Virginia Law

A. Any person who violates or refuses, fails, or neglects to comply with any regulation or order of the Board, Director, or Inspector, any condition of a permit, or any provision of this chapter is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

B. In addition, any person who violates any regulation or order of the Board, Director, or Inspector, any condition of a permit, or any provision of this chapter shall upon such finding by an appropriate circuit court be assessed a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each day of such violation. All civil penalties under this section shall be recovered in a civil action brought by the Attorney General in the name of the Commonwealth. The court shall direct that all civil penalties assessed under this section be paid into the treasury of the county or city where the gas, oil, or geophysical operation determined by the court to be in violation is located.

C. The Board, with the consent of the gas, oil, or geophysical operator, may provide in an order issued by the Board against such operator for the payment of civil penalties for past violations in specific sums not to exceed the limit specified in subsection B. Such civil penalties shall be instead of any appropriate civil penalty that could be imposed under this section and shall not be subject to the provisions of § 2.2-514. Civil penalties collected under this section shall be paid into the treasury of the county or city where the gas, oil, or geophysical operation subject to the order issued by the Board is located.

1982, c. 347, §§ 45.1-358, 45.1-360; 1984, c. 590; 1990, c. 92, § 45.1-361.8; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.