(1) Any person discharging pollutants in violation of this article shall immediately undertake to contain remove, and abate the discharge to the Department's satisfaction. Notwithstanding the above requirement, the Department may undertake the removal of the discharge and may contract and retain agents who shall operate under the direction of the Department.
(2) If the person causing a discharge, or the person in charge of facilities at which a discharge has taken place, fails to act, the Department may arrange for the removal of the pollutant, except that if the pollutant was discharged into or upon the navigable waters of the United States, the Department shall act in accordance with the national contingency plan for removal of such pollutant as established pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, and the costs of removal incurred by the Department shall be paid in accordance with the applicable provisions of the law. Federal funds provided under this act shall be used to the maximum extent possible prior to the expenditure of state funds.
(3) In the event of discharge the source of which is unknown, any local discharge cleanup organization shall, upon the request of the Department or its designee, immediately contain and remove the discharge. No action taken by any person to contain or remove a discharge, whether such action is taken voluntarily or at the request of the Department or its designee, shall be construed as an admission of liability for the discharge.
(4) No person who, voluntarily or at the request of the Department or its designee, renders assistance in containing or removing pollutants shall be liable for any civil damages to third parties resulting solely from acts or omissions or such person in rendering such assistance, except for acts or omissions amounting to gross negligence or willful misconduct.
(5) Nothing in this article shall affect in any way the right of any person who renders assistance in containing or removing pollutants to reimbursement for the costs of the containment or removal under the applicable provisions of this article or the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, or any rights which that person may have against any third party whose acts or omissions in any way have caused or contributed to the discharge of the pollutants.
HISTORY: 1977 Act No. 179, Part 2, Section 27; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1236.