# Environment (GEN)

## Title 2. Ambient Air Quality Control

### Subtitle 6. Enforcement; Penalties

#### Section 2-601

To the maximum extent possible, the Department shall use the facilities and services of appropriate agencies of political subdivisions to enforce the standards set under this title.

#### Section 2-602

(a) The Department may issue a show-cause order or a corrective order under this section if the Department has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to whom the order is directed has violated:

  (1) This title;

  (2) Any rule or regulation adopted under this title;

  (3) Any plan for compliance issued under this title; or

  (4) Any permit or registration issued under Sec. 2-401 of this title.

(b) The Department is not required to issue a show-cause order or a corrective order before enforcing this title by injunction or civil penalty under this subtitle.

#### Section 2-603

(a) A show-cause order issued under this subtitle shall:

  (1) Specify the provision that allegedly has been violated;

  (2) Describe the nature and extent of the alleged violation;

  (3) Require the person charged to appear at a hearing and show cause why an order requiring corrective action should not be issued; and

  (4) State the date, time, and place of the hearing.

(b) Each show-cause order issued under this subtitle shall be in writing and shall be served:

  (1) Not less than 20 days before the time set for the hearing; and

  (2) As a summons is served under the Maryland Rules or by certified mail.

#### Section 2-604

(a) A corrective order issued under this subtitle shall:

  (1) Specify the provision that allegedly has been violated;

  (2) Describe the nature and extent of the alleged violation;

  (3) Require corrective action within a time specified in the order; and

  (4) State that the person charged will receive a hearing if the person requests the hearing within 10 days after service.

(b) Each corrective order issued under this subtitle shall be in writing and shall be served:

  (1) As a summons is served under the Maryland Rules; or

  (2) By certified mail.

(c) Unless the person charged with a corrective order requests a hearing within 10 days after service, the corrective order becomes a final order.

(d) If the person charged with a corrective order makes a timely request for a hearing under subsection (c) of this section, the Secretary shall:

  (1) Hold a hearing within 20 days after the request is made; and

  (2) Give the person written notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing, at least 10 days before the hearing date.

#### Section 2-605

(a) The Department shall give notice of and hold any hearing held under Sec. 2-603 or Sec. 2-604 of this subtitle in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and the requirements of this section.

(b) Before the hearing, the person charged, on request, shall be given an opportunity to examine all information and reports that relate to the alleged offense.

(c) The person charged may be represented at the hearing by counsel.

(d) A person may withhold information about secret processes or methods of manufacture or production from any public hearing under this subtitle, and the Department and its personnel shall keep confidential any such information that it requires, ascertains, or discovers.

(e) Testimony taken at the hearing shall be under oath and recorded.

(f) Copies of the transcript and of any other record of the hearing shall be provided to the person charged at that person's request and expense.

(g)

  (1) The Secretary or a designee of the Secretary may issue subpoenas for any person or evidence and administer oaths in connection with any proceeding under this section.

  (2) At the request and the expense of the person charged, the Secretary or a designee of the Secretary shall subpoena any person or evidence on behalf of the person charged.

  (3) If a person fails to comply with a notice of hearing or a subpoena issued under this section, the circuit court for the county where the person charged resides, on petition of the Secretary, may:

    (i) Compel obedience to the notice or subpoena; or

    (ii) Compel testimony or the production of evidence.

#### Section 2-606

On the basis of the evidence produced at a hearing, the Secretary or the designated hearing officer may issue a corrective or other final order:

(1) Granting an exception from a rule or regulation adopted under this title on such conditions as the Secretary may determine; or

(2) Directing the person charged to comply, within a specified time, with any rule or regulation that the person is found to be violating.

#### Section 2-607

(a)

  (1) Any person aggrieved by a final decision of the Secretary or the designated hearing officer in connection with a show-cause order, a corrective order, or any other final order issued under this subtitle may take a direct judicial appeal.

  (2) The appeal shall be made as provided for judicial review of final decisions in the Administrative Procedure Act.

(b) An appeal under this section does not stay automatically the order from which the appeal is taken.

#### Section 2-608

(a) Within 1 year after the Department issues a show-cause order or a corrective order, the Department shall take final action and attempt to secure compliance with any final order. If the Department has not secured compliance within this period, the Department shall take immediate steps to seek enforcement under Sec. 2-609 of this subtitle.

(b) Nothing in this section prohibits the Department from bringing an action under Sec. 2-609 of this subtitle within 1 year after the Department issues a show-cause order or a corrective order under this subtitle.

#### Section 2-609

(a) The Department may bring:

  (1) An action to enjoin any conduct that violates any provision of this title or any rule, regulation, or order adopted or issued under this title; or

  (2) A civil action to collect a civil penalty under Sec. 2-610 of this subtitle.

(b) The right to bring an action under subsection (a) of this section is in addition to and not instead of the right to bring any other action under that subsection.

(c) For good cause shown, the court that hears a proceeding to enforce an order issued under this subtitle may grant, without further penalty to the violator, a reasonable extension of time to abate the violation.

#### Section 2-609.1

(a) In this section, "approval" means approval for prevention of significant deterioration or approval of new sources in nonattainment areas.

(b)

  (1)

    (i) A person may not knowingly act or fail to act in violation of a condition or requirement imposed on the person by a permit or approval issued under this title.

    (ii) A person may not knowingly fail to obtain a permit or approval that the person knows or should have known is required under this title.

    (iii) A person may not violate a duty imposed on the person by a rule, regulation, order, or approved plan for compliance adopted or issued under this title with knowledge that the person's conduct constitutes a violation of the duty.

