Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 2.djvu/869

 PUBLIC LAW 104-182—AUG. 6, 1996 110 STAT. 1661 An agent, employee, or officer of the United States shall be subject to any criminal sanction (including, but not limited to, any fine or imprisonment) under any Federal or State requirement adopted pursuant to this title, but no department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Federal Government shall be subject to any such sanction. The President may exempt any facility of any department, agency, or instrumentality in the executive branch from compliance with such a requirement if he determines it to be in the paramount interest of the United States to do so. No such exemption shall be granted due to lack of appropriation unless the President shall have specifically requested such appropriation as a part of the budgetary process and the Congress shall have failed to make available such requested appropriation. Any exemption shall be for a period not in excess of 1 year, but additional exemptions may be granted for periods not to exceed 1 year upon the President's making a new determination. The President shall report each January to the Congress President, all exemptions from the requirements of this section granted during Reports, the preceding calendar year, together with his reason for granting each such exemption. "(b) ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY ORDERS. — "(1) IN GENERAL. — If the Administrator finds that a Federal agency has violated an applicable requirement under this title, the Administrator may issue a penalty order assessing a penalty against the Federal agency. "(2) PENALTIES. —The Administrator may, after notice to the agency, assess a civil penalty against the agency in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per day per violation. "(3) PROCEDURE.— Before an administrative penalty order issued under this subsection becomes final, the Administrator shall provide the agency an opportunity to confer with the Administrator and shall provide the agency notice and an opportunity for a hearing on the record in accordance with chapters 5 and 7 of title 5, United States Code. "(4) PUBLIC REVIEW. — "(A) IN GENERAL.— Any interested person may obtain review of an administrative penalty order issued under this subsection. The review may be obtained in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or in the United States District Court for the district in which the violation is alleged to have occurred by the filing of a complaint with the court within the 30-day period beginning on the date the penalty order becomes final. The person filing the complaint shall simultaneously send a copy of the complaint by certified mail to the Administrator and the Attorney General. "(B) RECORD. —The Administrator shall promptly file in the court a certified copy of the record on which the order was issued. "(C) STANDARD OF REVIEW.— The court shall not set aside or remand the order unless the court finds that there is not substantial evidence in the record, taken as a whole, to support the finding of a violation or that the assessment of the penalty by the Administrator constitutes an abuse of discretion. "(D) PROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL PENALTIES. —The court may not impose an additional civil penalty for a

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