2494

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 240

orders or permits issued pursuant thereto. The penalty may
be assessed by the [Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene
or, for purposes of § 8-1406 through § 8-1411.1 of this
subtitle, the] Secretary of Natural Resources, or a hearing
officer designated in writing by the [appropriate]
Secretary, after a hearing at which it is determined that a
violation exists. The civil penalty assessed shall be $500
for each day of violation, not exceeding a total sum of
$10,000; consideration shall be given to the willfulness of
the violation; to the damage or injury to the waters of the
State or the impairment of its uses; to the cost of
clean-up; to the nature and degree of injury to or
interference with general welfare, health, and property; to
the suitability of the waste source to its geographic
location, including priority of location; to the available
technology and economic reasonableness of controlling,
reducing, or eliminating the waste; and other relevant
factors. It is payable to the State and collectible in any
manner provided at law for the collection of debts. If any
person liable to pay the penalty neglects or refuses to pay
it after demand, the amount, together with interest and any
costs that may accrue, shall be a lien in favor of the State
upon the property, both real and personal, of the person and
shall be recorded in the clerk of court's office for the
political subdivision in which the property is located. The
moneys shall be placed in a special fund to be used for
monitoring and surveillance by the [appropriate department]
DEPARTMENT to be used to assure and maintain an adequate
record of any discharge to the waters of the State.

[(e) If any condition of a permit for discharges from
a publicly owned treatment works is violated, the Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene may proceed pursuant to §§
8-1414 and 8-1415(a) to restrict or prohibit the
introduction of any pollutant into the treatment works by a
source not utilizing the treatment works prior to the
finding that the condition was violated.

If the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene finds on
the basis of information available to it that an industrial
user is not in compliance with a system of user charges
required under State or federal law, or the condition of any
permit issued by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
to the publicly owned treatment works into which the user is
introducing pollutants, the Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene may proceed to enforce or apply the system of
charges directly against the industrial user pursuant to §§
8-1414 and 8-1415(a).}

SUPPLEMENTAL REVISOR'S NOTE: Ch. ___, Acts of 1982;

which enacted the Health - Environmental Article,
also amended this section to delete the
references to the Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene, including deleting former subsection (e)
of this section in its entirety. The substance