Legislation stiffens DEM cleanup penalties

PROVIDENCE –Legislation designed to hold industrial polluters more accountable by increasing fines for noncompliance with cleanup regulations was expected to be signed into law last week.
The legislation – sponsored by Sen. Walter S. Felag Jr., D-Warren, and Rep. John G.Edwards, D-Tiverton – would create a penalty provision with the R.I. Department of Environmental Management’s Industrial Property Remediation and Reuse Act.
The legislators said that because the act currently does not have a penalty provision, the state has been forced to resort to a maximum default penalty of $1,000 per violation. Under the bill, the maximum penalty would be a civil fine of $25,000. Depending on the case, this amount could be applied per violation, per day.
According to Felag and Edwards, as of 2008, there were 108 sites in Rhode Island that were noncompliant with Industrial Property Remediation and Reuse Act regulations. The new penalties cannot be applied retroactively. &#8226