  (2) A person who violates a provision of this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to:

    (i) For a first offense, a fine not exceeding $25,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or both; or

    (ii) For a violation committed after a first conviction under this section, a fine not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or both.

  (3) Each day on which violations occur is a separate violation under this subsection.

  (4) This subsection does not apply to violations enumerated in subsection (c) of this section.

(c) A person is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $10,000 for each day of violation or imprisonment not exceeding 6 months or both if the person:

  (1) Knowingly makes any false statement, representation, or certification in any application, record, report, plan, or other document filed or required to be maintained under this title or any rule, regulation, order, approved plan for compliance, approval, or permit adopted or issued under this title; or

  (2) Knowingly falsifies, tampers with, or renders inaccurate any monitoring device or methods required to be maintained under this title or any rule, regulation, order, approved plan for compliance, approval, or permit adopted or issued under this title.

#### Section 2-610

(a) A person who violates any provision of this title or any rule, regulation, or order adopted or issued under this title is liable for a civil penalty not exceeding $25,000, to be collected in a civil action in the circuit court for any county. Each day a violation continues is a separate violation under this section.

(b) If the Attorney General concurs, the Secretary may compromise and settle any claim for a civil penalty under this section.

(c) If, within 36 months after a civil penalty is compromised and settled under subsection (b) of this section, the person against whom the penalty is imposed satisfies the Secretary that the violation has been eliminated or the order has been satisfied, the Secretary, with the concurrence of the Attorney General, may return to the person not more than 75 percent of the amount of the penalty paid.

#### Section 2-610.1

(a) In addition to any other remedies available at law or in equity and after an opportunity for a hearing which may be waived in writing by the person accused of a violation, the Department may impose a penalty for violation of any provision of this title, Subtitle 4 of Title 6 of this article, or any rule, regulation, order, plan for compliance, registration, or permit adopted or issued under those provisions.

(b) Before taking any action under this section, the Department shall provide the alleged violator with written notice of the proposed action and an opportunity for an informal meeting.

(c)

  (1) The penalty imposed on a person under this section shall be:

    (i) Up to $2,500 for each violation;

    (ii) Not more than $50,000 total for any single administrative hearing; and

    (iii) Assessed with consideration given to:

      (1) The willfulness of the violation, the extent to which the existence of the violation was known to the violator but uncorrected by the violator, and the extent to which the violator exercised reasonable care;

      (2) Any actual harm to human health or to the environment, including injury to or impairment of the air quality or the natural resources of this State;

      (3) The cost of control;

      (4) The nature and degree of injury to or interference with general welfare, health, and property;

      (5) The extent to which the location of the violation, including location near areas of human population, creates the potential for harm to the environment or to human health or safety;

      (6) The available technology and economic reasonableness of controlling, reducing, or eliminating the emissions that caused the violation; and

      (7) The extent to which the current violation is part of a recurrent pattern of the same or similar type of violation committed by the violator.

  (2) Each day a violation occurs is a separate violation under this section.

  (3) Any penalty imposed under this section is payable to this State and collectible in any manner provided at law for the collection of debts.

  (4) If any person who is liable to pay a penalty imposed under this section fails to pay it after demand, the amount, together with interest and any costs that may accrue, shall be:

    (i) A lien in favor of this State on any property, real or personal, of the person; and

    (ii) Recorded in the office of the clerk of court for the county in which the property is located.

#### Section 2-611

(a) A person is not subject to action for a violation of this title or any rule or regulation adopted under this title so long as the person acts in accordance with a plan for compliance that:

  (1) The person has submitted to the Secretary; and

  (2) The Secretary has approved, with or without amendments, on the recommendation of the Air Management Administration.

(b) The Secretary shall act on any plan for compliance within 90 days after the plan for compliance is submitted to the Secretary.

#### Section 2-612

(a) The Secretary may adopt rules and regulations that:

  (1) Are patterned after Sec. 120 of the federal Clean Air Act and the federal regulations adopted under Sec. 120 of the federal Clean Air Act; and

  (2) Specify:

    (i) The circumstances under which a person who violates this title is subject to a noncompliance penalty equal to the economic benefit that accrues to the person because of noncompliance;

    (ii) The method of calculating the noncompliance penalty;

    (iii) The manner of payment of the noncompliance penalty; and

    (iv) The circumstances under which a noncompliance penalty collected under this section is subject to rebate.

(b)

  (1) If a person fails to pay a noncompliance penalty in a timely manner, the Secretary may require the person to pay an additional nonpayment penalty for each quarter that the noncompliance penalty remains unpaid.

  (2) The nonpayment penalty shall equal 20 percent of the total of the person's noncompliance penalties and nonpayment penalties that remain unpaid at the beginning of the quarter.

(c) If a person fails to pay a noncompliance penalty or nonpayment penalty imposed under this section, the Department may bring an action to collect the penalty in the same manner as a civil penalty is collected under Sec. 2-610 of this subtitle.

(d) An action under this section to collect a noncompliance penalty is in addition to and not instead of:

  (1) An action under Sec. 2-609 of this subtitle; or

  (2) Any other relief under this subtitle.

#### Section 2-613

A condition that is caused by an act of God, a strike, a riot, a catastrophe, or a cause over which an alleged violator has no control is not a violation of this title or any standard set or rule or regulation adopted under this title.

#### Section 2-614

The Attorney General shall take charge of, prosecute, and defend on behalf of this State every case arising under the provisions of this subtitle, including the recovery of penalties.

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Md. Code Ann., Envir. (as displayed at mgaleg.maryland.gov, October 16, 2026)