by an unanticipated grave natural disaster;

(13) "barrel" means 42 United States gallons at 60 degrees Fahrenheit;

(14) "hazardous substance" means any substance designated pursuant to subsection (b) (2) of this section.

Congressional declaration of policy against discharges of oil or hazardous substances; designation of hazardous substances; determination of removability; liability; penalties

(b) (1) The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that there should be no discharges of oil or hazardous substances into or upon the navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shorelines, or into or upon the waters of the contiguous zone.

(2) (A) The Administrator shall develop, promulgate, and revise as may be appropriate, regulations designating as hazardous substances, other than oil as defined in this section, such elements and compounds which, when discharged in any quantity into or upon the navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines or the waters of the contiguous zone, present an imminent and substantial danger to the public health or welfare, including, but not limited to, fish, shellfish, wildlife, shorelines, and beaches.

(B) (i) The Administrator shall include in any designation under subparagraph (A) of this subsection a determination whether any such designated hazardous substance can actually be removed.

(ii) The owner or operator of any vessel, onshore facility, or offshore facility from which there is discharged during the two-year period beginning on October 18, 1972, any hazardous substance determined not removable under clause (i) of this subparagraph shall be liable, subject to the defenses to liability provided under subsection (f) of this section, as appropriate, to the United States for a civil penalty per discharge established by the Administrator based on toxicity, degradability, and dispersal characteristics of such substance, in an amount not to exceed $50,000, except that where the United States can show that such discharge was a result of willful negligence or willful misconduct within the privity and knowledge of the owner, such owner or operator shall be liable to the United States for a civil penalty in such amount as the Administrator shall establish, based upon the toxicity, degradability, and dispersal characteristics of such substance.

(iii) After the expiration of the two-year period referred to in clause (ii) of this subparagraph, the owner or operator of any vessel, onshore facility, or offshore facility, from which there is discharged any hazardous substance determined not removable under clause (i) of this subparagraph shall be liable, subject to the defenses to liability provided in subsection (f) of this section, to the United States for either one or the other of the following penalties, the determination of which shall be in the discretion of the Administrator:

(aa) a penalty in such amount as the Administrator shall establish, based on the toxicity, degradability, and dispersal characteristics of the substance, but not less than $500 nor more than $5,000; or

(bb) a penalty determined by the number of units discharged multiplied by the amount established for such unit under clause (iv) of this subparagraph, but such penalty shall not be more than $5,000,000 in the case of a discharge from a vessel and $500,000 in the case of a discharge from an onshore or offshore facility.

(iv) The Administrator shall establish by regulation, for each hazardous substance designated under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, and within 180 days of the date of such designation, a unit of measurement based upon the usual trade practice and, for the purpose of determining the penalty under clause (iii) (bb) of this subparagraph, shall establish for each such unit a fixed monetary amount which shall be not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 per unit. He shall establish such fixed amount based on the toxicity, degradability, and dispersal characteristics of the substance.

(3) The discharge of oil or hazardous substances into or upon the navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shorelines, or into or upon the waters of the contiguous zone in harmful quantities as determined by the President under paragraph (4) of this subsection, is prohibited, except (A) in the case of such discharges of oil into the waters of the contiguous zone, where permitted under article IV of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954, as amended, and (B) where permitted in quantities and at times and locations or under such circumstances or conditions as the President may, by regulation, determine not to be harmful. Any regulations issued under this subsection shall be consistent with maritime safety and with marine and navigation laws and regulations and applicable water quality standards.